Here i read letters of an Aristocrat to his mother, whom i am reading about. In the letter Augustus Foster was telling his mother his excursion to a slave market in Büyükdere , Turkey. Büyükdere is a quarter of Sarıyer district in Istanbul Province, Turkey.
en.wikipedia.org
Here is the letter....
FROM AUGUSTUS FOSTER. 1 83
Augustus Foster
To Lady Elizabeth Foster.
Boyukdere, June 10, 1803.
. . . I should not forget to tell you that I saw
the slave market about three days ago : an officer of
the Reis Effendi 1 took us in there. There were
great numbers of blacks enforced to sale in the halls
and whites within the rooms; there was no one very
handsome, they all, I thought, looked excessively
melancholy. I got our Dragoman to question a
white lady, not ugly, that was sitting cross-legged in
one of the rooms. She told us that she was a Cir-
cassian. He said that we came with a commission to
see and buy slaves, and she begged that we might
take her; however, it is not permitted to a Christian
to buy, he may commission his Janizary to purchase
for him; it would be rather a bore, however, to
depend upon his taste, and beauties are bought up
before they land for the pashas and Grand Signors;
it is very seldom that any very handsome are to be
found in the market. Our Turk had promised that
we should see one more lovely than a Sultana, or in
other terms, as he expressed himself, one so fair that,
as she drank water, one might see it gurgle down
her pearly throat; the price of such a one may be
about ,£1000; the common run of pretty ones is
from ^300 to ,£600, and a black may be had for
^50. As we were returning we saw a man who, dis-
contented with his slave, was refusing her upon the
1 Reis Effendi — The title of the Turkish minister of foreign affairs.
plea that she was sickly, desiring the merchant to
feel her pulse and examine her hand; the other
vociferated that he ought to stick to his bargain.
The girl, by her motions, was explaining what she
was fit for — sewing, working, washing, &c. She was
a very pretty slender Circassian. I could have beat
the man for his bad taste in giving her back; it is
quite like a sale of horses, or any other cattle. The
Blacks are innumerable, according to the different
nations, more in features distinguished from one
another than I thought such complexions would
admit of. The market place has four sides, and a
sort of booth or collection of coffee-houses in the
middle. We examined and even entered into the
halls and rooms on three sides, but on the fourth
some Turks rather roughly objected to our going
into the rooms as the Firman did not mention that;
however, we saw all that was worth seeing. This
and the printing office at Scutari are among the
most curious things that I have seen. The Turks
have learned from us to make Geographical Charts;
the first they ever did.
Büyükdere, Sarıyer - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Here is the letter....
FROM AUGUSTUS FOSTER. 1 83
Augustus Foster
To Lady Elizabeth Foster.
Boyukdere, June 10, 1803.
. . . I should not forget to tell you that I saw
the slave market about three days ago : an officer of
the Reis Effendi 1 took us in there. There were
great numbers of blacks enforced to sale in the halls
and whites within the rooms; there was no one very
handsome, they all, I thought, looked excessively
melancholy. I got our Dragoman to question a
white lady, not ugly, that was sitting cross-legged in
one of the rooms. She told us that she was a Cir-
cassian. He said that we came with a commission to
see and buy slaves, and she begged that we might
take her; however, it is not permitted to a Christian
to buy, he may commission his Janizary to purchase
for him; it would be rather a bore, however, to
depend upon his taste, and beauties are bought up
before they land for the pashas and Grand Signors;
it is very seldom that any very handsome are to be
found in the market. Our Turk had promised that
we should see one more lovely than a Sultana, or in
other terms, as he expressed himself, one so fair that,
as she drank water, one might see it gurgle down
her pearly throat; the price of such a one may be
about ,£1000; the common run of pretty ones is
from ^300 to ,£600, and a black may be had for
^50. As we were returning we saw a man who, dis-
contented with his slave, was refusing her upon the
1 Reis Effendi — The title of the Turkish minister of foreign affairs.
plea that she was sickly, desiring the merchant to
feel her pulse and examine her hand; the other
vociferated that he ought to stick to his bargain.
The girl, by her motions, was explaining what she
was fit for — sewing, working, washing, &c. She was
a very pretty slender Circassian. I could have beat
the man for his bad taste in giving her back; it is
quite like a sale of horses, or any other cattle. The
Blacks are innumerable, according to the different
nations, more in features distinguished from one
another than I thought such complexions would
admit of. The market place has four sides, and a
sort of booth or collection of coffee-houses in the
middle. We examined and even entered into the
halls and rooms on three sides, but on the fourth
some Turks rather roughly objected to our going
into the rooms as the Firman did not mention that;
however, we saw all that was worth seeing. This
and the printing office at Scutari are among the
most curious things that I have seen. The Turks
have learned from us to make Geographical Charts;
the first they ever did.
