History

21 Mar 1815

William Turner, a member of the staff at the British Embassy in Constantinople, described the women in Cyprus

William Turner, a member of the staff at the British Embassy in Constantinople, described the women in Cyprus:

Cyprus is no longer famous for the beauty, or infamous for the immodesty of its women. The Turkish women of Nicosia are, I am told, in general pretty, but not to any extraordinary degree; and one half of their charms is destroyed by the relaxation of the system consequent on their frequent use of the bath, the enemy of female attractions throughout the Levant. But after seeing the rigour with which they are guarded at Constantinople, I was astonished to see the familiarity with which they enter the houses here, even of the Franks, divested of either fereje or yashmaq.