This outrageous specimen of oppressive impudence, like other abuses, can be traced up to a very respectable origin—to one of those feelings which do honour to human nature. It is still the custom among the Turks, after a banquet, to give the guests a present which, in the quaint language of Oriental courtesy, they style dishe parassi—“teeth-money”—a slight return for the trouble the guest gave himself in partaking of their hospitality. But what was originally a delicate token of respectful affection, under the tyrannical circumstances of Ottoman rule, assumed the form of a degrading and disgusting imposition.
In the same way, bakshish generally, if considered in its origin, is only a very natural expression of love and respect. Presents have always been and still are the proper tokens of friendship among men the world over. But observances of this kind have a knack of degenerating; and the Turk in power soon learnt to exact presents as tribute, until the institution became one of the greatest political evils that ever afflicted a community: it would be no overstating the case to say that the Ottoman Empire has died of bakshish.