1 8 A Relation of the Grand Seignors Seraglio. 



A mifehievous 

 fraud gently 

 purified. 



Tie ancient 

 ftnctrity of the 

 Turns corrupt 

 td by the com- 

 merce of the 

 Europeans. 



that could i* trade to them, they would not be paid in any other kii.d ot Money 5 and 

 fome difco merited Perfons and Mutineers.bcginning to flicw their Teeth, they-were 

 fore'd immediately to to fend Gallics to Smyrna, and fome other Cities of great Gom- 

 mercc, to bring away all that could be found of that fort of money. The incredible 

 quantity of thofe counterfeit pieces, difpers'd in all the PAvinces of the Ottoman Em- 

 pire, is at leait vanifh'd, they are grown red, and no longer current. 



At the firft crying down of that counterfeit money, before the news of it cculd 

 have been brought to foreign Countries, a certain Perfon named Gonlin, engag'd all 

 he had in the world, to make up to • the fum of five and twenty thoufand Crowns 

 in thofe pieces of five Sols, fo extremely falfify'd, that there was harldly fo much Sil- 

 ver as< was requisite to whiten them. He came to Smyrna, where I then was, and 

 where he foon found, that there was noway to put off his counterfeit Merchandi2e. 

 Whereupon he imagin'd, that he might get it off, if he could make a fpeedy Voyage 

 to Qmfiantinople, where, as he had been affur'd, fome Perfons took them, even after 

 they had been cry'd down. Being unwilling to hazard all by Sea, he fent away, by 

 Land, four or five thoufand Crowns, which were taken away by Thieves, near Burfa, 

 and carry'd the much greater part to Confiantinople, in a Dutch Veflel, of which he 

 had alfo fufficicnt caufe to repent him. After he had exposM it at the Cuftom-houfc, 

 for the payment of the Duties , the Chief Officer of the Cuftoms told him, that 

 he might return within two or three days , to take back what belong'd to him ; 

 and as foon as the other was gone, he caused all to be melted down in his pretence. 

 The reparation being made, upon twenty thoufand Crowns, which was the fum he 

 had brought thither, there was not the full fourth part of Silver, and the Merchant 

 coming again to the Cuftomer, fell down all along, out of pure fear left a fevere pu- 

 niftiment might follow the fraud whereof he was vifibly convicted, feeing fo much 

 fcum of brafson the one fide, and fo little filver on the other. But the Turks are not 

 fo rigorous, as fome perfons imagine, all was reftor'd to him, nay (here was no pe- 

 nalty inflicted upon him, and they only order'd him to |?e gone. 



Certain it is, that the Europtans, more addicted to (ubtilty and circumvention, 

 than the Levantines, and for the moft part not endeavouring to be fincere in Com- 

 merce, have taught the turfy feveral Cheats, which they were either ignorant of, or 



with them, you mull Hand upon your guard •, fo prevalent is the example of evil to 

 corrupt mens minds. Nor are we to be aftonilh'd at that ancient undifguized humour of 

 the lurkj in their Commerce, iince we find,that the poor Abyfmes,who come from the 

 lower parts of Ethiopia to traffick at Cairo, and the Idolaters themfelves in the Indies 

 amongjfc themfelves and with Strangers, with a ftri& obfervancc of an inviolable 

 fidelity. 



CHAP. 



