J5o A Relation of\he Chap. XI. 



place with Hay 5 and it was my fortune to fee two Heads fo brder'cl, at the fame time 

 which they carried in a Bag. They were the Heads or' the BaJJas of Kars^nd Erza-om. 



It is farther to be obferv'd, That when the Sentence of death is pais'd by the Prince 

 againft any one, what quality foevcr he may be of, the lurks make no further account 

 of him i and when they (peak of him, treat him no otherwife than they would do a 

 Dog. The Bojtangi, who had been commilhonatcd to bring thole two Heads to die 

 Grand Seignor, finding himfelf weary and indifpos'd at a Village in Armenia, where i: 

 was my chance to be at that time, and having undcritood, that there was a Frenchman 

 in the Inne, ask'd one of my Servants whether I had any Wine, and would be content 

 to let him have any, to cheer up his fpirits. I immediately lent him fomc in a large 

 Flaggon •, whereupon having intreated me to come and take a Glafs with him, which 

 I thought it not fit to deny, he would needs (hew me, whether 1 would or no, the 

 Heads of thofe two BaJJas i a light I had no great curioiity to fee. 



When there is no order given for the bringing of the Head,they bury the Body about 

 Mid-night, without any ceremony, sftod the memory of the B^ffjr, who had made ih 

 A Frohibition much noife before, is foon extinguiih'd and laid in the dull. But it is moreover to be 

 'f* in \ tyXtd notet ^ That lt ls tne Cu ^ ome m Tt< r k)'3 not t0 CLlt off the Head of any one, till after 

 HtbtM&u- ^ ey ^ ave ftran S^ nim > anc * tnat the b,ood is 9 uite °°M ' ic being againft their Law, 

 metans ^bo That the blood of a Mujfulman (that is, one of the Faithful J) ihould be ipilr, upon any 

 tat condemn d occafion, but in Warr. 

 to death. 



The inventories Th e ^e^"* 1 being over > ne w ho brought the Order for it, makes an immediate 



of the Goods of Seizure of all that belong'd to the deceas'd BaJJa i and after he has Cct alide what he 



Bafla's dt- liked beft for his own ufe,whether in Gold or Jewels, he brings the fame perfon$,wbo 



e fff d f?f** th ~ had been at the precedent Councel, to proceed to the Inventory of his Goods, which 



J* / *#*• are afterwards, as I have faid elfewhere, tranfmitted to the Chambers of the Treafury. 



They who are affiftant at the taking of that Inventory, know well enough, that many 



things, which belong'd to the deeeas'd,are embeiuTd, but they are fo far from repining 



or murmuring at it,that they fign and atteft,that there was not any more found. They 



are afraid^f they demean'd themfelves other wifejleft that Officer of the Seraglio, whom 



the Grand Seignor has fent, and who poffiMy is in favour, (hould do them ill offices 



at the Court, and foread fome falfe report of them i whence, according to the example 



they have then before their eyes, might happen, in like manner, the lofs of their 



Charges, and Lives* 



They therefore think it prudence, to connive at what ever is done by that Envoy 

 as being otherwife perf waded, that he will not be difown'd by the Grand Seignor' 

 who is not ignorant of what's done upon thofe occafions. Nay, on the contrary,what- 

 ever he may have dextroufly fecur'd to himfelf of the BaJJas Goods, they make him 

 fbmc additional Prefents of their own, at his departure from. them, engaging him 

 thereby, to fpeak well of them to the Grand Seignor, and to the Grand Vizir, at his 

 return to the Port. And then alfo, not accounting what he had taken before-hand and 

 what Cuftome tolerates, he receives new marks of the Liberality of his Prince, who is 

 fatisfy'd that he has fo faithfully executed his Orders : and fo he participates of what 

 is fet down in the Inventory, when the BaJJJs Goods are brought into the Seraglio. 



W>t dubs in. ^S6me,pofltbly, will be apt to imagine, that this Sentence of Death pafs'd in the 



dueing the Orand Seignor's Letter, mould raife fome dilturbance and altonilhment in the Soul of 



Tvuk% to defie him who reads it, and who reading therein his own Condemnation, knowes that it 



path *>ith fo muff & immediately executed. Yet is it not apparent in his Countenance that he is 



mm mjtancy. mx ^ l fordoj a t it, he is not furpriz'd therewith, he fees that few of his Companions 



eicape the fame fete, and he has difpos'd himfelf for fuch an end, aflbon as he rirft 



took poffeflion of his Charge. Befides, the turiq have a ltrong peri wafion, That die 



Decrees of Predeftination are irrevocable,and that it is impoifible to avoid them i which 



makes them look Death in the face, with fuch a degree of conftancy and intrepidity, 



as renders them in a manner infallible. To which reflection we may adde this, That 



that ready and implicite obedience and fubmiflion of the Turkj> to the Orders of their 



Sovereign, is wther a principle of Religion, than of State, which has been inftill'd into 



them, 



