Chap.XIIL Grand Seignor's Seraglio. 62 



CHAP. XIII. 



Of the Cup-Bearer's Quarter, and of divers other 



Appartments. 



The Principal Heads. 



The ancient Cuflome praclis'd, tt>heri the Grand Seignor is prefented 

 "frith any thing to drink, between meals. A Ipay to quench thirfl 

 at meals, wholly particular to the Levantines. The compofition 

 of Treacle. JftatelyferYice of Gold-Tlate. (Beds according to 

 the Turkifli mode. Waies to fatisfie the neceJStt'm of Nature 

 different from ours. The Caufes of the abominable Sin committed 

 by the Turks, H>ho are confnd within the Seraglio. 



I Have difcover'd many things particularly obfervable, concerning the Treafury of ^ Antim. 

 the Ottoman Monarchs, and there are yet fome very Remarkable parages to be cuflome pra- 

 communicated, relating to the other Quarters of the inner part of the Sera- ilis'dtvbentht 

 olio. Grand Seignor 



& drinks betTrtm 



Between the Treafury, and an obfeure Vaulted Gallery, in length between Fifteen 

 and Twenty paces, which conduces you to an Iron-Door, by which there is a pafTage 

 into the Gardens, you hnd, on the left hand, the Appartment of the Pages of the Hilar, 

 or the Cup-Bearer's Office. That is the place where they prepare the Sherbets, and 

 other Liquors, for the Grand Seignor's own drinking, and where they keep the Wine, 

 if it happens, that he drinks any, as Sultan Amurath did, of whom I have often had 

 occaiion to fpeak. 'Tis an ancient Caltome, That when the Grand Seignor calls for 

 Water to drink between meals, every time hefo calls cofts him ten Sequins, or Cbe- 

 quins. The Ceremony obferv'd therein is this : In the Chamber call'd the Haz^Oda, 

 which is the Appartment of the Forty Pages, who are alwayes near the Grand Seig- 

 nor's Perfon, there is perpetually one of them (landing Sentinel at the Entrance, which 

 leads to the Cup-Bearer's Office, where two Pages of the fame Quarter are in like 

 manner upon the Sentry. When the Grand Seignor is thirfty,and calls for water, the 

 Page of the Hjz-Oda immediately makes a fign to the two Pages of the Kz7</r,ofwhom 

 one advances up to the Kilar-bachi, or Cup-Bearer himfelf, crying out Sou, which fig- 

 hities Water, to advertife him, that the Prince would drink", and the other runs to 

 the door of the Haz-Oda, where the moft ancient of the Forty Pages gives him Ten 

 Sequins. That Page is the Treafurer of the faid Chamber, and he payes the fmall 

 &ums which the Grand Seignor gives order for, an Office which might be call'd in 

 Englifh, The Iredfurer oftfo jntty Enjoyments. The Water is lometimes brought in a 

 Cup of Gold, lometimes in a VefTel of Pourcelain $ placed upon a large Server of Gold 9 

 about two foot diameter.and enrich'd with Precious Stones within and without. That 

 is look'd on, as one of the richetf pieces of Plate belonging to the Seraglio. The prin- 

 cipal Cup-Bearer, who is a white Eunuch, carries it with great Ceremony, attended 

 by a hundred Pages of the Kil*r, whom he ordinarily has under his Charge, and up- 

 held under the Arms by two of them, who walk on both fides of him. Fof it is re- 

 quir'd, That he (hould carry it lifted up above his head, and fo he cannot fee his way 

 but by looking under it. When he is come to the Door of the Haz-Oda, the Pages of 

 the Kriar, who have accompany'd him fo far, pafs no further, fave only the two who 

 uphold his Arms, and the Pages' of the Chamber go along with him quite into the 

 Grand Seignor's Prefenec. But when ttey come to ^c door of the Chambef, two of 



the 



