8 A Relation of the Grand Seignor s Seraglio. 



be made Bajfas. I (hall not think it much to alledge, upc n this particular, another 

 example of that Maxime, of which I was an eye-witnefs my fclf, in the King of ?<r- 

 fias Gourt. 'Twas in the Reign of Schach Abas, agaihft whom feme Grandees of the 

 Court had enter' d into a Confpiracy, and attempted to take away the King's Life, yet 

 with a defign to have put his Son into the Throne. About Two or Three in the after- 

 noon, when every one in Perfia is retir'd to the Haram, which is the Appartment of the 

 Women, the Confpirators fent, to the Palaces, twenty Men well arm'd, with Order, 

 firft, to put to the Sword all they fhould find at the Gates, which ordinarily are guard- 

 ed only by two 'or three Men, armed with a maffy Club, and afterwards to go and 

 murther the King himfelfin the Haratn, which would be but poorly defended by black 

 and white Eunuchs;, who are poor Souldiers. But the intended blow of the Confpira- 

 tors was prevented, and the chief Porter, a Perfon accounted one of the moft valiant of 

 his time, being in his Station, with two of his Servants, Georgians by Country, that is 

 to fay, valiant, as all thofe People are, fell upon the Traitors with his Cuttelas, and 

 beat them back fo fmartly, that they thought it the beft way to run for't. The King 

 having been inform'd of that action, order' d him to be brought into his Prefence, and 

 after he had commended him, made this eftablifhment, That the C harge of chief Por- 

 ter, fhould ever continue in his Family, from Father to Son. He alfo commanded the 

 Keeper of the Archives, or Records, to infert that action into the Hitfory, and wifti'd 

 that his own Name might be dafh'd out of it, and all that had been done during his 

 Reign, if any of his SuccefTors attempted to change any thing of his Will, and deprive 

 the Houfe of the Faithful Georgian of that Charge, 



The Kilargi-bachi is the chief Governour of the Pages of the Kilar, which is the place, 

 where they keep all thfe exquifite Drinks for the Grand Seignor's own drinking. It is 

 a kind of Cup-Bearers Office, and the Kilargi-bachi, a kind of Cup-Bearer -, and he is 

 alfo made a Bajfa, upon his removal from the Charge of Kilargi-bachi. He is moreover 

 the Chief of all the Akggis, who are the Cooks and Confectioners, fincc no Body can 

 have any entrance into thofe Offices, but by his Order -, and he has under his cuftody 

 all the Plate, which is for the peculiar fervice of the Grand Seignor. This Officer has 

 for his Subftitute the Kilarketodafu Now having told you, that, upon the relignation 

 of his Charge, he is made a Bajfa, it were not amifs to advertifè you further, That 

 they who are remov'd out of the Seraglio, in order to their being Bajfa's, ought to have 

 been of the number of the forty Pages of the Chamber, and to have pafs'd through one 

 of thefe fix Charges, of ' Cbafnakgtodafi, and of Kilarketodafu of whom I have fpoken al- 

 ready, of Vogangibach^ of the Chokadar, of the Seligdar, and of the Rihybdar, of 

 whom I fhall difcourfe anon. Otherwife, they can only be Beys^ or Zaims, or Sj>hais y 

 or at moft, but Capigibacbis, by the Grand Seignor's lingular favour. The cale is the 

 fame with the Gugombacbi y who is the fécond Perfon of the Office of theTreafùry, as 

 alfo with the Anakdar-Agafa who is the third. If thefe People remove out of the Se- 

 raglio, before they are admitted into the number of the Forty Pages of the Chamber, 

 they have only a certain Pay, more or lefs, the higheft whereof amounts not to above 

 two hundred Afpers. I proceed to the other Officers of the Seraglio, of whom there 

 will bë fbme mention made in my Relation. 



The Vogangi-bachi is the Grand Falconer, and his Charge makes him a confidera- 

 ble Perfon about the Prince. 



The Chokidar is he who carries the Royal Robe, called the Ciamberluc, the fame Of- 

 ficer, which the French ca\\ Portemanteau. 



The Ki\abdar is he who holds the Stirrup, when the Grand Seignor gets on Horfè- 

 back. 



The Seligdar is the firft of the Pages of the Chamber -, he carries the Grand Seig- 

 nor's Sword upon days of Ceremony, and they ordinarily advance to that Charge one 

 of the handfomeft Pages. 



The Hammangibachi is the chief Overfeer of the Bath, When he leaves the Seraglio, 

 as alfo when the Kamachirbachi, who is the chiefeft of the Pages of Seferli, does 

 fo i their Pay is an hundred Afpers a day i and if they are in favour, it may amount 

 to an hundred and fifty. It is to be obferv'd in the general, that when any one of 

 the Forty Pages of the Chamber is remov'd, the vacancy is fupply'd fometimes out of 

 the Treafury, fometimes out of the Kilar, and fometimes out of the Seferti, and in 

 that they take their turns. They always take out the moft Ancient ■■, and they who 

 were next to them come into their places* How that is done, we (hall take occafion 

 to explicate more plainly in the Chapter of the Treafury. The 



