II 1 1 



24 



A Relation of the Chap.IL 



defcent, and where you are as it were upon an Eminency, you defcend into a very no- 

 ble Place, which the Grand Seignor caufes to be always kept neat and even, where 

 the Great Perlons of the Court come to do the Exercifes of the Girit.pi the Dart,which 

 is perform'd, molt commonly, upon Fridays, immediately after their coming out of 

 the Mofquey. There are about two hundred paces from the Portal to that place, and 

 in the Court there may ordinarily be, upon thofe days above fifteen hundred Perfons, 

 yet fo as that not any perfon whatfoever is permitted to go any further, unlelshe be 

 call'd by the Order of the Girit-Bey, who is the chief Overfeer, and Diredorof that 

 Exercife. They who enter into the Lifts, do many times amount to the number of a 

 Ihe Grand thoufand Perfons. , If the Grand Seignor himfelf, who is prefent at thofe Exercifes, the 

 seignor s libera. m j vvhereof proves many times Tragical to thofe, by whom they are perform'd, has 

 Ums ' found any particular divertifement therein, efpecially when there are Limbs loft or bro- 



ken, he orders every one to receive a Purfe, which, as I told you, amount to five hun- 

 dred Crowns. The diftribution of thofe Prefents is greater or leffer, according to his 

 being in a good or bad humour, and fometimes there are diftributed at his departure 

 thence, to the number of ten Purfes. The Treafurer, who is always attending on 

 him, and has ordinarily brought along with him fifteen or twenty thouiand Ryals in 

 Gold and Silver, ftands ready, upona.beck, to. obey his Orders. 



7be counterfeit But tn ' s is worth our obfervation,That when the Prince is ready to beftow his Libe- 

 modeftyojthi ralities, on thofe who had behav'd themfelves valiantly in that exercife, theGran- 

 Grandeesef the dees of hisCourt,who had appear'd therein as well as others,purpofely lhift themfelves 

 rcrt ' out of the way, and leave him to make his Prefents to other lefs confiderable Perfons, 



as being fuch as ftand more in need of them than they do. This is their cuftom ordina- 

 1 rily, whether it proceed from Generofity, or- from a counterfeit and perforated Mo- 



defty, it matters not. And after the Grand Seignor is/withdrawn, it is lawful for 

 thofe who are left in the forcfaid Court, and are skil'd in the handling of the Dart, to 

 fpend the remainder of the day in that Exercife. But thole, how great foever their 

 performances may be, and what wounds foever they may receive, are not to exped any 

 Prefents » There's no Prince to be a fpedtator of their Gallantry, nor Treafurer, to 

 diftribute his Liberalities. They only lay fome wagers amongft themfelves, and he 

 who gives the faireft blow,wins, and the faireft blow is in the head, or face. There 

 is ever and anon an Eye ftruck out, or a Cheek carried off, and that Solemnity proves 

 very fatal in the end to fome of them. 



And this is an account of all that is obfervable in the faid firft Court, Let us now 

 make our entrance into the fécond, and obfçrve what is rnoU remarkable in all its Ap- 

 partments. 



CHAP. 



