Chap.XIIL Grand Seignors Seraglio. 65 



CHAP. XIII. 



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



Appartments. 



The Principal Heads. 



T\:e ancient Cuflome practised, iphen the Grand Seignor is prefented 

 iVith any thing to drink, between meals. A "bay to quench thirjl 

 at meals , wholly particular to the Levantines. The compofttion 

 of Treacle. jt ftately ferVice of Gold-Plate. Beds according to 

 the Turkifh mode. Waies to fatisfie the necefiities of Nature 

 different from ours. Tlie Caufes of the abominable Sin committed 

 by the Turks, Tbho are confind within the Seraglio* 



Have difcover'd many things particularly obfervable, concerning the Treafury of ^ Ancient 

 the Ottoman Monarehs, and there are yet fome very Remarkable paflages to be cuflome pra* 

 communicated, relating to the other Quarters of the inner part of the Sera- ft is" d -when the 

 „ii . Grand Seigntrf 



° drinks bttwm 



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

 and Twenty paces, which condudfs you to an Iron-Door, by which there is a paffage 

 into the Gardens, you find, on the left hand, the Appartment of the Pages of the Kilar y 

 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 

 occafion to fpeak. 'Tis an ancient Cuftome, That when the Grand Seignor calls for 

 Water to drink between meals, every time he fo calls cofts him ten Sequins, or Che- 

 quins. The Ceremony obferv'd therein is this : In the Chamber calPd the Haz-Oda t 

 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 Haz-Oda immediately makes a fign to the two Pages of the K/7rfr,ofwhorn 

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

 nifies 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 

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

 Englifh, The Treafierer of the petty Enjoyments. The Water is lbmetimes brought in a 

 Cup of Gold, lbmetimes in a VefTel of Pourcelain, placed upon a large Server of Gold j 

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

 is look'd on, as one of the richelt 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 Kilar, whom he ordinarily has under his Charge, and up- 

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

 cjuir'd, That he ihould carry it lifted up above his head, and fo he cannot fée his- way 

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

 the Kilar, 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 Prcfencc. But when they come to the door of the Chamber, two of 



the 



4 



