401 
his tribune from without. I therefore went at four 
o'clock in the morning to another neighbouring 
mosque, to offer up the pascal prayer at sun-rise. I 
then went to the mosque of Ahmed, and found in the 
court two or three thousand women, some few men, 
several bostandjis, some janissaries, and the horses of 
the Sultan and his suite. The ceremonies were still 
unfinished in the mosque; yet there were two rows of 
janissaries, and a great crowd of persons in the streets. 
The janissaries were in their ordinary costume, but 
the bostandjis wore red caftans, and very long caps of 
the same colour, Twelve of the janissaries wore a 
kind of gray chasuble, and a great deal of plate, I 
placed myself at the inner angle of the door. 
A certain number of capidji hachalar filed ofF $ 
dressed in large caftans with false sleeves hanging 
behind them, lined with rich furs, and faced with 
gold; they were mounted upon superb horses richly 
caparisoned. 
Ail the persons of high rank wore the great turban 
of ceremony. It resembles a reversed cone, about a 
foot and a half high, and is wholly garnished with 
muslin. 
A great number of officers and persons in high su 
tuations followed in succession, mounted upon magni- 
ficent horses. The Scheik el Islam, or Mouphti, came 
afterwards, surrounded with his suite of ouiemas, or 
men of science. After him appeared ten or eleven pa- 
rade horses belonging to the Sultan, with their har- 
ness covered with diamonds and other precious stones; 
the stirrups and bridle of one horse in particular was 
of a surprising richness. Some of the horses carried 
on the right side of the saddle a shield two feet in 
diameter, and a sabre on the left side, equally enriched 
Vor. IT, 3 E 
