Chap. I. to the L 
The Treafury is opened upon all Divan Days, but 
firft the Chiaux-Bojha looks whether the Seal be whole, 
and then takes it off ; and when they have taken out, or 
put in what they think fit, he feals it again with the 
Grand Vizier’s Seal. While the Divan is fitting, the 
Aga of the Janizaries^ the Spahilar-Agaji, the Cadilef- 
quers^ the Officers of the Divan and the Viziers, being 
introduced by the Capidgi-BaPoa and Chiaux-Bafha, are 
brought before the Grand Signior, to give an Account 
of their feveral Charges, and what they have done, and 
none of them can promife themfelves to bring back 
bis Head again, becaufe the Grand Signior, for a fmall 
Offence, will caufe them to be firangled on the Spot. 
20. In all Things the Turks are great Lovers and 
Obfervers of Order. They take fpecial Care of Pro- 
vifions, that all Things be had in Plenty and at rea- 
fonable Rates, and he that has taken Pains to bring 
Fruit to the Market firft, has no Advantage but to 
take his Money firft ; for he muft not exadl a great 
Price, or fell dearer, unlefs he has a Mind to be found- 
ly drubb’d, baftinado’d and fined. They have Officers 
to examine every Man’s Weights and Meafures, who 
daily go their Rounds •, and if they find any Man’s 
Weights too light, or that he fells his Goods too dear, 
they fail not to order him fo many Blows with a Cudgel 
on the Soles of his Feet, and make him pay a Fine ; fo 
that moft Sellers are fo much afraid of offending, that 
they will give you fomething above Weight, and they 
dare not cheat the leaft Child. 
Every one is obliged to hinder any Quarrels or Dif- 
orders that happen in the Streets •, for there is a Law, 
that if a dead Man be found before any Man’s Door, 
he muft pay for his Blood 500 Piaftres, or 45000 Af- 
pers ; fo that every Man is obliged to fee, that noNoife 
be made before his Door, and hinder all ill Effeds of 
it. If he who committed the Fa 61 : be taken, and con- 
vi( 5 fed of it, he is difcharged of the Sum, and the 
Murtherer is punifhed, unlefs the Relations of the de- 
ceafed will hearken to an Accommodation, for then 
the Murtherer is allowed to ranfome himfelf, which 
is ufually done by paying three or four hundred 
Cro wns. 
To prevent any Accidents in the Night Time, all 
Perfons whatever are prohibited to go Abroad after 
Evening is fhut, except in the Ramadan or Lent ; and if 
the Under-Bafha, who is Captain of the Watch, and 
walks his Rounds all Night, as our Conftables do, meets 
any Man, he is carried before the Cadi, who examines 
him, and if he cannot give a good Reafon for his be- 
ing out late, he is fined and baftinadoed ; and if he be 
difmiffed without Fining, it is a lafting Difgrace to him, 
and he lies under Sufpicions. 
2 1. The Money current 2xConflantinople is, ^-xtMangour, 
which is half aQuadrin, Copper-Money, and Six of them 
make an Afpre, which is a little Piece of Silver, ftamp’d 
with the Grand Signor’s Name, and worth eight Deniers, 
or three Farthings Sterling, The Ifolette is worth fifty 
five Afpers. The Aflani, or German Rix-Dollar, fo 
called becaufe it is ftamp’d with a Lion, in Turkifh 
AJlan, is worth eighty Afpers, and the Piaftre, or Pi~ 
fade, 90. The Turkijh Chequin is worth two Piaftres, 
and the Venetian ten Afpers more. The Afpres are 
many of them counterfeit. Their Weights are the 
^irat, which is four Grains, and fixteen of them make 
a Drachm ; the Medical is a Drachm and an half, 
twelve Drachms make an Ounce \ the Rotte is twelve 
Ounces ; the Oque is three Rottes, or four hundred 
Drachms j and the Cantar is an hundred and fifty 
Rottes. 
22. The ^urks ufe feveral Sorts of Punifliments for 
Offenders 5 thofe for fmaller Faults are Blows upon the 
Soals of their Feet, or Buttocks, with a fmall Stick. 
The Feet of the Sufferer are fo held up by two Men in 
a Talacca, or Wooden Inftrument, that they cannot ftir 
them, and then two more with Switches lay on the Blows 
upon them, as upon a Smith’s Anvil, till he that is to 
fee to the Execution fays there is enough. Such as have 
received many Blows fas fometimes they inflict three or 
four hundred) are not able to go for three or four 
VoL. II. VoL. CXXV. 
EVANT. 813 
Months after, but they’ll bear thirty without any great 
Inconvenience. 
Mafters dare give no other Corredion to their. Ser- 
vants and Slaves than this, and they are ufually fo fevere, 
that for Fear of Punifhment, they are wonderfully well 
ferved. You may fee their Servants ftand before them 
a whole Day together like Statues, with their Hands 
upon their Bellies, expeding their Mafter’s Command, 
which at the leaft Wink of an Eye is obey’d. Scliool- 
Mafters do not whip their Scholars as we do in Chriften- 
dom, but baflinade them on the Soles of their Feet. 
When they chaftife any Perfon on the Buttocks, the 
Party is laid on his Belly, and the Blows are laid on 
over his Drawers. Sometimes they give five or fix 
hundred Blows, but that is the higheft ; and if any Man 
hath been thus handled, a great deal of mortified and 
fwollen Flefli muft be cut off with a Razor from his 
Buttocks, to prevent a Gangrene, and he muft keep 
his Bed five or fix Months before he is able to go about 
his Bufinefs. 
Women are alfo chaftifed this Way, when they de- 
ferve it : Such as deferve Death for their Crimes, are 
punifhed with Strangling, Hanging, Drowning, Behead- 
ing, Burning, Empaling, or Throwing upon Spikes of 
Iron. When any Man is to be hang’d, which is 
done for Robbery or Murder, they will make a Chri- 
ftian the Executioner, if they can light of any. In 
Beheading, which is done for Rebellion or Sedition, 
they are fo dextrous, that they never mifs cutting them 
off at one Blow. The Ganche, or throwing upon Spikes 
or Hooks, which is performed by letting the Malefaclor 
fall upon them, and hang there feveral Days, till he 
expire with Hunger, Thirft and Pain, is accounted fo 
cruel a Death, that the Turks very feldom praclife it. 
The Turks that turn Chrijlians are burnt alive with a 
Bag of Powder hang’d about their Necks, and a 
pitch’d Cap upon their Heads ; but Chrijlians that do 
or fay any Thing againft the Law of Mahomet, or are 
taken with a Turkijh Woman, or go into a Mofque, 
are empaled, unlefs they will turn Turks ; for they are 
fo zealous for their Religion, that a Chriftian may re- 
deem his Life by turning Turk, whatever Crime he has 
been guilty of ; but in thefe, as well as many other 
Cafes, if he will not turn Turk, he is put to Death ; but 
a Turk has no Way to fave his Life, if he happens to 
commit the like or even a leffer Offence. 
23. The Grand Signior’s Arms have acquired him 
that vaft Power and large Dominions he holds by their 
Means, taken from his Neighbours, for he always 
maintains a Handing Army both in War and Peace, 
to defend himfelf and furprize others ; His whole Ar- 
my, which confifts of Horfe and Foot, are punctually 
paid once in two Months. The Infantry are of 
feveral Orders, as Capigds, or Porters, who keep the 
Gates of the Seraglio, and ftand round the Grand Sig- 
nior when he gives Audience to Ambaffadors ; They 
are in all three thoufand, and have a Captain, called 
the Capigi-Bajha : They execute Death upon fuch as 
are fallen under the Sultan’s Difpleafure : They wear a 
Cap with a Cone half a Foot long. Solaques, which 
are the Grand Signior’s Life-guard, and attend him 
when he goes abroad in the City : They wear a Doli- 
man with Hanging- fleeves, and a Cap ftuck with Fea- 
thers in Form of a Creft, their Bow always hangs on 
their Arm, and their Quiver is always full of Arrows 
ready to draw, if Need requires j but the chief of their 
Infantry are the Janizaries, who are either Children 
taken for Tribute, and educated in the O^s’s of the 
Seraglio, or Renegado Chrijlians, and fome few Turks. 
This Order was inftituted by Ottoman, the firft Empe- 
ror of the Turks, 
They call one another Brothers, and will not endure 
the meaneft of their Body to fuffer the leaft Injury, and 
none but their Officers dare lift up an Hand againft 
them, upon Pain of Death : They can beat any Man, 
and no body dare touch them ; for no Intereft or Mo- 
ney can fave the Life of him that has beaten a Jani- 
zary *, and upon this Account Ambaffadors take them 
into their Retinue, and Travellers hire them for their 
9 X Guides;- 
