60 CONSTANTINOPLE. 
CHAP, talking with each other in perfect ease and 
' indifference'. 
If what has been here stated is not enough 
to prove the contemptible imposture practised 
upon these occasions, a circumstance that oc- 
curred afterwards will put the matter beyond 
all doubt. 
A Swiss gentleman, acting as goldsmith and 
jeweller to the Grand Signior, invited us, with 
a large party of other Englishmen, to dine at 
his house in Constantinople. When dinner was 
ended, one of the Hoiuling Dervishes, the most 
renowned for his miraculous powers, was 
brought in, to amuse the company as a common 
conjurer. Taking his seat on a divan at the 
upper end of the room, he practised all the 
tricks we had seen at the mosque, with the 
exception of the hot irons, for which he con- 
fessed he was not prepared. He affected to 
stab himself, in the eyes and the cheeks, with 
large poignards; but, upon examination, we soon 
(l) It has heen deemed proper to insert this circumstance, because 
it has been stated, that, " totally exhausted by paio and fatigue, they 
" fall to the ground in a senseless trance ; uhen tliey are removed to 
*' their chambers, and nursed with the greatest care, until their 
*' recovery enables them to repeat so severe a proof of their devotion.'' 
S.GE Constantinople, Antient and Modern, Sfc. by Dallaway, p. 1 1Q. 
