CONSTANTINOPLE. 
21 
secretly fortified io a similar way, by some substance used to 
prevent the effect of fire upon the skin. # 
‘We now observed the attendants busied, on our right hand, 
below the gallery, heating irons in the brasiers used for boiling 
the coffee. As soon as the irons were red hot, they carried them 
glowing among the dervishes, who, seizing them with violence, 
began to lick them with their tongues. While we were occupi¬ 
ed in beholding this extraordinary sight, our attention was sud¬ 
denly called off to one of them, who was stamping in a distant 
part of the mosque, with one of the irons between his teeth.— 
This was taken from him. by the superior; and the man falling 
into apparent convulsions, was caught by an attendant, and 
placed upon the floor, with his face to the earth. Some of the 
rest then jumped about, stabbing themselves in different parts 
of their bodies. 
A noise of loud sobbing and lamentation was now heard in a 
latticed gallery above, where we were told women were sta¬ 
tioned, who doubtless, being completely duped by the artifices 
which had been practised, were sufficiently alarmed. As we 
were already disgusted with such outrages upon religion, under 
any name, we descended from the gallery, and prepared to 
walk out; when the superior, fearing that his company might 
give him the slip, instantly put an end to the leger-dc-main y and 
demanded payment. While this took place, it w r as highly 
amusing to see all the fire eaters, and the dagger bearers, re¬ 
cover at once from their fainting and convulsions, and walk 
about, talking with each other in perfect ease and in difference, f 
If what has been here stated is not enough to prove the con¬ 
temptible imposture practised upon these occasions, a circum¬ 
stance that oecured afterward 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 English, to 
dine at his house in Constantinople. When dinner was ended* 
one of the howling dervishes, the most renowned for miraculous 
powers, Was brought in, to amuse the company as a common 
conjured Taking his seat on a divan at the upper end of the 
* It is the same used by conjurers in England,-who pretend lobe fire eaters. Io. 
the selections which have, appeared from the Gentleman’s Magazine, this nostrum is 
made public: it is prepared from sulphur. 
f It has been deemed proper to insert this circumstance, because Mr. Dali away has 
stated, that, “ totally exhausted by pain and fatigue, they fall to the ground in a sense¬ 
less trance, when they 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 iJ , 
"Constantinople-, Ancient and Modern, SfC . by Dal1a?vay p. 129. 
