An Account of the City of Prusa in Bithynia, and a Continuation of the Historical Observations Relating to Constantinople, by the Reverend and Learned Tho. Smith D. D. Fellow of Magd. Coll. Oxon. and of the Royal Society

The CONTENTS. 1. An account of the City of Prusa in Bithynia, and a continuation of the Historical Observations relating to Constantinople, by the Reverend and learned Tho. Smith D.D. fellow of Magd. Coll. Oxon. and of the Royal Society. 2. A letter in answer to another of Mr. Hen. Oldenburgh's, wherein He desired an explanation of a Paragraph touching the use of the Intestinum Cæcum publish't in the Philosophical Transactions Numb. 95. p. 6062. together with certain Roman inscriptions taken at Bath, and in Lancashire, by the learned Martin Lister Dr. of Physic of the University of Oxford. 3. A correct Tide-Table shewing the true times of the high-water at London bridge to every day in the year 1684, by John Flamsteed Astron. Reg. & R.S.S. A letter concerning some form'd stones found at Hunton in Kent, from Griff. Hatley M.D. of Maidstone in Kent. An account of a Book. Raph. Fabretti de AQUIS & AQVÆDUCTIBUS veteris Romæ, dissertationes tres. Rome. 4° 1680. 1. An account of the City of Prusa in Bithynia, and a continuation of the Historical Observations relating to Constantinople, by the Reverend and learned Tho. Smith D.D. fellow of Magd. Coll. Oxon. and of the Royal Society. Montanea formerly called Nicopolis, according to Bellonius, or rather Cios, the bay hence called Sinus Cianus, lies in the bottom of a bay about fourscore miles from Constantinople, and is the scale or landing place for Prusa, from which it may be about twelve miles; in the middle way to which is the Village Moussanpoula. Prusa, now called by the Turks Bursa, the chief City of Bithynia, is seated at the foot partly, and partly upon the rising of the mount Olympus, which is one of the highest hills of the lesser Asia. Its top is covered with snow for nine or ten months of the year, several streams of water flowing down the hill continually, accounted very unwholesome from the snow mixed with it. In the upper part of the City to the northwest lies the Seraglio, which is walled round; but the Emperors not residing here since their acquists in Thrace, or scarce making visits to this Imperial City, and none of their sons living here of late, according to the former policy of the Turkish Emperors, who did not permit their sons, when grown up, to be near them, but sent them to some honourable employment, accompanied with a Bassa and Cadi to instruct them in the arts of War and Government, it lies now neglected and dispoyled of all its ornaments. In this part also are the Sepulchers of Ojman, the founder of the family, which now reigns, and his son Urchar, who took the City, near a Moch, formerly a Christian Church dedicated to St. John, and where was formerly a Convent of Religious, built by Constantinus Iconomachus, where I saw the figure of a Cross still remaining upon the wall. Here hangs up a Drumm of a vast bigneis, such as they carry upon the backs of Camels, and I suppose is one of those, which they used in the taking of the place. In the lower part, near the bottom of the hill, Morad the second, the Father of Mahomet the Great, lies buried: near whereunto was formerly the Metropolitical Church of the Holy Apostles. The Bozesten, or Exchange seems to be much better and larger than the great one at Constantinople, as are the several Caravanferais built for the use use and accommodation of Merchants, and Travellers; in one of which, the Rice Chane, I took up my quarters. Without the City toward the east is the Mosch and Sepulcher of the Emperor Bajazid the first, whom the Turks call Jilderim or lightning, and the Greek Writers ιωνας. Not far from hence is the Mosch of Mahomet the first, and his Sepulcher. Toward the west upon the side of the hill is the Mosch of Morad the first, whom they call Gazi or the Conqueror, near which he lies buried. There are in the whole about 124 Moschs, several of which were formerly Christian Churches, and between fifty and sixty Chanes. The Castles built by Osman, when he besieged the City, are flighted and altogether unfortified, the one to the north, the other to the south-west. At Checkerghe, about a mile and a half out of Town, are the hot Baths, much frequented both by Christians and Turks. They are made very convenient to Bath in, and are covered over, that they may be used in all weathers. Among others, there is a large round Basin, where they usually divert themselves by swimming. What opinions the Turks have of our B. Saviour and the Christian Religion, I shall briefly shew, as they lie dispersed in several chapters of the Alcoran, according to which they frame their discourse whenever either zeal or curiosity puts them upon this topick. For Mahomet upon his setting up to be the Author of a new Religion, finding such a considerable part of the World professing the doctrine of Christ, with all the mysteries of faith therein contained, was cast upon a necessity of saying something both concerning him and it. By which it will appear, how great the power of truth is above imposture and subtlety, and that as the Devils in the possessed confess, though against their wills, Christ to be the Son of God, so this Demoniack in the midst of all his forgeries, and lies, and ridiculous and childish narratives, not being able to contradict the universal belief of the Christians of that, and the preceding ages, founded on the history of the Gospel, hath been forced to give testimony to several particulars of it. They confess then that Christ was born of a pure spotless Virgin, the Virgin Mary, chosen by God and sanctified above all the women in the World; and that the Angel Gabriel was dispatched out of Heaven to acquaint her with the news of it. That such a kind of miraculous and supernatural birth never happened to any besides, and that Christ was conceived by the Holy Ghost, and that he wrought mighty miracles, for instance, that he cleansed lepers, gave sight to the blind, restored sick persons to their health, and raised the dead. That he is a great Prophet, sent by God to convert men from the vanity and error of their false worship to the knowledge of the true God, to preach righteousness, and to correct and restore the imperfection and miscarriages of humane nature; that he was of a most holy and exemplary life, that he was the true word of God, the Apostle or Ambassador of God that his Gospel was revealed to him from Heaven, and that he is in Heaven standing nigh to the throne of God. They blaspheme indeed with a brutishness and stupidity only befitting Turks, the mysteries of the holy Trinity, and of the divinity of our B. Saviour, and deny that he was put to death, and say that another in his shape was crucified by the Jews, and that he himself was assumed into Heaven in his body without dying at all, and consequently they will not own, that he satisfied divine justice for the sins of the World; so great an affinity is there between the heresy of Socinus and profest Mahometanism. I could never yet see any Turkish translation of the Alcoran; they cry up the elegance of the style, which being Enthusiastic and high-flown, by reason also of the tinkling of the periods, is very delightful to their ears, who seem seem to be affected with rythme mightily. Though I suppose it is upon a more politick accompt, that they are so averse, as to the translating it into their vulgar language, not out of respect to the sacredness of the original only, whose full commanding expressions they think cannot be translated without a great diminution to the sense; but to keep it in greater veneration among the people, who might be apt to slight and disesteem it, should it become thus common among them. It is enough, that the Priests and learned men explain the difficult passages of it to the people, and write Commentaries for the use of the more curious and inquisitive. The Persians on the contrary think it no disparagement to the Arabick, or profanation of the sense to translate this cursed book into their own language, and copies are frequent among them. The Grand Signors women are usually the choicest beauties of the Christian spoiles, presented by the Baffa's or Tartars. The present Sultana, the mother of the young Prince Mustapha, is a Candiot; the Valide or Emperors mother, a Russian, the daughter of a poor Priest, who with her relations were seized upon by the Tartars in an incursion, which they made into the Muscovites Country. She being received into the Seraglio, by her beautiful complexion and cunning behaviour, gain'd the heart and the affection of Sultan Ibrahim. (a man wholly addicted to soft pleasures, and who seldom cared to be long absent from the womens apartment, but chose to spend his time among them) Having the good fortune to be the mother of the Prince Mahomet, the eldest son of his father, who now reigns, She had all the honors that could possibly be done her, and was the beloved Hazaki or chief Concubine. During this height of splendor and glory, the Court removing from Constantinople to Adrianople, distant about an hundred and twenty miles, as she was passing in great state attended with her Guards, through the streets of the City, in a Coach much like our carriage wagons, wagons, but that they are latticed to let in the air (for no one must presume to stare or scarce look upon the women, much less must they themselves suffer their faces to be seen in this jealous Country) she out of curiosity looking through the holes, saw a poor Christian slave in a shop, where sugar and such like wares were sold. Upon her return she sent one of her Eunuchs to enquire for the person, and to ask him several questions about his Country, relations, friends, and the time when and how long he had been a slave: his answers were so particular and satisfactory, that she was soon convinced of the truth and certainty of her apprehensions, when she first cast her eyes upon him, that he was her brother, and accordingly it proved so. Whereupon acquainting the Emperor with it, she immediately redeemed him from his Patron, and having made the poor wretch turn Turk, got him considerably preferred. The Baffa's for the most part are the sons of Christians, taken into the Seraglio, near the Emperors person, and so are prefer'd to considerable Governments, or else they raise themselves by their Conduct and Valour. Mahomet Baffa in the time of Achmet, whose eldest daughter he married, was the first natural Turk, that was made chief Vizir, having before been Captain Baffa. The chief Vizir Mahomet Kupriani, (who settled the Empire in the minority of this Emperor, when it was ready to be shaken into pieces, and dissolved by several powerful factions in the State, and by the mutinies and discontentments of the Janizaries and Spahis, who drove different ways) was an Albanese by birth, the son of a Greek Priest, whom out of the height of his zeal for Mahomet, he made turn Turk in his old age, and converted the Christian Church in the Village where he was born, into a Mosch. This man also forbidden the Janizaries to dance in a ring and turn round, which before was their solemn practise at set times before the people, which they would do so long till they were giddy by this swift circular motion, and fell down in a swoon, and then oftentimes upon their recovery from such trances they pretended to revelation. The Churchmen are not very kind to his memory, looking upon him as a man of little or no religion; and they give out, that if he had lived, he would have forbid their calling to prayers from the spires of their Moschs, and hanging out Lamps; both which they look upon as solemn and essential to the exercise of religion; but he as the effect of bigotry and superstition. They They have a mighty honour and esteem for Physicians, for though they are of opinion, that they cannot with all their art prolong life, the period and term of it being fatal and absolutely determin'd by God, yet they often consult them upon any violent sickness or pain, in order to make the time allotted them in this world more pleasant and easy. It is extraordinary rare, that a natural Turk makes Physic his profession and study. They who practise it among them, when I was in Turkey, were for the most part Greeks and Jews, who know nothing of chymical Medicines, but follow the usual methods, which they learnt in Italy and Spain, the former having studied in Padua, and the latter in Salamanca, where they pass't for good Catholicks. And I remember I met with a certain Physician, who had been a Capucine in Portugal. During the tedious siege of Candia, the Vicar, what with melancholy, and what with the ill air of the Camp, finding himself much indisposed sent for a Christian Physician Signor Mallassi, a subject of the Republick of Venetia, but married to a Greek woman, by whom he had several children, who was our neighbour at Piraeus, an experienced able man, to come speedily to him, and made him a present of about a thousand Dollars, in order to fit himself for the voyage and bear the expense of it. By this worthy Gentleman's care, he recovered his health, and would not permit him to depart, till after the surrender of that City, which might be about seven months after his arrival there, treating him in the mean while with all imaginable respect. During our short stay at Smyrna, one of our Janizaries accidentally discoursing with a Turk about us, whom they knew to be Franks, told him that there was a Physician in the company, who had been lately at the Grand Signors Court at Saloniki with the English Ambassador, and was now upon his return from Constantinople to Smyrna, where he lived. This presently took vent, and the Turks thought that they had got a man among them, that could cure all diseases infallibly; for several immediately came to find us out in behalf of themselves or their sick friends, and one of the most considerable men upon the place, desired the Doctor to go to his house to visit one of his women sick in bed, who being permitted to feel her naked pulse (for usually they throw a piece of fine silk or curle over their women's wrists at such times) soon discovered by that and other symptoms and indications of her distemper, that opening a vein would presently give give her ease and recover her: which he did accordingly; for which he received an embroidered handkerchief instead of a fee, and gained the reputation of having done a mighty cure. They have little of ingenious or solid learning among them; their chief study, next to the Alcoran, being metaphysical niceties about the Attributes of God, or else the maintenance of other odd speculative notions and tenents, derived down to them from some of their famed masters and holy men, whom they pretend to follow. Their knowledge of the motion of the heavens, for which the Arabians and the other eastern Nations have been so deservedly famous, as their Astronomical tables of the Longitude and Latitude of the fixed Stars, and of the appulse of the moon to them, fully evince, is now very mean, and is chiefly studied for the use of Judiciary Astrology. The great instrument they make use of is an Astrolabe, with which they make very imperfect observations, having no such thing as a Quadrant or Sextant, much less a Telescope, or any mechanical engine, to direct and assist them in their calculation. Their skill in Geography is as inconsiderable; I remember I heard the Captain Basla, whom they style Admiral of the black and white Seas, meaning the Euxine and the Mediterranean, ask this silly question, whether England were out of the straits: and at another time the Cayman or Governor of Constantinople hearing that England was an Island, desired to know, how many miles it was about, in order, we supposed, to make an estimate of our King's greatness and strength by the extent and compass of it. One of the great Astrologers of Constantinople, having heard that I had a pair of Globes in my chamber, made me a visit on purpose to see their contrivance, being introduced by a worthy Gentleman of our own Nation. After the first ceremonies were over, I took my Terrestrial Globe, and rectified it to the position of the place, and pointed to the several circles both without and upon it, and told him in short the several uses of them: then shewed him how Constantinople bear'd from Candia at that time besieged, Cairo, Aleppo, Mecca and other chief places of the Empire, with the other parts of the World: at which he was mightily surprized to see the whole Earth and Sea represented in that figure and in so narrow a compass, and pleased himself with turning the Globe round several times together. Afterwards I set before him the Celestial lestial Globe, and rectified that, and shewed him how all the noted Constellations were exactly described, and how they moved regularly upon their poles, as in the Heavens; some rising, and others setting, some always above the Horizon, and others always under, in an oblique sphere, and particularly what Stars would rise that night with us at such an hour; the man seemed to be ravished with the curiosity of it, turning this Globe also several times together with his finger, and taking a mighty pleasure in viewing the motion of it; and yet this silly Animal past for a Conjurer among the Turks, and was looked upon as one that could foretell the events of battles, the fates of Empires, and the end of the World. They have no genius for Sea-voyages, and consequently are very raw and unexperienced in the art of Navigation, scarce venturing to sail out of sight of land. I speak of the natural Turks, who trade either into the Black Sea or some part of the Morea, or between Constantinople and Alexandria; and not of the Pyrats of Barbary, who are for the most part Renegadoes, and learnt their skill in Christendom, which they exercise to much to the terror and damage of it. A Turkish compass consists but of eight points, the four Cardinal and four Collateral; they being at a mighty loss how to sail by a side wind, when by hauling their sails sharp, they might lye their course, and much more, when they are in the winds eye, not knowing how to make tacks and bords, but choose rather to make haste into some neighbouring Port, till the wind blows fair. An English and Turkish Vessel both bound for the bay of Saloniaki, at the time of the Grand Signors being there, past together out of the Hellespont; but foul weather hapning, the Turks got into Lemnos; while our men kept at sea and pursued their Voyage, and after three weeks stay returned back to us, observing in their way, that the Turks remained in the same place where they left them, for want of a fore-wind to put to Sea in. They trouble not themselves with reading the Histories of other Nations or of antient times, much less with the study of Chronology, without which History is very lame and imperfect; which is the cause of those ridiculous and childish mistakes, which pass current and uncontradicted among them. For instance, they make Job one of Solomon's Judges and (Alexander) Alexander the Great Captain General of his Army. They number Philip of Macedon among the ancestors of our B. Savior, our, and believe that Sampson, Jonas, and St. George were his contemporaries. In this they are more excusable than their false Prophet Mahomet, who in his Alcoran has perverted several Historical notices in the writings of the Old Testament, and is guilty of vile and absurd pseudo-chronismes. To remedy this defect of which he was very conscious, and the better to understand the state of Christendom and the particular Kingdoms and Republicks of it, the late great and wise Vizir, Aghmet, made his interpreter Fanaginii, a learned Greek, at leisure hours, even at the siege of Candia, as well as at other times, read several ancient histories to him, and render them extempore into the Turkish language, and particularly Blaeus Atlas, with which he was mightily pleased, and made great use of, and truly gained the reputation of a solid and judicious Statesman, as well as Souldier among the Christian Ministers, who in the ordinary course of their negotiations apply'd themselves to him. Tho their year be according to the course of the moon, and so the Turkish months run round the civil year in a circle of thirty three years and a few odd days, yet they celebrate the Newruz, which signifies in the Persian tongue the new year, the twenty first day of March (on which day the vernal equinox was fixed by the Greeks and other Oriental Christians, in the time of the Emperor Constantine, who made no provision for the inequality or precession, which in process of time the inequality between the civil and Astronomical year must necessarily produce) at which time the Cadi's and other annual Magistrates, and Farmers of the customes take place, and reckon to that day twelve month again. In their Civil deportment and behaviour one towards another, the left hand is the more worthy and honourable place, except among their Ecclesiastics; and the reason they allege is, because they write from the right hand, and the sword is worn on the left side, and so is more at his disposal, who walks on that hand. The chief Vizir accordingly in the Divan sits at the left hand of the Muphry, each maintaining their right of precedence according to this way of decision. In their Moichs they fit without any distinction of degrees. Some of the more zealous Turks cause to be engraven on their Scymitars and Bucklers a sentence out of the sixty first Surat, which is concerning fighting or battle-array, and contains encouragements to fight in the way and path of God, as the Impostor Impostor words it; for which he assures them, besides assistance from Heaven to help them to get the victory over their enemies, and that God will pardon their sins and bring them to paradise. Thus spirited with zeal, a Turk lays about him with fury, when he is a fighting, and seems ambitious of dying to gain the delights of Paradise, at least indifferent whether he dyes or lives. The Turks are as to their temper serious, or rather inclining to morosity, seldom laughing, which is accounted an argument of great vanity and lightness. They perform the exercises, which they use in the way of diversion, as shooting and hunting, with a great deal of gravity, as if they designed them more for health than for pleasure; and this too but seldom. The better and richer sort, who have nothing to do, sitting all day at home, lolling upon a Sofa or raised place in their rooms, and taking Tobacco, which their slaves fill and light for them: and if they retire in the Summer or Autumn, for a week or fortnight to some convenient fountain in a wood with their women, it is chiefly to enjoy the refreshments of the cool air. In the times of triumph indeed for some great success obtained against the Christians, when the shops are open for three nights together, and hung with lights, as well as the spires of the Moschs in curious figures, they are guilty of extravagant mirth, running up and down the streets in companies, and sometimes singing and dancing after their rude way; but this fit being over, they soon return to their former melancholy. In the Coffee-houses where they use to resort to tiple, there is usually one hired by the owners to read either an idle book of tales, which they admire as wit, or filthy obscene stories, with which they seem wonderfully affected and pleased, few of them being able to read. These are the schools, which they frequent for their information, tho' in times of war, when things went ill with them, their discourses would be of the ill Government; and the Grand Signor himself and his chief ministers could not escape their censures, which manifestly tending to sedition, and to the heightening of their discontents by their mutual complaints, and by this free venting of their grievances during the war at Candia, the wise Vizir seeing the evil consequences that would follow, if such meetings and discourses were any longer tolerated, commanded, that all the publick Coffee-houses should be shut up in Constantinople and several other great Cities of the Empire, Empire, where the malecontents used to rendezvouz themselves, and find fault upon every ill succes and miscarriage with the administration of affairs. The custome of the Turks to salute the Emperor or the Vizir Baille with loud acclamations and wishes of health and long life, when they appear first in their houses or any publick place, is derived from the Greeks, who took it from the Romans. This was done by them in a kind of singing tone; whence Luitprandus Bishop of Cremona tells us, that in a certain procession (προσέλευσις) at which he was present, they sang to the Emperor Nicephorus πολλά ἐτῶ that is, many years, (which Codinus, who lived just about the taking of Constantinople, by the Turks, expresses by τὸ ἀναγκαῖον τὸ πολυχρόνιον or by τὸ πολυχρόνιον, and the wish or salute by πολυχρόνια) and at dinner the Greeks then present wish'd with a loud voice to the Emperor and Bardas, Ut Deus annos multiplicet, as he translates the Greek. The Turkish coyn in itself is pitiful and inconsiderable, which I ascribe not only to their want of Bullion, but in their little skill in matters relating to the mint. Hence it comes to pass, that Zecchines and Hungars for Gold, and Spanish Dollars and Zalotts for Silver stamp in Christendom pass current among them, most of the great payments being made in them, they not caring either through ignorance or sloth to follow the example of the Indian or Persian Emperors, who usually melt down the Christian money imported by the Merchants into their several Countryes, and give it a new stamp. The most usual pieces are the Sheriphi of Gold, somewhat less in value than a Venetian Zecchine, and Aspers; ten of which are equal to six pence English, and some few three Asper pieces. A mangur is an ugly old Copper piece, eight of which make but one Asper, and is not I think a Turkish coyn, but rather Greek. They have no armes upon their coyn, only letters embossed on both sides, containing the Emperors name, or some short sentence out of the Alcoran. The Turks look upon Earthquakes as ominous, as the vulgar do upon Eclipses, not understanding the Philosophy of them. During my stay in Constantinople, which was above two years, there hapned but one which was October 26, 1669, about six a clock in the morning, a stark calm preceding. It lasted very near a minute, and we at Pera and Galata were as sensible of it, as those who were on the other side of the water; but praised be God, nothing fell and we were soon rid rid of the fears in which this frightful accident had cast us, being in our beds, and not able by reason of the surprize in so little a space to have past through a Gallery down a pair of Stairs into the Court, if we had attempted it. The Turks made direful reflexions on it, as if some calamity would inevitably fall upon the Empire, quickly forgetting the great triumphings and rejoicings which they express'd but a few days before for the Surrendry of Candia. In the year 1668, in August, the Earth shook more or less for forty-seven days together in the lesser Asia at Anguri (Ancyra), and for fifteen at Bachasjar, as we heard from a Scotch Merchant, who liv'd there: and particularly, that at this latter place on the second of August, between three and four of the Clock in the afternoon it lasted for a quarter of an hour; several houses were overthrown, and some hundreds of Chimneys fell (it being a very populous Town) and yet there were but seven kill'd. The trembling being so violent, both Turks and Christians forsook their Houses, and betook themselves to the Fields, Vineyards, and Gardens, where they made their abode for several days. Their punishments are very severe, this being judg'd the most effectual way to prevent all publick disorders and mischiefs. They use no great formality in their processes: if the Criminal be taken in the Fact, and the witnesses ready and present to attest it, and sometimes if there be but probable circumstances, without full conviction, condemn him; and soon after sentence, sometimes an hour or less, hurry him away to execution. For an ordinary crime, hanging is the usual death: but for Robbery and Murder, committed upon the high way by such as rob in Parties and alarm whole Provinces, or for Sacrilege, or for any hainous Crime against the Government, either Gauching or Excoriation, or cutting off the Legs and Arms, and leaving the Trunk of the Body in the high way, or Empaling, that is, thrusting an Iron stake through the Body out under the Neck or at the Mouth; in which extreme torment the miserable wretch may live two or three days, if the Guts or the Heart happen not to be wounded by the pointed spike in its passage. This punishment seems to have been in use among the Romans, Seneca's Epistle 14. Cogita hoc loco carcerem, & cruces, & culculos, & uncum, & adactumter medium hominem, qui per os emergat, stipitem: and so in his Book De Consolatione ad Marcian cap. 20. Alii capitae conversos in terram suspendere: alii per obscena stipitem egerunt: alii brachia patibulo explicuerunt. Murder is seldom pardon'd, and especially if the Relations of the murder'd person demand Justice. The Circumcision, tho' it be a sacred Rite, is perform'd in their private Houses, and never in the Moschs. The Women colour their Eye-Brows and Lids with an ugly black powder, I suppose, to set off their beauty by such a shadow; and their nails with the powder of Kanna, which gives them a tincture of faint red, like Brick (as they do the Tails and Hoofs of Horses) which they look upon as a great ornament. Their great diversion is Bathing; sometimes thrice, if not four times a week. They do not permit them to go to Church in time of Prayer, for fear they should spoil their devotion: The Turk, being of so brutish a temper, that their Lust is rais'd upon the sight of a fair object. They are call'd oftentimes by the Names of Flowers and Fruits, and sometimes phantastic Names are given them, such as Sucar kirpara, or bit of Sugar, Dil Kerib, or Ravisher of Hearts, and the like. Their skill in Agriculture is very mean. In their Gardens they have several little Trenches to convey water, where it may be most necessary for their Plants and Flowers. They know little or nothing of manuring their Grounds: sometimes they burn their Fields and Vineyards after Harvest and Vintage, partly to destroy the Vermin, and partly to enrich the Soil. They tread out their Corn with Oxen, drawing a square plank board, about a foot and half or two foot over, studded with Flints, and winnow it upon their threshing Floors in the open Air, the wind blowing away the Chaff. They feed their Horses with Barly and chopt Straw; for I do not remember ever to have seen any Oats among them; and they make but little Hay. For draught of great weight in their Carts they make use of Buffalo's. Camels will endure Travel four days together without water, and will eat tops of thistles, shrubs, or any kind of boughs: they are very sure footed, and kneel when they are a loading, and live to a considerable number of years, some even to sixty. The chief Furniture of their Houses are Carpets, or Mats of Grand Cairo, neatly wrought with Straw, spread upon the ground; ground; they having no occasion of Chairs, Couches Stools, or Tables; their postures within doors, being different from ours. They have no Hangings, but their walls are whited and set off with painting, only adorn'd with a kind of Porcelane; no Beds clos'd with Curtains. They feal not with Wax, but Ink, at the bottom of the Paper, the Emperor's Name being usually written with flourishes and in perplext characters: Nor have they any Coats of Arms upon their Seals, there being no such thing as Gentility among them. Some of them, notwithstanding their zeal for Mahomet and the Religion by him establish'd, retain not only a favourable and honourable opinion of our Blessed Savior, but even place some kind of confidence in the usage of his Name or of the words of the Gospel, tho it may seem to be wholly in the way of Superstition. Thus in their Amulets, which they call charmata, being little bits of Paper of two or three fingers breadth, roll'd up in pieces of Silk, containing several short prayers or sentences out of the Alcoran, with several Circles with other figures, they usually inscribe the holy and venerable Name of Jesus, or the figure of the Cross, or the first words of St. John's Gospel, and the like. They hang them about their necks, or place them under their Arm-pits, or in their Bosom near their Hearts (being the same with what the Greeks call εὐχαριστία) and especially when they go to War, as a preservative against the dangers of it; and indeed against any misfortune whatsoever. Some have them sow'd within their Caps: and I heard of a Turk who was so superstitious herein, that he always pluckt it off, and was uncover'd, when he had occasion to make water. Some are such Bigots in their Religion, and so furious against Christians, that not only they treat them with all imaginable scorn and contempt, but take it ill to be salam'd or saluted by them, as if it were the effect of savageness or unbecoming familiarity. Their malice against the Christians makes them envy the rich Furs they have their Velets with, and it is a trouble to these hypocritical Zealots to see the Franks ride upon their fine Arabian Horses. The respect which they shew the Alcoran is wonderful: they dare not open the Leaves of it with unwashed hands, according to the advice or command written in Arabic upon the the Cover. Let no one touch this Book, but he that is clean. They kiss it, and bend their heads and touch their eyes with it; both when they open it and shut it. The Janizaries, when they attend upon Christian Ambassadors to their Audience, seem to appear in their Bravery, and in a Habit far from that of a Soldier, being without either Fire-Arms or Swords (which later are not worn but in time of service, or when they are upon a march, or embodied, wearing a Cap made of Camels hair, with a broad flap dangling behind, a gilt embroider'd wreath running round it, and an oblong piece of Brass rising up from the middle of their forehead near a foot, with a great Club in their hand, like inferior Officers of the Civil Government. But when they are in the Camp, they throw off their upper Veft, and Turbants, which they wear at all other usual times, as troublesome, and put on a Fife, or red Cap, which fits close to their head, and tuck up their Duliman or long Coat, to their Girdle, that they may be the more quick and expedite in their Charge. They affect finery and neatness in their Clothes and Shashes; not so much as a spot to be seen upon them, and in rainy or suspicious weather, are very careful how they go abroad without their Tamurlicks, which is a kind of Coat they throw over their heads at such times. Their Pans and Dishes are for the most part of Copper, but so handsomly Tinn'd over, that they look like Silver. There are thousands of Gypsies or Zingantes in Turkey, who live the same idle nasty kind of life, as they do in Christendom, and pretend to the same art of telling Fortunes; and are looked upon as the offscouring of mankind. It is accounted the extremest point of human misery to be a slave to any of this sort of Cattle. The Haggi, or Pilgrims, that have been at Mecca and Medina, forbear to drink Wine most religiously, out of a persuasion, that one drop would efface all the merits of that troublesome and expensive journey; and some have been possess with such a mad zeal, that they have blinded themselves after their been blest with the sight of Mahomet's Sepulcher. After fatzth, that is, an hour and a half in the night, throughout the whole year, there is as great a silence in the streets as at midnight: the Emperor Achmet in the year year 1611, having made an order, that no one should presume to be out of his house after that time; which is to this day most punctually observed. The Bostangi bashi, who has the command of all the Agiamoglanis in the Seraglio, the Topgibashi or such great Officers attended with a great train of armed Men, walking the Rounds, and drubbing such as they find abroad at unseasonable hours of what Nation or Quality soever, except Physicians, Surgeons, and Apothecaries, whom they allow at all times to visit the sick. The Turkmanis, (for so they are peculiarly called, as if they were the true Descendents of the old Turks or Scythians, whose wandring kind of life is described by the Poet. Nulla domus, plaustris habitant, migrare per arva have no fixt residence anywhere, but travel with their Families and Cattle from place to place, carrying their Wives and Children upon Camels; they pitch their Tents usually near Rivers and Fountains, for the convenience of water, and according as their necessities require, make a longer or a shorter stay. Their whole Estate consists in their numerous Flocks and Herds, which they sell upon occasion to supply themselves with what they want, at the Towns they pass by. Their only concern is how to enjoy the Benefits and Blessings of Nature, without the troubles and turmoils and disquiets of life; being contented and happy in one anothers Company, void of all ambition and envy, courteous and humane to Strangers, that may want their Help and Assistance, kindly entertaining them with such Provision, as their Folds afford. I have met with some companies of these harmless wanderers in my Travels. The Country lies open without any Inclosures, and the propriety not being vested in anyone, they travel thro the Plains unmolested, and find excellent pasturage everywhere. The Turks till no more ground then will serve their necessities: being supplied with Corn from Egypt, and from Moldavia and Walachia, by the way of the black Sea, letting vast tracts of ground lie waste and uncultivated; so that their Sloth herein sometimes is justly punished with Dearth. They have nothing to shew for their Houses and Possessions, but an Hogier or piece of Paper subscribed by the Cadi, if they have acquired them by their mony, or that they were their Fathers before them. The Dervises generally are melancholy, and place the greatest part of their Religion in Abstinence and other Severities. Some cut their flesh, others vow not to speak for six or seven years, or all their lives long, tho never so much provoked or distressed. Their Garments are made of a course sort of Wooll or Goats Hair: they are tied up by the vow of their Order ever from marrying. Several of this Sect in the height of their religious Phrenzy have attempted upon the lives of the Emperors themselves, (at whose Government they have taken disgust) as Mahomet the second, and Achmet, as if such desperate Attempts were fatal to Bigots in all Religions. They pay a mighty Veneration to any Relique of Mahomet, his Banner is still preserved in the Treasury of the Seraglio, and is lookt upon as the great Security of the Empire. They believe that it was sent from Heaven, and conveyed into the hands of Mahomet, by the Angel Gabriel, as a Pledge and sign of Success and Victory in his Battels against the Christians, and all other Enemies of the Musulman Faith. It was sent to Candia to encourage the Soldiers to endure the fatigue of that long and tedious Siege; and when it was brought thence after the surrendry of that City, to be deposited in its usual place, the Vizir gave several Christian Slaves, that row'd in the Gally that was fraught with this holy Ware, their liberty. They pretend to have some Rags of Mahomet's Vest, to which they ascribe great Virtue. In confidence of which, the Emperor Achmet, in the time of a great Fire, which raged at Constantinople, when all other means fail'd, dip't part of them in water to be sprinkled upon the fire to rebate the fury of it: Next to the Mufti or Cadaleskires are the Mollas, of which these four are the chiefeft in Dignity. The Molla of Galata, Adrianople, Aleppo, Prusa; and after them are reckoned these eight, Stambol Ephendi, Larissa, Misir or Cairo, Sham or Damascus, Diarbekir or Melopotamia, Curia, Sophia, Philippi. The Priests have no habit peculiar to their Profession, whereby they are distinguish'd from others. If they are put from their Moschs for miscarriage or neglect of doing their duty, or if they think fit to resign and be Priests no longer, they may betake themselves without any scandal to secular Employments, their former Character and Quality wholly ceasing. While they remain Priests, they counterfeit a more then ordinary gravity in their discourse and walking: and affect to wear Turbants swelling out, and made up with more crofs folds: which was all the difference which I could observe by their head Attire, which is various, tho I could not find that this was constantly and strictly observed. In Byram time, which is the great festival of the year, at which time every one looks cheerfully and merrily, among other signs of mutual Respect, they besprinkle one another with sweet water. They indulge to several sports: and some are mightily pleased with swinging in the open air, the ordinary sort of people especially, paying only a few Aspers for the diversion. The Government is perfectly arbitrary and despotical; the Will and Pleasure of the Emperour having the force and power of a Law, and oftentimes is above it. His bare Command without any process is enough to take off the head of any Person, (tho never so Eminent in Dignity: tho usually for formality and to silence the murmurings of the Soldiery and People, the Sentence is confirmed by the Mufti) Sometimes Balja's who have amassed great treasures in their Governments, are cut off in their own houses in the midst of their Retinue, the Messengers of death producing the imperial Command, usually sent in a black purse, and not a word drawn in their defense. Others, if they are obnoxious to the least Umbrage or Jealousie, tho dismift the Seraglio with all possible demonstrations of the grand Signior's Favour, and with rich Presents in order to take possession of places of great command in the Empire, before they have got two or three days journey from Constantinople, have been overtaken and strangled. In the Army Commands are given according to merit, Courage and Conduct are sure to be rewarded, the way lying open to the meanest Soldier to raise himself to be the chief of his order. But other Preferments depend upon meer chance, and upon the fancy of the Emperour, whether the Person be fit or no, and they are as soon lost. The least ill success or miscarriage proves oftentimes fatal, and a more lucky man is put in his place, and he succeeded by a third, if unfortunate in a design, tho managed with never so much Prudence and Valour. They admit of no hereditary Honours, and have no respect to Descent or Blood, except the Ottoman Family: he only is great and noble, whom the Emperor favours, and while his Command lasts. Accord- ing to a tradition, that passes current amongst them, a Bas- la's Son by a Sultana or a Daughter or Sister of the Emperour can rise no higher than to be a Sangiacbei or Governour of some little Province, much inferior to a Basla and under his jurisdiction. Being born of Slaves for the most part, they do not pride themselves in their Birth, very few among them being scarce able to give any account of their Grandfathers. They have no Surnames, but are distinguished by their pos- sessions and places of abode, and enjoying by law a liberty of having what women they please, they have little or no regard to Alliance or Kindred. Their Empire owes the continuance of its being to the se- verity of the Government, which oftentimes takes place without regard either to Justice or Equity, and to their fre- quent Wars, which prevent all occasions of mutiny and facti- on among the Soldiers, which happen frequently when unim- ploy'd. So that the ambition may put a warlike Sultan upon enlarging his territories by new Conquests, yet reason of state forces a weak and effeminate Prince, such as was Ibrahim, to make War for his own security. Their politicks are not owing to Books and Study and the Examples of past times, but to ex- perience and the plain suggestions of nature and common sense: They have Rules of Government, which they firmly adhere to, holding the reins strait, especially being cruel and inexo- rable to criminals of state, who never are to expect any mercy or pity. Their Councils formerly were open, and their Designs known, and proclaimed before hand, as if this had been a bravery becoming their greatness, and that they scorned to steal a Conquest. But they have learned since the Art of dissimulation, and can lie and swear for their Interest, and seem excessive in their Careless to the Ministers of those Countries, which they intend to invade. But their prepara- tions for arming are made with so much noise, that an or- dinary jealousy is soon awakened by it to oppose them, in case of an Attaque. They seldom or never care to have War at both extremes of the Empire at the same time, and there- fore they are mighty solicitous to secure a peace with Christ- endome, when they intend a War upon the Perfum: and as much as is possible, they avoid quarrelling with two Christian Princes at once, being usually at league either with Poland and Muscovy, when they war upon Hungary, and so on the contra- ry; dreading nothing more than an Union of the Christian Prince. Princes, bordering upon them, which would prove so fatal to their Empire, and quickly put a Period to their greatness. For hereby they would be put upon a necessity of making a defensive War to their great loss and disadvantage, and at last either be forced to beg a Peace of the Christians, or run the hazard of loosing all by a further prosecution of War. This they are very sensible of, and therefore as they take all occasion to promote Quarrels and Dissentions in Hungary and Transylvania, so they greatly rejoice, when the Princes of Christendome are at War one with another. This is their great time of advantage, and they know, that it is their true interest to pursue it, tho they do not always, by reason of the ill condition of their own Affairs, make use of it. During the Civil Wars of Germany, the Baffas and other Commanders of the Army were very importunate with the grand Signor, to make a War on that side, and to enlarge his Conquests as far as Vienna, no conjuncture having been ever so favourable to consummate such a design, in which Safiman so unhappily miscarried. They promised him an easy Victory, assuring him, that the Animosities of the Princes of the Empire were so heightened, that there was no room left for a Reconciliation, that he was but to go in the head of an Army to take possession, and that Austria would surrender at the first news of his march towards it. The Emperor was not to be moved at that time by these insinuations and plausible discourses; being continually urged, he as often denied. One day when they came to renew their advice about the German War, he having given order before, that several dogs should be kept for some days without meat, commanded that they should be brought out, being almost starved, and meat thrown among them; whereupon they snarled and bit one another: in the midst of their noise and fighting, he caused a Bear to be let loose in the same Area; the Dogs forgetting their meat, and leaving off their fighting, ran all upon the Bear, ready to prey upon them singly and at last killed him. This Diversion the Emperor gave his Baffas, and left them to make the application. A certain Prophecy of no small Authority runs in the minds of all the People, and has gain'd great credit and belief among them, that their Empire shall be ruined by a Northern Nation, which has white and yellowish Hair. The interpretation is as various as their Fancy. Some fix this Character on the the Muscovites: and the poor Greeks flatter themselves with foolish hopes, that they are to be their Deliverers, and to rescue them from their slavery, chiefly because they are of their Communion, and owe their Conversion to the Christian Faith to the Piety and Zeal of the Grecian Bishops formerly. Others look upon the Swedes, as the persons describ'd in the Prophecy, whom they are most to fear. The Ground and Original of this fancy I suppose is owing to the great Opinion, which they have of the Valour and Courage of that warlike Nation. The great Victories of the Swedes in Germany under Gustavus Adolphus were loudly proclaimed at Constantinople, as if there were no withstanding the shock and fury of their Arms: and their continued successes confirmed the Turks in their first belief, and their fears and their jealousies were augmented afterwards, when Charles Gustave, a Prince of as heroick a Courage, and as great Abilities in the Art and Management of War as the justly admired Gustavus, entred Poland with his Army, and carried all before him, seized upon Warsaw and drove Casimire out of his Kingdom, and had almost made an entire and absolute Conquest, only a few places holding out. This alarmed the Grand Signor and the Baffa's of the Port, as if the Prophecy were then about to be fulfilled, who did not Care for the company of such troublesome Neighbours, who might push on their Victories, and joyning with the Cossacks, advance their Arms further, and make their Country the seat of a War, which might draw after it fatal consequences. To prevent which, Couriers are dispatch'd from Constantinople to Ragotski, Prince of Transylvania, then in concert with the Swedes, to command him to retire with his Army out of Poland, as he valued the peace and safety of his own Country, and the friendship of the Grand Signor, whose Tributary he was, and by whose favour he had gain'd that Principality: And the Crim-Tartars, the sworn Enemies of the Poles, who at that time lay heavy upon them, were wrought upon by the same Motives and Reasons of State, to clap up a peace with them, that being freed from these distractions, they might unite their Forces the better together, and make head against the Swedes. The Ambassadors of Christian Princes, when they are admitted by the Grand Signor to an Audience, (their presents being then of course made, which are look'd upon as due, not to say, as an homage) are dismiss'd in few words, and referred ferred by him to his Wakil or Deputy, as He usually styles the chief Vizir: and a small number of their Retinue only permitted the honour of kissing his Veit, and then rudely enough sent away. The Grand Signors keep up the state of the old Astatick Princes: they do not expose themselves often to the view of the people, unless when they ride in Triumph, or upon some such solemn Occasion; when they go to the Moschs, or divert themselves in the Fields, either in Riding or Hunting, they do not love to be stared upon, or approached. It is highly criminal to pry into their Sports, such an insolent curiosity being often punished with death. The Story is famous of Morad the Third, who baiting a Bear in the old Palace with a Mastiff, and espying three fellows upon the Tower of Bajazids Mosch, who had planted themselves to see the Sport, commanded their Heads to be struck off immediately, and be brought before him, which was done accordingly. Instances of such Capricio's are frequent in the Turkish History; this following hapned during my stay at Constantinople. Upon the return of Vizir Achmet from Candia, after the Surrendry of that City, and a happy end put by him to that tedious and bloody War, he acquainting the present Emperor, then at Adrianople, with the History of that famous Siege at large, made such terrible Representations of their and the Venetians mining and countermining one another, that the Emperor was resolved out of curiosity to see the Experiment made of a thing, that seemed to him almost incredible. A Work was soon raised and undermined, and above thirty Murderers and Robbers upon the high-way and such like Villains were put into it, as it were to defend it. The Grand Signor stood upon an Eminence at some considerable distance, expecting the issue of it; upon a signal given, the Mine was sprung, and the Fort Demolished, and the poor wretches torn piece-meal to His great satisfaction and amazement. The Moon is the auspicious Planet of the Turks: according to the course of which they celebrate their Festivals. They begin their Months from the first appearance of it, at which time they choose, except a delay brings a great prejudice and inconvenience with it, to begin their great Actions. The Crescent is the Ensign of the Empire pire, which they paint in their Banners, and place upon the Spires of their Moschs. Next to the day of the appearing Moon, they pitch upon Friday, to fight upon, to begin a Journey, and especially their Pilgrimage toward Mecca, or do any thing of great Consequence, as very lucky and fortunate.