'Collections of travels through Turky into Persia, and the East Indies. Giving an account of the present state of those countries, as also a full relation of the five years wars, between Aureng-Zebe and his brothers in their father's life time, about the succession. And a voyage made by the Great Mogul (Aureng-Zebe) with his Army from Dehli to Lahor, from Lahor to Bember, and from thence to the Kingdom of Kachemire, by the Mogols, call'd, the Paradise of the Indies. Together with a relation of the Kingdom of Japan and Tunkin, and of their particular manners and trade. To which is added a new description of the Grand Seignior's Seraglio, and also of all the Kingdoms that encompass the Euxine and Caspian Seas, being the travels of Monsieur TavernierBernier, and other great men.' [‎54] (603/1024)

^ A Relation of the Grand Settlors Seraglio.
There are yet other great advantages accrewing to the Chiet Officer j
The great ad- t h e Pages, from thole things which are brought into the Seraglio, upon thedetrk
vantages of the 0 £ the R al | a > s , When the Cbafnadar-bacbi has adverted the Grand 5 eign. 0 r rh
bzdTandthtM the Coffers, which had been brought in, there were many things not fit t
Pages of the the Service of his Highnels, and that it were better to put them off, before they W er
Treaty. injur’d by the moifture or the duft; the Prince gives his permifhoii for the faU
thereof, and therupo^ they take out^of the 1'reaiury what they do not account
worthy of a place there. Immediatedly, they fend for the Bazarcan-bachi or
Chief of the Merchants, who is the bdt skill’d in thofe things, and wk 0j
prefence of the Chajnadar-bach^ and the Pages of the Trealury, fets a value on every
piece, to their iatisfadtion ; for he does not prize it at above half the Worth. All
the Jewels that will bear a good price, and all the precious if ones are difpo s \j
into the Treaiury, and they expole to (ale only things of leis value, yet [uch
as ate worth much: as Trappings for Holies, Ponyards, Sabres, garnii’d
with Gold, Garments, rich Furres, Saiches^ 1 urbants, and other things of that
nature $ ail the pieces being valued^ the Chafnadar-bacbi fees afide the bdt of them
to be lent, together with the value iet upon them, to the principal perfons ot the
Seraglio, with whom he is glad to hold a fair correfpondence, and they pay { 0 r
them the more willingly, becaufe they have them ar an ealie rate. The reft is
dilfributed among the Pages-, according to the valuation, and having made choice
of Inch things as they will keep themfelves, fend avday what they do not like, to
be fold in Qmjiant ncfk^ by the HalvagU, wherein they alfo make a vafi advamage j
( confidering the appriiement 5 not accounting what the fame Halvagis may hedge
in for themfelves, as a compenfation for their trouble.
1 When there is fuch a iale made, the Jews are always waiting about the great
Gate of the Seraglio, not daring to come too near, for fear of a ehaflifement of the
IMinado from the Kafigvs^ which they are very free to give them. They ftand
in expectation of thefe Halvagu v with their bags full of Ducats and Ryals,
and make thebeft bargains they can with therm Thefe fffes are fddome made
above once in two years, and the lead of them does ordinarily exceed five hundred
thoufand Crowns/nay fome have amounted to eight hundred Thoufand. The
Grand Seignor is (oon advertis’d, what money has been rais’d by the fale, and
giving orders for thediipofal of it into the Treafury, be at the fame time bellows
ten or twenty Purfes on the principal Officer, and the Pages of the 1 reafury. He
does not make them that Prefent out of any other defign, then to fhew his Gran
deur, as being not ignorant of the advantages they have made by the Sale j but
he tolerates that cuftome, and knows well enough, that fooner or later, all thole
Th h‘h' ’ ^ 10 ^ ts come again into the Treafury.
tohndlt "’in- s Tis upon the fame confideration, that the Grand Scignor permits a manifeft
tereii. breach o.f the Law of Mahomet^ which prohibits the taking of any intefdl for
money lent 5 for he buffers the Pages, and others to lend confiderable fums to
the Jewes^ at the rate of fifteen upon the hundred, intereft. And the Vefms have
found out a very pleaiant evafion, to ftave off the reproach which might be made;
Tfje Ferfians to them, of their tranfgrefiing againft the fame prohibition.
ill cafuifts. The evafion is this. When they lend out mony to any one, they have a Bill
or Schedule made of the film that’s lent. Then they compute what the intereft
will amount to, which is commonly after the rate of twelve in the Hundred.
That done * they take a handkerchief, or fome old Safche, and giving it ro the
Perfon whom they lend the money td 5 they make him write a fecond Note,upon the
fcore of the intereft, wherein it is expreft, that the debt is for commodities bought,
and duly receiv’d. And thus do they think to dude the reproaches of their own
Confc’encies, and imagine, that they do not offend againft the prohibition of
Mahomet. The promife which the Debtor makes in wrung, is not fign’d by him,
it being mot the cuftom of the Countrey, but he puts his feal to it- And yet that
too is not fufficient, and it is further Fequiflte, that they go before the or
the Judge of the Law, fvho confummates the Work, by putting his own Seal to the
writing. , _ |
I have made appear, in this Chapter, the Means and Expedients, which t
Grand Seignor makes ufe of, to augment his Revenues; wefhali feeinthenex,
the ways fie lias to exercife his Liberalities, without any charge at all to hirp*|'