'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.' [‎70] (619/1024)

7°
A Relation of the Grand Seigmrs Seraglio
furnilh’d much after the fame rate 5 but it is not near ib lightibtne,or rather, it wants
liahr. As there is not fo great a number of them, io have they accoidingly more
place to fit, or lye down; and in the midft of the Chamber, you find a little fquare
place, rais’d up fomewhat higher than the Beds of the Pages, whence the Haz-Qda-
bachi their Governour, may obferve all their abtions, and fee how they, demean
themfelves. He has order to give the Grand Seignor notice of it, Kewards being
the confcouences of good abtions, as chaflilements are, of bad ones; and it is alio
incumbent upon him, to make Ipeedy provifion of all the things they hand in
need of. Over the Door of that Chamber, thefe words, La Ilia He Jlla i &e.
whereof 1 have often made mention, are engrav’d in large golden Letters; and
at the four corners, are the Names of Mahomet s four Companions, Ebou be^
Oman Ofman^ and AH, engrav’d in like manner in black Marble^ When the Grand
Seignor has made a Baffa, and that he is to take his leave of his Highnds, to go to
his Government, he comes out at that Door, where all thofe names arc engrav’d,
and as foon as he is come out, he turns his face again to the Door, and kifles the
Threfhold of it, with great humility. ......
As foon as you are come into the Chamber, you find on the right hand ieveral
Words of the Law, written, and enchac’d, in guilt fquares, and one of thefe
Writings is, of Sultan Achmet's, the Father of Amurath. On the left hand, you
Amble ^find, fatten’d to the Wall, a Coat of Mail a Head-piece, and a great Buckler;
went 0/ Amu- it is one of the Monuments of Amurath s Valpur. During the Siege of Bagdet^ or
rath’s Valour.Babylon, a coming out of the City, and challenging anyone of the Befiegers
to meet him, that Prince, one of the moft courageous and firongeft men of his age,
would needs receive him himfelf, without any other Arms, than a Sabre in his hand,
though the Petfian was arm’d from head to foot. Amurath who was not only a pro
digious Perfon as to ftrength, and valour, butalfo well skill’d in the ufe of a Wea
pon, afforded him ngt the time to confider whom he had to deal withal, but im-,
mediately gave him fuch a furious blow with the Sabre, oyer the right Ihoulder/
that he cut his coat of Mail quite to the Middle of his Body, and left him dead
upon die place. . ~ * ... v . , r , . _ ..
Oppofite to the Haz-Oda, or the Chamber of the forty Pages, there is a Gallery
of a confiderable length, and particularly remarkable for its StrutoT. It is open
on both Tides, and has, of each, a row of white Marble-Pillars; but it inbuilt after
the Serpentine fafhion, and they who walk in it are, every fix paces, out of fight
one of the other. There are, under this Gallery four great Preifes, to put up the
accoutrements of the four Officers, who are always about the Grand Seignor’s Per-
ibn, to wit, the Seligdar-Aga, the Chohadan Aga, th$ Kequabdar-Aga^nd the Hazoda-
bachi, of whom I have fpoken at the beginning of this Relation, when I gave a
Lift of the Grandees of the Port. .
the \dtuation This Gallery, of lo tantaftick and fo extraordinary a Stru£!re, is not far from
ef the Mofques that other, Which is a cohtinud afeent, and whereof I made mention in the prece-
m Turkey, ^ oppofke to this, laft, there is a Mofquey of the middle Tort, as to
the laugehels, the length of it fomewhat exceeding its breadth, afid if ftands. North
and South, a fituation the Ttirks obferve in alf their Molqucys,. which are always
tUrnd towards Mccba, which place is Meridional to all the provinces of the Empire.
There is in the Wall, oppofite to the South, a kind of Neech, which they call
Mihrab, into which the W, who is their Prieft, gets up, to Tay Prayers at the ac-
cuftomed hours, and the Grand Seignor is prelent thereat, with the forty Pages of
the Haz-Oda, in a little Room, the Window wheerof is oppofite to the Neech.
On both Tides of the fafd Neech, there is a Gallery fuftain’d by five Pillars,
fome whereof are of green Marble, and the reft of Prophyry. And in the Mol-
quey, and in the Chamber, or Room, into which the. Grand Seignor comes to do
his Devotions, and in the two Galleries, there’s no going but upon rich Carpets-
You are not to look for ought of Painting there ; nor have the Walls any other
Ornament, then that of. the whitenels of the Marble, whereof they are built.
But there arc a great many Writings, in large Arabic}^ Ghara&ers, enchac’d in
gilt Borders, hanging up in feveral places, and thofe Writings contain only
things taken out of the Law of Mahomet.
The Window of the Chamber into which the Grand Seignor comes to do
his Devotions, is fix foot in length, and three foot high, and has a Lattice with