'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.' [‎74] (623/1024)

A Relation of the Grand Seignor s Seraglio.
having any Perfon among them, tp inftrud them ; and a man may ^ lavei^ live
or fix davs Tourney in their Countrey, and not meet with either z Mollab ora
Mufamy. ' The fame realon may alio be given for their being, for the molt part,
tincircumciVd, and that they who have receiv d Circumcihon, had it not ciil they
Were Twelve or Fifteen Years of Age 5 and that accidentally by going to lome
place at*a great diliance, to find out a Mollab^ and delrayingthe Charges gt their
Friends and Relations, who muft accompany them to that Ceremony. ,
The Grand Between the Chamber, where thele poble Relicks are to be leen, and that of
Seignor’s the Forty Pages, of which I have given an Account at the beginning of this
garter. Chapter, you have the Profpedf of a treble Portal of Porphyry ^ that is, three doors
at a fmall difiance one from the rither, whereof that in the middle gives en
trance into the Grand Seignor’s Appartment. 1 he two others lead to the Lodgings
of the Chokgdar-AgX) and the RiquabJar-Agf^ and thofe lodgings are veiy dark,
becaule they are not in a place where light can be brought into them, and
that at the fir If building thereof, they could afford each of them but one little
> Window. But abating that inconvenience, they are well enough furnifh’d 9
according to the mode of the Country, you tread upon nothing but filken Car
pets; there’s no Want of Brokado-Cufhins and emboyder’d ones, and the Walls, .
which are all of white Marble, entertain the Eye with pots of Flowers plainly
painted, at certain equal diffances, about which there has been an ingenious ap-
p i 'ation of Gold and Azure. The Grand Seignor’s Quarter begins with a Hall,
which is fpacious enough, and the embellifhments of the infide of it arc correfpon-
dent to thole of the outfidc. It is an incruffation of Marble, of feveral colours, and .
the Floor of it is cover’d only with the large Woollen Carpers, which are brought
out of Verfia, but fuch as are more fumptuous, and much more highly effcem’d,than
thofe which are made of Silk. All about the Hall, for the fpace of Five foct,
there are fpiead Coverlets of Silk, of a light colour, fome Tufted, fome Embroy-
der’d, and upon the Coverlets, there are feveral forts of Rich Cufhions, four foot
i-n length, and between two and three in breadth.
Amurach’s Of the two Doors, which are within the Hall, one goes to the Appartment
Belvedere, of the Vages^ the other to the Quarter of the Suhawffes, and as you go out by this
lafi mentioned, you enter into a Flower-Garden, in the midft whereof there is a
Bafin with its water-work. From one of the ends of the Garden you pals to the
Rtvan Koncbf that is to fay, a Chamber fupported by Pillars. It is a Belvedere, or fpa
cious Room, having a delightful Profpebf of all Tides, which the Sultan Anwrfh
caus’d to be built, at his return from the Perfian War, after he had taken the City
of Babylon from Sacb-Seji^ the King of that Kingdom, ruin’d the Province of ‘Tauris,
•and added that oiErivan to his Conquefts, by the perfidioufnefs of the Governour.
I (hall give you an account anon, how he was juftly puniftTd, for that atb of
Treachery, and I referve the Compleat hiftory of his bafenefs, for the Relations
of my Travels. • .. -
This Rcom or Arbour, which we call the Blvedtre , from the delightfulnels
of its Profpeft, ri built in an Eminent place, upon a fieepy Rock. It is a noble
Arched Roof, and the Walls, which are rais’d no higher than that a Man may
reft his Elbow on them, are all of White Marble, with fome Arabian Verles
thereon, cut and gilt. It is open on all (ides, and the Lattices all about it, hinder
thole that are within it from being feen by fuch as are on the outfide, and a fiord
them withal one of the moft delightful Profpedts in the World. For, from that
Room; they have the fight of all Galata and Pera, all that pleafant Landskip ot
Ada, about Scut.mt and Chalcedony the Port of Confiantinopk, one of the noble ft of
all Europe, and the Channel of the Blacky So*/which at the point of the Seraglio, is
intermixt with the VVaters of the Medeterranan, where there is obfervablc, in the
midft, as it were, a white foamy ftreak. Which feems naturally to denote the Con
fines of and 4/?^* ■ u .,
fir Excellent ’Twas in this pleafant Arbour, that AmuratJrwas often wont to divert himfelf, wall
wines of Tt- that Governour of Erivan, who had taught him to drink Wine, whereto he y.au
' neios. , fo cafily accuftqm’d himtelf, that many times, he fpent three days together, m a
continu’d debauch. The only Wine he drunk was of the Iflands of f (nodes, ^ the
moft excellent of any of the Iflands efthe Arcbipbelago, and the leaft intoxicating j
and he boon became as good a proficient in the drinking of it, as the Mafter, who