'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.' [‎86] (635/1024)

86 A Reiatiop of the Grand Seignors Seraglio.
I thought pertinenc to my defign,. to bring in this Story oi the T wo reliefs,
in order to the greater confirmation of what 1 have affirm’d at the beginning of this
Chapter, concerning; the impoliibility there is, for any perfon whatioever, Man,
or Woman, to get into the Appartment of the Sultanejjes, when they punilh, with
fo much feverity, a Stranger, who without expids order, prefumes but to let his
foot within any Court of the Seraglio.
Mw to dftjn- Take it then for granted, that this is all that can be known, with certainty,
fr^andwhat t ^ e Appartment of the Women, who are ffiblerv ient to the pleafures of tfie
fabulous, as to Ottoman Monarchs; Whatever is fca.tter’d abroad, beyond this Account thereof, being
the Sultanefles. grounded only upon imaginations and conjedtures, which haply are at a great
diflance from the truth. Certain it is, that this Quarter of the Seraglio, as to
fome part of it, has a fair Profpedt upon that of the Grand Seignor, and that the
Doors of it are kept night and day, by a certain number of NegroGEwucbs } the
molt deformed, and the moft dreadful to look upon, that can be'found. 7c is
certain alfo, that it is well furmfftd with abundance of moft beautiful Women,
, of leveral Countries, who, by the chance of War, or otherwife, are fallen imp
the hands of the Bajfa's, and Governours of Provinces, who fend them up, as ;
Prefents to the Grand Seignor. It is known aftb. That, of that variety of YVo-
men, the Prince does not appropriate to himfelf above-two or three, whom he has
the greateft affection for ; 'nay fomc of thofe Princes have confin'd themfelvcs to the
embraces of one only, after intermarriage. And this is affirm’d, at Gonfiantiwflc,
of Solyman the Great, after he had plighted hft faith to Roxulana^ contrary
ro the ordinary Policy of the Turks^ after the affront, done by Tmur-leng, to the
Wife of Bajazet. The white Eunuchs, who wait in the Grand Seignor’s Lodgings,
are able in fome meafure, to give an account of thefe things, in regard that
the Woman, who is to participate of the Grand Seignor’s Bed, is conduced into
his own Chamber; and, if it be a new Amour, the nolle of it is fpread, the
next day, all over the Seraglio.
It is alfo known, That the firft of thofe Women, who is deliver’d of a Male-
child, and by that means, becomes Mother to the perfumptive Heir of the Ottoman*
Empire, is confider’d as the principal Sultanefs y and treated according to her dig
nity: and the others, who afterwards have Sons or Daughters, have alldthe
quality and denomination of Sultaneffes ; but the number of the Women, who
are to wait on them, is much inferiour, to that of thofe who are to attend the
principal Suhanefs. It is known in fine. That thofe young Princes are brought
np under the tutelage of their Mothers, till they are fo many years of Age ; and
^When they areftrong enough to be put upon certain Exerciies, they have Cover-
Hours and Mafters appointed over them , in a diftindt Quarter by themfelvs.
Beftdes thefe things, which may be pofitively known, concerning the Appart-
ment of the Women, in the Seraglio, it may well be immagin’d, that the em w
, bellifliments of their Lodgings are anfwerable to thofe of the Grand Seignor, fince
it is the Place, where he paftes away the moft divertive part of his time. It is
alio not to be queftion’d , but that it has its Infirmary, its Baths, and the
ether accommodations, and conveniences, that can be wifft’d for. It may
alfo be_ conjcdhir’d, that there is, in this Quarter, an obfervance of the fame
regulations, as there arc in the Chambers of the Ichoglans: That fome of the more
ancient Maicis are Miftreffes over the Younger ones, and are, night and day em
ploy’d in ohferving their a£Uons; and that their unvoluntary reftrainc forces
them to the fame unfcemly Actions amongft themfdves, as the brutifh Pailions
of thofe Young Men engages them in, whenever they can find the opportunities
to commit them. And this prefumption has no doubt given occafion to the Fa
bulous Story, which , is related of their being ferv’d up with Cucumbers cut
into pieces, and not intire, out of a ridiculous fear leaft they fhould put them 'to
tindecent ufes: they who have forg’d the Story not knowing, that it is the cuftome
in the' Levant A geographical area corresponding to the region around the eastern Mediterranean Sea. , to cut the Fruit a-crofs, into great thick ft ices* as I fhall make it
appear in the Chapter, where I treat of Gardens. But it is net only in the
Seraglio, that that abominable Vice reigns, but it is predominant alfo in the CitV
Cmliantinoplt\ and in all the Provinces of the Empire, and the wicked Example
of the Men, who, flighting the natural ufe of Women-kind, are mutually in
flam’d with a detcftable loye for one another, unfortunately enclines the Women
to intimate them. Of