Part 38

They trouble not themselves with reading the histories of other nations or of ancient 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 (_Iscander_) _Alexander the Great_, Captain General of his army. They number _Philip_ of _Macedon_ among the ancestors of our Blessed Saviour, and believe that _Sampson_, _Jonas_, and St _George_ were his contemporaries. In this they are more excuseable than their false Prophet _Mahomet_, who in his _Koran_ has perverted several historical notices in the writings of the Old Testament, and is guilty of vile and absurd _Pseudo-chronisms_. To remedy this defect, of which he was very conscious, and the better to understand the state of Christendom, and the particular kingdoms and republics of it, the late great and wise Vizier _Achmet_, made his interpreter _Panagiotti_, 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 Soldier 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 _Neuruz_, which signifies in the _Persian_ tongue, the New-year, the twenty first day of _March_, (on which day the Veneral Equinox was fixed by the _Greeks_ and other _Oriental_ Christians, in the time of the Emperor _Constantine_, who made no provision for the προήγησις ἰσημερινὴ, or procession, 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 customs 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 Vizier accordingly in the Divan sits at the left hand of the Mufti, each maintaining their right of precedence, according to this way of decision.

In their Mosques they sit without any distinction of degrees.

Some of the more zealous _Turks_ cause to be engraven on their scymeters and bucklers a sentence out of the sixty first _Surat_, which is concerning fighting or battle-arrey, and contains encouragements to fight in the way and path of God, as the Impostor’s words are; 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 dies or lives.

The _Turks_ are, as to their temper serious, or rather enclining 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 Mosques 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 tipple, 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 Signior himself, and his chief ministers, could not escape their censures, which manifestly tending to sedition, and to the heightning of their discontents by their mutual complaints, and by this free venting of their grievances during the war at _Candia_, the wise Vizier seeing the evil consequences that would follow, if such meetings and discourses were any longer tolerated, commanded that all the public coffee-houses should be shut up in _Constantinople_, and several other great cities of the empire, where the malecontents used to rendezvouz themselves, and find fault upon every ill success and miscarriage, with the administration of affairs.

The custom of the _Turks_ to salute the Emperor, or the Vizier Bashaws, with loud acclamations and wishes of health and long life, when they appear first in their houses or any public 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 (προέλυσις) at which he was present, they sang to the Emperor _Nicephorus_ πολλὰ ἔτη, that is, Many Years, (which _Codinus_, who lived just about the taking of _Constantinople_ by the _Turks_, expresses by τὸ ψάλλειν τὸ πολυχρόνιον, or by τὸ πολυχρόνιζειν, and to wish or salute by πολυχρόνισμα) and at dinner the _Greeks_ then present wish’d with a loud voice to the Emperor and _Burdas_, _Ut Deus annos multiplicet_, as he translates the _Greek_.

The _Turkish_ coin in itself is pitiful and inconsiderable, which I ascribe not only to their want of bullion, but to 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 stamped 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 countries, and give it a new stamp. The most usual pieces are the Sheriphi of gold, somewhat less than a _Venecian_ Zecchine, and Aspers, ten of which are equal to six pence _English_ and some few Asper pieces. A Mangur is an old ugly copper piece, eight of which make but one Asper, and is not I think a _Turkish_ coin, but rather _Greek_. They have no arms upon their coin, only letters embossed on both sides, containing the Emperor’s name, or some short sentence out of the _Koran_.

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 happen’d but one, which was _October_ 26, 1669, about six o’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 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 thro’ a gallery down a pair of stairs into the court, if we had attempted it. The _Turks_ made direful reflections on it, as if some calamity would inevitably fall upon the empire, quickly forgetting the great triumphings and rejoicings which they exprest but a few days before for the surrender 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_ (_Anoyra_) and for fifteen at _Bacbaser_, as we heard from a _Scotch_ Merchant, who lived there; and particularly, that at this latter place, on the second of _August_, between three and four o’clock in the afternoon it lasted for a quarter of an hour; several houses were overthrown, and some hundred 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 public 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 highway, by such as rob in parties and allarm whole provinces, or for sacrilege, or for any heinous crime against the government, either gaunching 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 it’s passage. This punishment seems to have been in use among the _Romans_, _Seneca_’s Epist. 14. _Cogita hoc loco carcerem, & cruces, & eculeos, & uncum, & adactum medium hominem, qui per os emergat, stipitem._ And so in his book _De Consolatione ad Marciam, cap. 20_. _Alii capite 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, though it be a sacred rite, is perform’d in their private houses, and never in the Mosques.

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 _Turks_ being of so brutish a temper, that their lust is raised upon the sight of a fair object. They are call’d oftentimes by the names of flowers and fruits, and sometimes fantastic names are given them, such as _Sucar Birpara_, or bit of sugar, _Dil Ferib_, 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 an 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 barley 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 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 loading, and live to a considerable number of years, some even to sixty.

The chief furniture of their houses are carpets, or matts of Grand _Cairo_, neatly wrought with straw, spread upon the ground; they having no occasion for 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 adorned with a kind of porcelain; no beds closed with curtains.

They seal not with wax, but ink, at the bottom of the paper, the Emperor’s name being usually written with flourishes and in perplex’d 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 Saviour, but even place some kind of confidence in the usage of his name, or of the words of the Gospel, though it may seem to be wholly in the way of superstition. Thus in their amulets, which they call _Chaimaili_, being little bits of paper about two or three fingers breath, rolled up in pieces of silk, containing several short prayers or sentences out of the _Koran_, 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 ἐγκόλπια) 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 pluck’d 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 sawciness and unbecoming familiarity. Their malice against the Christians makes them envy the rich furs they line their vests with, and it is a trouble to these hypocritical zealots to see _Franks_ ride upon their fine _Arabian_ horses.

The respect which they shew the _Koran_ is wonderful, they dare not open the leaves of it with unwashen hands, according to the advice and command written in _Arabic_ upon 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 and shut it.

The Janizaries, when they attend upon Christian Embassadors 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 latter 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 vest and turbants, which they wear at all other usual times, as troublesome, and put on a fez 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 cloaths 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 _Yamurlics_, 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 handsomely tinned over, that they look like silver.

There are thousands of Gypsies or _Zinganies_ 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 look’d upon as the off-scouring 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 possest with such a mad zeal, that they have blinded themselves after their having been blest with the sight of _Mahomet_’s sepulchre.

After _Jatzah_, that is, an hour and an 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 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 _Agiamoglans_ 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, Chirurgions, and Apothecaries, whom they allow at all times to visit the sick.

The _Turkmans_, (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,

Ἁμαξόβιοι { _Nulla domus, plaustris habitant, migrare per arva_ { _Mos, atque errantes circumvectare penates._)

have no fix’d residence any where, but travel with their families and cattel from place to place, carrying their wives and children upon camels; they pitch their tents usually near rivers and fountains, for the conveniency of water, and according as their necessities require, make a longer and shorter stay. Their whole estates 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 enclosures, and the property not being vested in any one, they travel thro’ the plains unmolested, and find excellent pasture every where. The _Turks_ till no more ground than will serve their necessities, being supply’d with corn from _Egypt_, and from _Moldavia_ and _Wallachia_, by the way of the Black sea, letting vast traces of ground lie waste and uncultivated; so that their sloth herein sometimes is justly punish’d with dearths.

They have nothing to shew for their houses and possessions, but an _Hogiet_, or piece of paper subscribed by the Cadi, if they have acquired them by their money, or that they were their father’s 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, though never so much provoked or distressed. Their Garments are made of a coarse sort of wool, 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_ II, and _Achmet_, as if such desperate attempts were fatal to bigots in all religions.

They pay a mighty veneration to any relic of _Mahomet_, his banner is still preserved in the treasury of the Seraglio, and is looked upon as the greatest 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 surrender of that city, to be deposited in it’s usual place, the Vizier gave several Christian slaves, that row’d in the galley 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 failed, dipt part of them in water to be sprinkled upon the fire to abate the fury of it.

Next to the Mufti or Cadaleskiers are the Mollas, of which these four are the chiefest in dignity. The Molla of _Galata_, _Adrianople_, _Aleppo_, _Prusa_; and after them are reckoned these eight, _Stambol Ephendi_, _Larissa_, _Misir_ or _Cairo_, _Sham_ or _Damuscus_, _Diarbeker_ or _Mesopotamia_, _Cutaia_, _Sophia_, _Philippi_.

The Priests have no habits peculiar to their profession, whereby they are distinguished from others. If they are put from their Mosque 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 than ordinary gravity in their discourse and walking: And affect to wear turbants swelling out, and made up with more cross folds; which was all the difference which I could observe by their head-attire, which is various, though 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.