Narrative of Travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa, in the Seventeenth Century, Vol. I

EVLIYÁ EFENDÍ.
TRANSLATED FROM THE TURKISH BY THE RITTER JOSEPH VON HAMMER, F.M R.A.S, &c. &c. &c.
LONDON: PRINTED FOR THE ORIENTAL TRANSLATION FUND OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND; SOLD BY PARBURY, ALLEN, & Co., LEADENHALL STREET.
M.DCCC.XXXIV.
LONDON: Printed by J. L. Cox and Son, 75, Great Queen Street, Lincoln’s-Inn Fields.
ADVERTISEMENT.
The narrative of an Asiatic traveller, enthusiastically fond of seeing foreign countries, and unwearied in his investigation of their history, condition, and institutions, is in itself so great a singularity, and so deserving of attention, that no apology seems requisite for thus presenting Evliyá Efendí in an English dress: and the name of the Ritter von Hammer, by whom this work was abridged and translated, is a sufficient voucher for its intrinsic merit and the accuracy of the version.
It is requisite to inform the reader, that throughout the work the Asiatic words and proper names are spelt according to the system of orthography adopted by Sir William Jones and Sir Charles Wilkins, which gives to the consonants the sound they have in our own, but to the vowels that which they have in the Italian and German languages; and by assigning to each Arabic character its appropriate Roman letter, enables the Oriental student to transfer the word at once from one mode of writing to the other.
London, 20th Jan. 1834.
His stay in the imperial palace was, however, very short, as he was removed from it previously to the Persian expedition, undertaken the same year (1045) against Eriván, when he was enrolled among the Sipáhís, with a stipend of forty aspres per diem . Whatever importance Evliyá may have attached to the honour of having been for a short time an inmate of the seraglio, it seems to have produced no change in his life, which was that of a traveller all his days. To this vocation, he conceived he had a special call in a dream on the anniversary of his twenty-first birth-day (the 10th of Moharrem). He fancied himself in the mosque of Akhí-Chelebí, where the Prophet appeared to him in full glory, surrounded by all the saints of the Islám. When he wished to pray for the intercession ( shifáa’t ) of the Prophet, by mistake he asked for travelling ( siyáhat ), which was granted to him, together with permission to kiss the hands of the Prophet, the four Imáms, and of the saints. His friends the Sheikhs, from whom he requested the interpretation of this dream, assured him that he should enjoy the favour of monarchs, and the good fortune of visiting in his travels the tombs of all the saints and great men whom he had seen. From this moment he formed the resolution of passing his life in travelling, and visiting the tombs of the saints; thus his name Evliyá (saints) became significant, as he was all his life Mohibbi Evliyá , that is, the friend of the saints. This circumstance accounts for the predilection he evinces in visiting the tombs and monuments of the saints, as he often dwells with particular pleasure on the description of places of pilgrimage. Evliyá (the friend of saints), Háfiz (knowing the Korán by heart), and Siyyáh (the traveller), are the names by which he styles himself, although he is more commonly known by the name of Evliyá Chelebí or Efendí; and his work is called Siyyáh Námeh , or the History of the Traveller.