SECTION XXIII.
Of the Tímáristán and Moristán, or Hospitals.
The Tímár-kháneh of Mohammed II., which consists of seventy rooms, covered with eighty cupolas, is attended by two hundred servants, a physician-general, and a surgeon. All travellers who fall sick are received into this hospital, and are well attended to. They have excellent food twice a day; even pheasants, partridges, and other delicate birds are supplied. If such are not at hand in the hospital, it is provided by the charter of foundation that they shall be furnished from the imárets of Sultán Soleïmán, his son Prince Mohammed, Sultán Ahmed I., Khásekí Sultán, Vafá Sultán, Eyúb Sultán, Prince Jehángír, Mehrmáh Sultáneh, and of the Válideh’s mosque at Scutari. There are musicians and singers who are employed to amuse the sick and insane, and thus to cure their madness. There is also a separate hospital for infidels. The hospital of Sultán Soleïmán is an establishment so excellent, that the sick are generally cured within three days after their admission, it being provided with most able physicians and surgeons. The mosques of Báyazíd and Selím have no hospitals attached to them. The hospital of Sultán Ahmed is chiefly for the reception of insane persons, on account of the purity of its air. The attendants are remarkable for their patience and good-nature, the reason of which is, that they are under the immediate inspection of the Kizlar-ághásí, who himself attends to inquire into the state of the sick. The hospital of the Khásekí, near the women-market, is also an excellent institution.