The Office of Health is furnished with such ample Power and Authority, as makes it at once useful and respectable; it is administered by the Subjects of the Republick most eminent for their Prudence, Dignity and Talents; it is furnished with Abundance of Officers, a few of whom are employed in the Distribution of Orders, and the rest in their Execution. In describing occasionally these different Branches, much Light will be let in upon the Subject.
Experience has shewn, that in the Ottoman Dominions the Plague is never utterly extinct: Hence it is an immutable Law with the Magistrate of the Office of Health, to consider the whole Extent of the Ottoman Dominions, and every State dependent on it, as always to be suspected to be in an infected Condition, to such a Degree, as not to receive, in any Part of the Dominions of the Republick, either confining to or commercing with them, any Persons, Merchandizes, Animals, or any other Thing coming from thence, without the necessary Inspection of the Office of Health, and the previous Purifications.
To explain myself, I will suppose that a suspected Ship, coming from some Scale of the Levant, presents itself at the Mouth of these Ports, and, by describing the Conduct that is observed towards it, I shall shew the Rules that are practised with regard to every Vessel, coming from any Part of the World, that is either infected, or suspected to be so.
No Vessel can enter these Ports, unless it touches at Istria, and takes a Pilot on Board, or unless, on approaching to the Ports, it wait for the Towers of the Admiral to tow it up. These Officers do not immediately depend upon the Magistrate, but are obliged, however, not to neglect any of his Rules, nor to mix with any Vessel, even free or cleared, unless by the Magistrate’s Leave; to make use of tarred Cables, or Cables of in the towing Vessels in, in order to avoid all Communication, and to direct the Captain of every suspected Vessel to hoist up on the Mizen Mast a particular Signal; so that, by Means of the Spies, who are continually on the High Tower of St. Mark to discover any Vessels that approach, such Vessel is immediately known to be a Vessel subject to perform Quarantine.
As soon as the Vessel is discovered, the Magistrate has Notice, and all the Officers belonging to him; the Chief of whom instantly dispatches the Guardian (whose Turn it is) to meet it and go on Board, and guard it during the Term of Quarantine.
The Magistrate has Sixty of these Guardians in his Service, whose Duty it is, by Turns, either to go a-board any Ship, or to the Lazarettos, to superintend the Purification of Merchandizes, or the proper Quarantine of Persons. Their Duty, in general, is to see that all the Rules are observed concerning the Precautions and Purifications: Their Office is dangerous and delicate to the last Degree; they have a particular daily Appointment, which they have also from those concerned in the Ship or Cargo, besides their daily Provisions; and they answer with their Life any Contravention to the Rules that they should suffer to take Place, or dare to have any Hand in.
The Guardian then being dispatched to meet the Ship, he either meets her and goes a-board her out at Sea with the Admiral’s own Boat, when there is any Doubt that it may be come from infected Parts; or he waits for her in those Waters where the Admiral, or his Towers, bring her to cast Anchor; the Places being different according to the different Size of the Ships, or the different Inspections under which they fall; as, for Vessels that are very heavy, and sink deep in the Water, deeper Canals are assigned; for those coming from Places which, their Passes shew, were infected, or on Board of which there are any Appearances of the Plague, Canals are assigned more remote, even twelve or fourteen Miles distant from the City; and in that Case they are guarded by the publick Galleys, or Barks armed with Militia in Proportion to the Number of Vessels at one Time in that Quarantine, or according to the Quality of the Suspicions had of them, in order to prevent any Person from entring into these Canals, or any Thing being brought clandestinely out of them.
As soon as the Vessel is at Anchor, and has passed under the Observation of the Guardian, an Officer of the Magistrate (called Fante) is instantly sent on Board to bring the Captain, under the Precautions of the Office of Health, to the Abode of the Magistrate on the Shore to be examined.
The Magistrate has Seven of these Officers called Fanti; the Head of them is the Massaro; and his Duty is to collect all the Letters coming from suspected Countries, and to open and fumigate them; for at the Time the Captain of the suspected Vessel is brought to be examined, he must deliver all his Letters, and not only all such as were entrusted to him, but also all others in Possession of any Passengers or others on Board. And in this Point he is obliged to the strictest Vigilance, since, besides the particular Care required that Paper be not suffered to pass without undergoing the necessary Fumigations, there is Danger that in the Letters be contained Samples for Cloaths, or other Things susceptible, and consequently subject to Purification.