This mosque is built on a mound and is the last of the Imperial Mosques which I visited.
On the east side of the town is the mosque of Monlá Arab Jebbárí, a small mosque built after the model of the great mosque Ulú-jami’í, its fine situation invites the people to pray there. The mosque of Uftádí Efendí is in the inner castle. Of the Mesjíds or small mosques (where Khutbeh is not said on Fridays) it is the principal. The Mesjíd Zeiniler, the building of the Muftí Abd-ul-latíf, where I read the Korán from beginning to end in one day, without interruption. Here the Mollá Khosrew composed his famous book. At that time two hundred lead-covered mosques and seven hundred minárehs might be seen from Kází-yailá, a height half way up Mount Olympus.
The Colleges of Brússa.
The colleges are those of Orkhán, Ilderím, Murád, Mohammed I., Emír-sultán, Issa-beg, Kássem páshá, Joneid, Kadrí, Tenárí, Zein-ud-dín Háfí, Báyazíd-páshá, and Hamza-beg.
The Convents, Imárets, Kháns, Fountains, Mills and Sebíls of Brússa.
There are three hundred convents, the most handsome of which are, that of Mevlana Jelál-ud-dín containing eighty cells for Dervíshes, and a place for the dance (sima’a). That of Emír-sultán entirely covered with lead, which stands on a high hill. That of Zeiniler of the sect of Na’amán Ben Thábet. That of Uftádí Efendí, in the inner castle, of Khalvetí dervíshes. That of Abdál Murád Sultán of the Begtáshís, men fervent in piety, who bareheaded and barefooted with open breasts, wait upon the Moslims who frequent this delightful walk; it was built by Orkhán and possesses more than a thousand kettles, pans, and copper vessels; visitors perform their devotions here. That of Sheikh Kílí near the camel-driver’s station, the dervishes are Begtáshís and very poor, having no endowment, it was built by Sultán Orkhán. That of Abdál Sultán Mússa built by the same. That of Ak-bi’ík Sultán of the order of Begtásh. That of Abú Ishak Kasúlí who is buried at Erzerúm within the gate of Tebríz. That of Gulshení; seventeen Convents of Khalvetís; nine of Kadris; three of Nakshbendís; one of Rúfa’áïs; one of Kalenders, and one of wrestlers.
The Imárets (dining establishments for the poor) are those of Murád I. Ilderím Báyazíd, Emír Sultán, and that of Mohammed I., called the green one.
There are one hundred and eight kháns; the principal one is the rice khán, which has iron gates, a large stable, worthy of Antar, with two hundred cells; the silk khán, of the same size, where the inspector of the silk resides; the custom of the silk is let for three hundred purses a year; the butter khán on the gate of which is suspended a cask, which, being filled with búza, was once drank out by a single man who had laid a bet that he would do it. There are also seventy kháns called Mujerred Kháns for unmarried people. The cáravánseráï of Alí Páshá was built by Sinán the famous architect, and has doorkeepers.
The fountains of Brússa amount to the number of two thousand and sixty, every one of which vies with the spring of life. The Muftí Azíz Efendí himself built two hundred, his name appearing on all of them, with an inscription begging for a fátihah from those who drink. Besides these public fountains, each of the twenty-three thousand houses has its own supply. From certain springs water-courses pass from house to house, along the streets, and carry water to many basins, water-pipes, baths and gardens. The town being built at the foot of Mount Olympus, and the houses rising in rows one above the other, the water naturally flows to them. There are seventeen fountains, from which this large quantity of water is derived, the principal one is that called Búnár-báshí, which rushes out of the rock in several places on Mount Olympus and spreads itself over the town. The head fountains of Súnderlí, of Chatál Kainak, of Kepíz, of Náshí Dersí, of Sobrán, of Arejlí, of Chárshú, of Bellor Kainak, of Samánlí Kainak, the latter obtained the name of straw-boiler, because it issues from Mount Olympus, flows for some distance underground, and comes out again at another place, which is proved by the re-appearance of straws that have been put into the upper part of the stream; the Sheker Kainak (sugar-boiler); the Selám Kiassí Kainaghí; the Királ Kainak (king’s boiler); the Murád-dedeh Kainaghí; in short there are seventeen large fountains which yield the clearest and coldest water; but the channels decaying in the course of time, the keepers of the aqueducts, at night, throw horsedung into them, by which the openings are obstructed and the purity of the water is spoiled; they would not dare to do this in the day-time because they would be punished for it by the public officers.
The Water-mills are an hundred and seventy, which succeed one another from the head fountain (Búnár-báshí) to the fish-market and all the way down from Balabánjik; also in the valley of Eghzándí, at the tanners, the quarter of the lepers, the foot of the Castle, the gate of Hassán Páshá, &c. The establishments for distributing water (Sebíls) are six hundred. Although here, as at Brússa, there is such abundance of water that these establishments are superfluous, yet the generosity of the Ottoman Sultáns provided them for the distribution of iced water in the summer months.