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 a 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 Barly 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 endure 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 a loading, and live to a considerable number of Years, some even to sixty.
The chief Furniture of their Houses are Carpets or Mats of Grand Cairo, neatly wrought with Straw, spread upon the Ground; they having no occasion of 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 adorn'd with a kind of Porcelane; no Beds clos'd 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 perplext 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, tho' it may seem to be wholly in the way of Superstition. Thus in their Amulets, which they call Chaimaili, being little bits of Paper of two or three Fingers breadth, roul'd up in pieces of Silk, containing several short Prayers or Sentences out of the Alcoran, 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 the Christians, that not only do 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 or 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 the Franks ride upon their fine Arabian Horses.
The respect which they shew the Alcoran is wonderful: They dare not open the Leaves of it with unwashen Hands, according to the Advice or Command written in Arabick 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 it and shut it.
The Janizaries, when they attend upon Christian Ambassadors 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 Camel's 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 Fess, or red Cap, which sits 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 Cloths 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 Yamurlicks, 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 handsomly Tinn'd over, that they look like Silver.