There are thousands of Gypsies or Zinganies in Turky, who live the same idle nasty kind of Life, as they do in Christendom, and pretend to the same Art of telling Fortunes; and are look'd upon as the Off-scouring of Mankind. It is accounted the extremest point of human Misery to be a Slave to any of this sort of Cattel.
The Haggi, or Pilgrims, that have been at Mecca and Medina, forbear to drink Wine most Religiously, out of a perswasion, that one drop would efface all the Merits of that troublesome and expensive Journey; and some have been possess'd with such a mad Zeal, that they have blinded themselves after their having been bless'd with the sight of Mahomet's Sepulcher.
After Jatzih, that is, an Hour and a half in the Night, throughout the whole Year, there is as great a silence in the Streets as at Midnight: The Emperor Achmet in the Year 1611. having made an Order, that no one should presume to be out of his House after that time; which is to this Day most punctually observed. The Bostangi bashi, who has the Command of all the Agiamoglans in the Seraglio, the Topgibashi or such great Officers attended with a great Train of armed Men, walking the Rounds, and drubbing such as they find abroad at unseasonable Hours of what Nation or Quality soever, except Physicians, Chyrurgeons, and Apothecaries, whom they allow at all times to visit the Sick.
The Turkmans, (for so they are peculiarly called, as if they were the true Descendents of the Old Turks or Scythians, whose wandering kind of Life is described by the Poet;
| Ἁμαξόβιοι | Nulla domus, plaustris habitant, migrare per arva |
| Mos, atq; errantes circumvectare penates.) |
have no fixt Residence any where, but Travel with their Families and Cattle from Place to Place, carrying their Wives and Children upon Camels; they pitch their Tents usually near Rivers and Fountains, for the convenience of Water, and according as their necessities require, make a longer or a shorter stay. Their whole Estate consists in their numerous Flocks and Herds, which they sell upon occasion to supply themselves with what they want, at the Towns they pass by. Their only concern is how to enjoy the Benefits and Blessings of Nature, without the troubles and turmoils and disquiets of Life; being contented and happy in one another's Company, void of all Ambition and Envy, Courteous and Humane to Strangers, that may want their Help and Assistance, kindly entertaining them with such Provision as their Folds afford. I have met with some Companies of these harmless Wanderers in my Travels. The Country lies open without any Inclosures, and the Propriety not being vested in any one, they Travel thro' the Plains unmolested, and find excellent Pasturage every where. The Turks Till no more Ground than will serve their necessities: Being supplied with Corn from Ægypt, and from Moldavia and Walachia, by the way of the Black Sea, letting vast Tracts of Ground lie wast and uncultivated; so that their Sloth herein sometimes is justly punished with Dearths.
They have nothing to shew for their Houses and Possession, but an Hogiet or piece of Paper subscribed by the Cadi, if they have acquired them by their Mony, or that they were their Fathers before them.
The Dervises generally are Melancholy, and place the greatest part of their Religion in Abstinence and other Severities. Some cut their Flesh, others vow not to speak for six or seven Years, or all their Lives long, tho' never so much provoked or distressed. Their Garments are made of a course sort of Wool or Goat's Hair: They are tied up by the Vow of their Order ever from Marrying. Several of this Sect in the heighth of their Religious Phrenzy have attempted upon the Lives of the Emperors themselves, (at whose Government they have taken disgust) as Mahomet the second, and Achmet, as if such desperate Attempts were fatal to Bigots in all Religions.
They pay a mighty Veneration to any Relique of Mahomet, his Banner is still preserved in the Treasury of the Seraglio, and is look'd upon as the great Security of the Empire. They believe that it was sent from Heaven, and conveyed into the Hands of Mahomet, by the Angel Gabriel, as a Pledge and Sign of Success and Victory in his Battels against the Christians, and all other Enemies of the Musulman-Faith. It was sent to Candia to encourage the Soldiers to endure the fatigue of that long and tedious Siege; and when it was brought thence after the Surrendry of that City, to be deposited in its usual Place, the Vizir gave several Christian Slaves, that row'd in the Galley that was fraught with this Holy Ware, their Liberty. They pretend to have some Rags of Mahomet's Vest, to which they ascribe great Virtue. In confidence of which, the Emperor Achmet, in the time of a great Fire which raged at Constantinople, when all other means fail'd, dipt part of them in Water to be sprinkled upon the Fire to rebate the Fury of it.