From the Humayûn Gate one enters the so-called Court of the Janissaries, which was the first enclosure of the Seraglio. This large courtyard is still surrounded by various long, irregular buildings and shaded by groups of trees, among the latter of which the huge plane tree of the Janissaries is conspicuous with its mighty trunk, which the outstretched arms of ten men cannot span. On the left as you enter stands the church of St. Irene, founded by Constantine the Great, and converted into an armory by the Turks; all around stood the Seraglio hospital, the treasury, the orange storehouses, imperial stables, kitchens, the barracks of the kapuji, the mint, and the residences of high officials of the court. Beneath the plane tree may still be seen the two small stone pillars which mark the spot where public executions took place. Through this enclosure every one had to pass on his way either to the Divân or the presence of the Pâdishah: it was like a great open anteroom, always crowded with people and filled with bustle and confusion. In the enormous kitchens two hundred cooks with their assistants presided over a hundred and fifty ovens, preparing all the food consumed by that vast family “who ate the bread and salt of the Grand Seignior,” while opposite crowds of guards and attendants, feigning illness, tried to gain admission to the luxurious and sumptuous hospital, in which twenty physicians and an army of slaves were kept constantly employed. Long files of mules and camels brought provisions for the kitchens, or arms taken from victorious battlefields to the church of St. Irene, where, with the sword of Muhammad II., was that of Skanderbeg and the armlet of Tamerlane. Tax-collectors went by, followed by slaves laden with gold for that treasury which already, according to Sokolli, grand vizier under Suleiman the Magnificent, contained money enough to pay for the construction of an entire fleet of vessels, with silken rigging and anchors of silver; and handsome Bulgarian grooms led up and down the nine hundred horses of Murad IV., which fed out of mangers of solid silver. All day long there was a never-ceasing flash and glitter of gorgeous uniforms. Here towered the high white turbans of the Janissaries, and there the heron-quills of the _solaks_ or silver helmets of the _peiks_; members of the sultan’s guard lounged about in their golden tunics fastened about the waist with jewelled belts; the _zuluftu-baltagé_, employed under the officials of the bed-chamber, could be distinguished by the tuft of wool hanging from their caps; the _kasseki_ carried their wands of office, and the _balta-gi_ their axes; while the grand vizier’s pages were furnished with whips ornamented with silver chains. Then there were members of the _bostangi_, or guards of the gardens, in big purple caps--the _courageous guard_, the _impetuous guard_, archers, lancers, treasury guards, a countless variety of colors and devices;