He also garbed in _caftans_[24] in the Imperial presence those whom the sultan would thus honor. Another curious duty was the following: whenever the sultan had his head shaved, and the personal attendants stood in order before him; their hands crossed respectfully over their girdles, the khass‐oda‐bashi placed himself several steps from the sofa, on which the sultan sat, his right hand resting on a baton chased with gold and silver. The white eunuchs lodged behind the third gate of the palace, the Bab‐el‐saadet, or Gate of Felicity. D’Ohsson states:[25] “The seraglio is their prison and their tomb; they are never permitted to absent themselves. The white eunuchs have no other prospect than the post of Commandant of the school of pages at Galata.” It would seem that Ibrahim must have been a eunuch. Daniele Barbarigo states it flatly[26] and the office of khass‐oda‐bashi, according to D’Ohsson, was held only by eunuchs. Furthermore Solakzadeh speaks of Ibrahim’s being called from the Imperial harem to the grand vizirate, and all the officials of the harem were necessarily eunuchs. But to Ibrahim the seraglio was neither a prison nor a tomb. He went freely about the city, and his rise was not at all impeded by what generally proved a fatal limitation. Other eunuchs have also overcome their limitations, for D’Ohsson mentions four eunuchs, kizlar aghas, who became grand vizirs. Another very distinguished eunuch, Ghazanber Agha, a Hungarian prisoner‐of‐war, in childhood was educated as a page in the serai, became a Mahommedan and, because Selim II, the son and successor of Suleiman the Magnificent, wanted him about his person, he voluntarily submitted to castration, in order to enter the corps of white eunuchs. His office was capou agha (captain of the gate) which he held for thirty years, and raised to a very great importance.