Narrative of Travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa, in the Seventeenth Century, Vol. IEvliya Çelebi
History
Narrative of Travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa, in the Seventeenth Century, Vol. I
Evliya Çelebi
Caucasus, South -- Description and travel; Istanbul (Turkey) -- Description and travel; Turkey -- History
near the poultry-market, is not inferior, as regards solidity, to the
Válideh Khán. It has upwards of two hundred and twenty apartments.
SECTION XXVI.
_Of the Cárávánseráis._
The Elchí Khán (Ambassador’s Khán), even in the time of the infidels,
was a khán for strangers, but it was endowed after the conquest by
Ikbál Páshá; the cárávánserái of Mohammed II.; of Báyazíd II.; of Selím
I.; of Soleïmán; of Khásekí Sultáneh; of Ahmed I.; of the Kapújílar,
near Ayá-Sófiya, where two great kháns stand opposite to each other; of
Kojeh Mohammed Páshá; of the Vafá; of the At-Maidán; of Sinán Páshá;
Báklálí Khán, near the palace of Melek Ahmed Páshá; and of Alí Páshá,
near the Bít-bázár (louse-market). These were all built by Sinán Páshá.
SECTION XXVII.
_Of the Barracks (Bekár oda)._
The most extensive barracks are those called _Yolgechen_, which
consist of four hundred rooms, and, in case of necessity, can hold one
thousand armed men. The odas of Sultán Murád IV. are eight in number,
and, like the former, have their officers and inspectors. Sultán
Soleïmán one day being offended with the Janissaries, said to them: “Be
silent, or I will subdue you by the shoe-makers at Merján-chárshu (the
coral-market). This threat having spread, forty thousand Janissaries
assembled instantly, armed with clubs and bludgeons, and with cries
of “Allah! Allah!” entered the imperial court. The Emperor, roused by
these shouts, came out, and said, “Well, my brave fellows, what is the
matter?” They replied, “You have this day declared your intention of
putting down the Janissaries by the shoe-makers, and we now wait for
your orders. We have on the instant assembled forty thousand men, but
if you will wait till to-morrow we shall have forty thousand more.”
Pleased with their bravery, the emperor told them they might ask for a
favour. They, therefore, asked that the price of a pair of _pápújes_
and _mests_ (slippers and leather-socks) should be fixed at between one
and two hundred akcha, which was immediately granted.
The odas of the armoury are near the Mahmúd Páshá; those of Pertev
Páshá and Hiláljí, near the Soleïmáníeh; forty odas for unmarried men
on the At-maidán; forty at Búyúk Karamán; the odas of Yedek Páshá; and
seven odas of Gharíbs, near the corn-market. Each of these barracks can
contain from one to two thousand men.
SECTION XXVIII.
_Of the Fountains ornamented with Chronographs._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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