His stay in the imperial palace was, however, very short, as he was removed from it previously to the Persian expedition, undertaken the same year (1045) against Eriván, when he was enrolled among the Sipáhís, with a stipend of forty aspres _per diem_. Whatever importance Evliyá may have attached to the honour of having been for a short time an inmate of the seraglio, it seems to have produced no change in his life, which was that of a traveller all his days. To this vocation, he conceived he had a special call in a dream on the anniversary of his twenty-first birth-day (the 10th of Moharrem). He fancied himself in the mosque of Akhí-Chelebí, where the Prophet appeared to him in full glory, surrounded by all the saints of the Islám. When he wished to pray for the intercession (_shifáa’t_) of the Prophet, by mistake he asked for travelling (_siyáhat_), which was granted to him, together with permission to kiss the hands of the Prophet, the four Imáms, and of the saints. His friends the Sheikhs, from whom he requested the interpretation of this dream, assured him that he should enjoy the favour of monarchs, and the good fortune of visiting in his travels the tombs of all the saints and great men whom he had seen. From this moment he formed the resolution of passing his life in travelling, and visiting the tombs of the saints; thus his name _Evliyá_ (saints) became significant, as he was all his life _Mohibbi Evliyá_, that is, the friend of the saints. This circumstance accounts for the predilection he evinces in visiting the tombs and monuments of the saints, as he often dwells with particular pleasure on the description of places of pilgrimage. Evliyá (the friend of saints), Háfiz (knowing the Korán by heart), and Siyyáh (the traveller), are the names by which he styles himself, although he is more commonly known by the name of Evliyá Chelebí or Efendí; and his work is called _Siyyáh Námeh_, or the History of the Traveller. Having received his call by a vision of the Prophet, he commenced his travels by excursions through Constantinople and its environs, his topographical descriptions of which, as to the latter, are perhaps the best extant, and occupy the whole of the first volume. The most valuable portion of it is that towards the end, in which he gives a detailed account of the various corporations of tradesmen, and the rank they held in the solemn processions.