Narrative of Travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa, in the Seventeenth Century, Vol. II — John Shaqi
Narrative of Travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa, in the Seventeenth Century, Vol. IIEvliya Çelebi
History
Narrative of Travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa, in the Seventeenth Century, Vol. II
Evliya Çelebi
Caucasus, South -- Description and travel; Istanbul (Turkey) -- Description and travel; Turkey -- History
The fountains of Brússa amount to the number of two thousand and sixty,
every one of which vies with the spring of life. The Muftí Azíz Efendí
himself built two hundred, his name appearing on all of them, with an
inscription begging for a fátihah from those who drink. Besides these
public fountains, each of the twenty-three thousand houses has its own
supply. From certain springs water-courses pass from house to house,
along the streets, and carry water to many basins, water-pipes, baths
and gardens. The town being built at the foot of Mount Olympus, and the
houses rising in rows one above the other, the water naturally flows
to them. There are seventeen fountains, from which this large quantity
of water is derived, the principal one is that called Búnár-báshí,
which rushes out of the rock in several places on Mount Olympus and
spreads itself over the town. The head fountains of Súnderlí, of Chatál
Kainak, of Kepíz, of Náshí Dersí, of Sobrán, of Arejlí, of Chárshú,
of Bellor Kainak, of Samánlí Kainak, the latter obtained the name of
straw-boiler, because it issues from Mount Olympus, flows for some
distance underground, and comes out again at another place, which is
proved by the re-appearance of straws that have been put into the upper
part of the stream; the Sheker Kainak (sugar-boiler); the Selám Kiassí
Kainaghí; the Királ Kainak (king’s boiler); the Murád-dedeh Kainaghí;
in short there are seventeen large fountains which yield the clearest
and coldest water; but the channels decaying in the course of time, the
keepers of the aqueducts, at night, throw horsedung into them, by which
the openings are obstructed and the purity of the water is spoiled;
they would not dare to do this in the day-time because they would be
punished for it by the public officers.
The Water-mills are an hundred and seventy, which succeed one another
from the head fountain (Búnár-báshí) to the fish-market and all the way
down from Balabánjik; also in the valley of Eghzándí, at the tanners,
the quarter of the lepers, the foot of the Castle, the gate of Hassán
Páshá, &c. The establishments for distributing water (Sebíls) are six
hundred. Although here, as at Brússa, there is such abundance of water
that these establishments are superfluous, yet the generosity of the
Ottoman Sultáns provided them for the distribution of iced water in the
summer months.
_Praise of the Baths of Brússa._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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