The Porters or _Capoochees_ stand always upon Duty at these Gates. Just above them the Hill rises up to a smooth Level with the Ridge of the _Promontory_. The Porch or Gate-house is lined on each Side with glittering Armour, and shines, as do also the Jambs of the Gate with rich Marble. Over the Porch there rises a square Building cover’d with Lead, as are all the other Edifices of the Palace. There’s a Passage out of the first Court through another two-leav’d Gate into the second inner Court. This is the Station of the _Drudging Porters_. The Gate-house here also blazes with refulgent Arms. This Gate, without side of it, has nothing like a Porch, though within side it has. ’Tis supported with ten Pillars of different Kinds of Marble; the Roof of it proudly glitters with Gold, and is beautify’d with the most rich and lively Colours of _Persian_ Work. At the third Gate, where the Entrance opens into the _Seraglio_, there are other Porters or _Capoochees_ attending. These are under the Command of the _Capoochee-Basha_, or Captain of the Porters, who is also Chamberlain to the _Grand Seignor_. No body is suffer’d to enter the Palace without his Permission, but the Servants and Officers of the Houshold, unless it be his Noblemen, who while he is sitting near the Door of the _Seraglio_, may freely enter to pay their Homage to him. All Ambassadors, when introduced into his Presence, are allow’d to kiss his Hand, who receives them sitting upon a low Couch, but curiously embroider’d, in a little Apartment built with Marble, adorn’d with Gold and Silver, and sparkling with Diamonds and precious Stones. This Room of State is incircled with a _Portico_, which is supported with Pillars of the finest Marble, the Capitals and Pedestals of which are all gilded. Besides these I have mention’d, there are many other Gates round the _Seraglio_, through which none are admitted, but such as are in the highest Favour with the Emperour. If I mistake not, I counted twelve, which were all Iron-work; seven of them were near the City; two of them, through which they carried their Hay to the _Seraglio_, were near the Sea; on the Sea Side there were five more: The first of these stands to the North of the _Seraglio_, towards the Bay; the second stands upon the Ridge of a Hill: ’Tis very large, has a Porch with an arch’d Roof before it, is gilded, and adorn’d in a surprizing manner with _Persian_ Paintings, supported with Pillars of _Ophitick_ Marble, and looks into the _Bosporus_. At some Distance Eastward there is another Gate facing _Chalcedon_. Just before it the Vessels are moor’d, in which the _Grand Seignor_ sails to some distant Shore, when he goes a hunting, or is inclined to divert himself in his Gardens. The fourth Gate stands South-east near the Ruins of a _Christian_ Church, some Tokens of which are still remaining in a Wall, to which the _Greeks_ to this Day, by their frequent Visits, continue to pay a kind of devotional Reverence. Beyond this there is a