The members of the household who were not held within the inner regions of the palace or near the person of the sultan were far more numerous. Many stood in close relations to the members of the inner service, either being under their authority or having regular dealings with them. All, of course, served the sultan, either directly or nearly so, through the mediation of one or more officers. To describe at length their subdivisions, duties, and officers would be to repeat an account which has been given often by others. Only a general sketch will be attempted here, by way of distinguishing the various groups of the service. Beginning with those in closest relations to the sultan, they were the learned associates of the master, the kitchen service, the body-guard, the palace-guards, the gardeners, the stable service, the tent-pitchers, the masters of the hunt, and the intendants. The learned associates of the sultan belonged chiefly to the corps of the _Ulema_. They therefore represented the Moslem Institution near the person of the monarch. Chief among them was the sultan’s _Hoja_, or teacher, a confessor or adviser in religious matters, who was held in very great esteem and was often advanced to high judicial office. Next came two _Imâms_, or preachers to the sultan, associated with whom were a number of muezzins, or chanters. After these ranked the _Hekim-bashi_, or chief physician, who had ten or more associates; the _Munejim-bashi_, or chief astrologer, whose services were believed to have a very real value; and the _Jerrah-bashi_, or chief surgeon, with ten or more helpers. The kitchen service under the oversight of the _Kilerji-bashi_ comprised bakers, scullions, cooks, confectioners, tasters, and musicians, each to the number of from fifty to one hundred.[454] Allied to these were the companies of tailors, shoemakers, furriers, goldsmiths, and the like, who were employed exclusively in the palace service.[455] Each group had its responsible head and was subject to a thorough oversight, since even such remote affairs, when under the care of the Ottoman Ruling Institution, were regulated and ordered with great precision. A number of these servants, such as the scullions, wood-cutters, and water-carriers, were _Ajem-oghlans_.