The Lion of Janina; Or, The Last Days of the Janissaries: A Turkish Novel

by Mór Jókai

  CHAPTER XVIII

  THE BROKEN SWORDS

  "Allah Kerim! Allah akbar! Great is God and mighty!"

  What avails prayer if there be no longer any to hearken? What availsthe bright sword if there be none to wield it? What avails the openbook if there be none to understand what is written therein?

  Ye nations of the half-moon! now is the time when the song of thedervishes, and the scimitar, and the dirk, and the Kuran, can help nomore! From the west and from the north strange people are coming,armed warriors in serried ranks, like a wall of steel, who are set inmotion, brought to a stand-still, expanded into an endless line,contracted into a solid mass by a single brief word of command. Beforethe charge of their bayonets the ranks of the Janissaries scatter anddisperse like chaff before the wind, and before their fire-vomitingbrazen tubes the flowers of Begtash's garden fall like grass beforethe mower. Wise men are with them, who go about in simple black coats,who know much that ye do not know; each one of whom is capable ofdirecting a state, and who are equally triumphant on the battle-fieldand in the council-chamber.

  In vain ye call upon the name of the Prophet, in vain do ye knock atthe gate of Paradise. It is closed. Muhammad slumbers, and the otherprophets no longer trouble themselves about earthly affairs. Paradiseis full already. There they look askance now at new-comers, who reachthe shadow of the tuba-tree without the rumor of victory. Theeternally young houris, from beyond the Bridge of Alsiroth, no longersmile upon those who fall in battle, for battle has now lost itsglory. Ye must be born again, or die forever.

  Look now! the more far-seeing ones among you know what to do. Theysend their children far, far away, to the dominions of the Giaours,there to learn worldly wisdom, and prepare to make great changes inthe empire.

  The old dervishes, the friends of the Turks, are excluded from theSeraglio; they do but creep stealthily up and peep through the guardedgates, and compare notes with one another, "Behold! within there, theyare doing the work of the stranger, they are teaching thetrue-believing warriors to leap to and fro at a word of command, andtwirl their weapons. They have abandoned the jiride, thatever-victorious weapon, and have stuck darts at the ends of theirmuskets, as do the unbelievers, who dare not come withinsword-distance of the enemy. It is all over, all over with the faithof Osman."

  Most jealous of all these innovations were the priests of Begtash. Onecould every moment see them in their ragged, dirty mantles, loungingabout in front of the gates of the Seraglio, impudently looking inthe faces of all who go in and out; and if an imam passed them, or oneof those wise men who favored the innovations, they would spit afterhim, and exclaim in a loud voice, "Death to every one who proclaimsthe forbidden word!"

  Now this forbidden word was the name "Neshandchi." The mob of Stambulhad murdered Mahmoud's father because of this name, which designated anew order of soldiers, and his successor had been compelled to orderthat whoever pronounced this name should be put to death.

  The mob would often follow the Grand Vizier all the way to the palace,reviling him all the way, and shouting up at the windows, "Rememberthe end of Bajraktar!"

  Bajraktar had been the Sultan's Grand Vizier fourteen years before,who had wished to reform the Turkish army, on which account a riotbroke out at Stambul, which lasted till the partisans of Bajraktarwere removed from office. As for Bajraktar himself, he was burned todeath in one of his palaces, together with his wife and children.Every one who took part in these mysterious and accursed deliberationsin the Seraglio, from the lowliest soldier to the sacred and sublimeSultan himself, carried his life in his hands.

  It had long been rumored that some great movement was on foot, and thepriests of Begtash went from town to town through all the Turkishdomains fanning the fanaticism of their beloved children, theJanissaries, and gradually collecting them in Stambul. In those daysthere were more than twenty thousand Janissaries within the walls ofthe capital, not including the corporation of water-carriers whogenerally made common cause with them in times of uproar. When theirlordships, the Janissaries, set the place on fire, it was the duty ofthe water-carriers to put out the flames, whereupon they plunderedcomfortably together; hence the ancient understanding between them.

  With the exception of the Ulemas, only the blind fakirs of the Omariteorder were admitted into the council of the Divan, and their chief,Behram, often took counsel with the Sultan for hours together when hewas alone.

  On the 23d May, 1826, at the invitation of the chief mufti, all theUlemas assembled in the Seraglio and decided unanimously that, inaccordance with the words of the Kuran, it was lawful to fight theenemy with his own weapons.

  Six days later they reassembled, and then the Sheik-ul-Islam laidbefore them a fetva, by which it was proclaimed that a standing armywas to be raised for the defence of the realm. In order, however, thatnobody might pronounce the accursed name of Neshandchi, three nameswere given to the corps of the army to be raised. The first wasakinji, or "rushers," these were the young conscripts; the second wastaalimlueaske, "practised men," these were selected from the soldiersof the Seraglio; the third name was khankiar begerdi, and designatedthe corps to be chosen from amongst the Janissaries. This name meant"the will of the emperor," yet the word "khankiar" means, in Turkish,by itself, "effusion of blood."

  When the fetva came to be signed, very few of the leaders of theJanissaries were present, but amongst those who were was the JanissaryAga, or colonel, and his name stood there alongside the name of theSheik-ul-Islam, the Grand Vizier, and Najib Effendi.

  Early next morning the people of Stambul read the fetva, which wasposted up at every corner. The decisive word had been spoken which wasto evoke the bloody spectre to whom so many crowned heads had beensacrificed.

  The first day a fearful expectation prevailed. Every one awaited thetempest, and prepared for it. The Sultan was passing the time at hissummer palace, Bekshishtash, so, at least, it was said. An anxious,tormenting, and bloody pastime it proved to be.

  In one wing of his palace were the damsels of the harem, in the othersthe chief Ulemas and councillors. Mahmoud paced from one room toanother, and found peace nowhere.

  Hundreds of times he sat in a row with his wise men, and caused theannals of the Ottoman Empire by his favorite historian, Ezaad Effendi,to be read aloud to him, and yet it was a terror to him to listen. Thewhole history from beginning to end was written in blood! The sameprinciples always produced the same fruits! How many Grand Viziers,how many Padishahs, had not fallen? Their blood had flowed in streamsfrom the throne, which had never tottered as it now tottered beneathhim. And when he returned to the harem, and the charming odalisksappeared before him with their music and dances, and Milieva amongstthem, the loveliest of them all, to whom in an hour of rapture he hadgiven the rose-garden of his realm, Damascus, he bethought him thatperchance to-morrow, or even that very night, those sweetly smilingheads might all be cut off, seized by their flowing locks and cast inheaps, while their dear and tender bodies might be sent swimming inthe cold waves of the Bosphorus, to serve as food for the monsters ofthe deep. Who knows how many hours, who knows how many moments, theyhave still to live?

  Every hour, every moment, the tidings arrive from Stambul that theJanissaries are assembling in menacing crowds, and now theconflagrations begin; every day fires break out in three or four partsof the town, but the heavy rains prevented any great damage from beingdone. This was always the way in which the riots began in Stambul.

  The priests of Begtash stirred up the fanaticism of the masses infront of the mosques and in the public squares, incited the mob whichhad joined the ranks of the Janissaries to acts of outrage against theSultan's officials and those of the Ulemas, softas, and Omarite fakirswho were in favor of the reforms.

  On July 14th a rumor spread that a company of Janissaries, actuated bystrong suspicion, had surrounded the cemetery which had been laid outand enclosed by the Omarite fakir, and cut down all the dervishes theyfound there, and amongst them their chief, Behram. They found upon him
a bundle of papers which plainly revealed that a secret understandingexisted between him and the great men of the Seraglio. They also foundin his girdle a metal plate, on which was the following inscription:

  "I am Behram, the son of Halil Patrona, the strong man, and ofGuel-Bejaze,[14] the prophetess. My father in his lifetime began agreat work, which after his death I continued. This work will only beaccomplished and confirmed when I am dead and there is no further needof me. Blessed be he who knoweth the hours of his life and of hisdeath."

  [Footnote 14: The heroine of Jokai's _White Rose_.]

  Those who were acquainted with the life and the end of Halil Patronaknew right well what this great work was thus mentioned by Behram, whohad lived one hundred and eight years after his father's death, andhad striven all that time to develop and mature the ideas which theformer had vainly attempted to carry out at the point of the sword.

  The mob tore the dervish to pieces and distributed his bleeding limbsas trophies, and then, like wild beasts who have scented blood, theyattacked the castles of the great men. Whom should they fall uponfirst? That was the only question.

  Suddenly one of the priests of Begtash tore down from the corner ofthe street a copy of the fetva which proclaimed the reform and showedit to the mob. "Behold!" cried he, "here, foremost amongst the namesof the destroyers of the Faith stands the name of the Janissary Aga!The leader of the Janissaries has himself betrayed his own children.Death to him!"

  "Death to him!" howled the mob, and, seizing their torches, theyrushed towards the palace of the Janissary Aga.

  The Janissary Aga heard the tumult, and, quickly dressing a slave inhis robes, mingled with the crowd, and, without being noticed, reachedthe palace of the Grand Vizier in safety.

  The Grand Vizier was sitting down to supper when the Janissary Agarushed in and informed him of his danger. He lost no time inbarricading the gates, and, slipping through his garden with hisservants and his family, escaped across the Bosphorus to the JaliKiosk, on the other side of the water. The besieging mob, therefore,only found empty walls upon which to wreak their fury, and these theylevelled with the ground.

  But the Janissary Aga had left his wives and children in his palace,and these the rioters seized and murdered with the most excruciatingtortures. In the evening twilight the Aga, from his place of safety onthe other side of the water, could see the flames of his palaceshooting up towards the sky, and heard perchance the agonizeddeath-cries of those he loved best.

  A few moments later they were joined by Nedjib Effendi, therepresentative of the Viceroy of Egypt, who also took refuge with themand brought the tidings that the insurgents were in possession of thewhole of Stambul, and had wreaked their savage fury on the families ofthe refugee magnates.

  The Sultan was standing on the roof of his palace, whence he couldview far away the spreading scarlet glow of the conflagration whichlit up the night with a terrifying glare, whose fiery columns werereflected in the black Bosphorus.

  Panic-stricken fugitives spread the report that the Seraglio itselfwas in flames, and indeed it looked in the distance as if the fierywaves had reached its cupolaed towers.

  Mahmoud spent the whole night in prayer. Two hours after midnight ahorseman arrived who had forced his way through Stambul, his goodsteed collapsing as it reached the cypress grove of Bekshishtash. Thehorseman himself demanded an audience of the Sultan, and was instantlyadmitted.

  A bright momentary ray of hope was visible on the face of Mahmoud ashe recognized the horseman. It was Thomar, now the Akinji Feriki, thebravest warrior in the three continents of the Ottoman Empire.

  When Mahmoud had quitted the Seraglio he had picked out sixteen younghorsemen from amongst his retinue, and left them behind in the palace,with the injunction that if a rebellion should break out in Stambul,which was pretty certainly to be anticipated, they were to cut theirway through the enemy and bring him word thereof. Thomar alone hadarrived--the other fifteen had been killed by the rebels; he had cutout a road for himself and contrived to reach Bekshishtash.

  "The dragon has raised all his twelve heads, my master," said he tothe Sultan; "now is the time to cut them all off, or it will devourthy empire."

  The Sultan, who greatly loved the youth, wiped the sweat from his facewith his own handkerchief, and bade him await him below in thebanqueting-chamber.

  And with that he resumed his devotions.

  Towards five o'clock, when the sun rose from behind the blue hills ofAsia in all its glory, the Sultan descended from the roof of hispalace and commanded his servants and men-at-arms to form in rank infront of the palace. All the fighting-men he had with him were athousand akinjis and about as many horsemen, silihdars, and bostanjis.He himself first went to take leave of his womenkind.

  Those who had seen his face but an hour ago were amazed at the changethat had come over it. Its generally mild and peaceful expression hadgiven place to a proud resentment and a death-defying audacity. Heembraced his wife and the Sultana Asseki, and finally his son, theheir to the throne. Not a tear was visible on his face as he embracedhis beloved ones. They all noticed a new vigor flashing from his eyes;he looked as if he were inspired. He had no need now for any toencourage him.

  As he held one arm round his wife and the other round his child, hesaid to them, "And now I go. My path leads me into Stambul; whether itwill lead me back again I know not. But I swear that if I do return itwill be as the veritable ruler of my realm. What will ye do if Iperish?"

  The face of Milieva glowed at this question. She led Mahmoud asideinto the back part of the room. There the Sultan perceived a largeheap of pillows and cushions.

  "If Mahmoud perishes," said the Circassian girl, enthusiastically,"those who loved him will discover a way of following him; yea, thineenemies, when they look for us, will only find our ashes here."

  Mahmoud kissed the girl on the forehead; she was indeed worthy to sitat the foot of the throne.

  With that he descended into the court-yard, and they led his goodsteed in front of the arched door. The Sultan beckoned to Thomar tohold the reins while he mounted, then he detached an agate from theheron plume that waved above his turban, and fastened it on the fez ofthe youth as he knelt before him.

  "I name thee leader of the akinjis; and now whoever has a sword, lethim show that he is worthy of our ancestors!"

  With these words the Padishah drew his scimitar, and, galloping to thefront of his horsemen, took the place of command. A moment later thelittle host was already on its way to Stambul. In front marched theakinjis with glittering bayonets; in the centre was the Sultan withhis suite; the rear was brought up by the horsemen and the gardeners.Every one of them was resolved to die honorably and gloriously.

  On reaching the city the bold band met at first with but littleopposition, for they came unawares. The rebels were weary from theexertions of the previous night. After putting out the conflagrationthe mob had set to work plundering, and towards morning the greaterpart of it had dispersed amongst the coffee-houses and other places ofamusement.

  Mahmoud and his aggressive band met with no opposition right up to theSeraglio. The streets indeed were thronged by a noisy mob, but it madeway at once before the serried ranks of the akinjis. None insulted theSultan by so much as an offensive word; on the contrary, cries ofadmiration were audible here and there. Men were astounded when theybeheld the Padishah appear with a handful of armed men amidst theraging tempest, and permitted him to enter the gates of the Seraglioin peace.

  The shout bursting through all the doors, which resounded for someminutes from the inside of the place, announced to those outside whatcourage the appearance of the Sultan had instilled into the hearts ofthose of his warriors who were shut up in the Seraglio.

  Kara Makan, full of amazement, withdrew the bulk of the rebels fromthe Grand Signior's palace and massed the Janissaries near theEtmeidan, where banners were hoisted side by side with the subvertedkettles. At the corners of the streets the wild priests of Begtashcontinued to incite the agita
ted mob with hoarse cries, and from thesummits of the minarets the horns of the rebels sounded continuously,only ceasing at such times as the imams summoned the people of Osmanto glorify Allah, about the fifth hour of the day. At the sound of thenamazat even the furious popular tempest abated, only beginning againwhen the last notes of the call to prayer ceased to resound.

  Stambul was literally turned upsidedown, and the dregs were swimmingon the surface. The confraternity of porters, the water-carriers, theboatmen, all stood by the Janissaries and swelled enormously the bulkof the rebels. Every mosque, every barrack, was in their power; eventhe towers of the Dardanelles had opened their gates to the Jamaki,who were in alliance with the Janissaries. The Sultan was shut up inhis own palace.

  The Janissaries intended to carry the edifice of the Sublime Porte byassault, and had, therefore, sent forth criers to the jebejis, orcamp-blacksmiths, who were encamped with the heavy cannons on thegrounds of the Mosque of Sophia, to invite them to begin the siege.

  The emissaries of the Janissaries, in brief, savage harangues, calledupon the jebejis to put their hands to the bloody work. The latterlistened to them, but for a long time hesitated. Suddenly a shot firedfrom amongst the crowd struck one of the speakers, who fell down dead,whereupon the other jebejis rushed upon the envoys of the Janissaries,cut them down, and, flinging their severed heads into a heap, shouted,"Long live the Sultan!" and with that they proceeded in force to theSeraglio, took up their positions in front of it, and turned theirguns against the rebels.

  Towards mid-day, amidst strains of martial music, the Kapudan PashaIbrahim, whose nickname was "The Infernal," arrived with four thousandmarines and fourteen guns. A quarter of an hour later were to be seenin the proximity of the Jali Kiosk the overwhelming forces of theGrand Vizier Muhammad, who, under the protection of the night, had gottogether the hosts of Asia, which had always been opposed to theJanissaries. The Janissary Aga was there, too, with the Komparajisfrom Tophana. The concentrating masses welcomed one another withblood-thirsty greeting. It was evident, from the faces of theirleaders, that they were determined not to retreat a step on the paththey had taken. The last hour of the Janissaries, or of the OttomanEmpire, had struck.

  And now the gates of the Seraglio were thrown open, and, escorted bythe high officers of state and the Ulemas, the Sultan came forth.

  The Ulemas, the imams, and the officers of the army stood in asemicircle round the gate. The Sultan remained standing on the higheststep. There he stood in the full regalia of the padishahs, holding inone hand the banner of the Prophet and in the other a drawn sword.

  "What do the rebels desire," exclaimed, with a loud, penetratingvoice, the Sheik-ul-Islam, "who rise up against Allah and against theHead of the Faith, the Padishah?"

  The chief mufti replied with unction: "It is written in the Kuran, 'Ifthe infidels rise against their brethren, let them die the death!'"

  "Then swear by the banner of the Prophet that ye will root out themwho have risen up against me!"

  The viziers kissed the holy flag and took the oath to defend it to thelast drop of their blood.

  "And now close the gates!" commanded the Sultan; and immediately hesent orders to the warders of all the gates of Stambul to let nobodyeither out or in. One of the opposing hosts was never to leave thecity alive.

  "Long life to the Sultan! Death to the Janissaries!" resounded fromfifteen thousand lips in front of the Seraglio.

  The Sultan would have led his army in person against the rebels, buthis generals fell down on their knees and implored him in the name ofthe Prophet not to expose his life to danger. Let him at least givehis sword to the Grand Vizier, that he might not soil it in the bloodof rebels.

  So the gates were shut. This circumstance filled the hearts of therebels with terror. They foresaw that this day would not be followedby another; the hand of indulgence, of reconciliation, now grasped theweapons of war, of massacre.

  They all assembled round the Etmeidan, pulled down the buildings inthe street, and made barricades of them. 'Tis a bad sign for arebellion when it has to look to its defence.

  The forces of the Grand Vizier slowly approached amidst the roll ofkettle-drums; the Derben Aga appeared in front of the barricades ofthe Janissaries, with the sanjak-i-sherif in his hand, and summonedthe rebels to disperse and return to the allegiance of the sacredbanner. The rebels drowned his speech in curses, and above the cursesrose the thundering voice of Kara Makan hounding on the fanatical mobagainst the destroyers of the faith of Osman.

  "Wipe out these new ordinances, give up the heads of the godless oneswho signed their names below the khat-i-sherif--to wit the JanissaryAga, the Grand Vizier, the chief mufti, and Nedjib Effendi! This iswhat the ortas of the Janissaries demand and their honestconfederates, the Jamaki, the Kayikjis, and the Hamaloks, who remainfaithful to the God of the Moslemin."

  Thrice did the Derben Aga summon the rebels to surrender, and thricedid he receive the same answer. They demanded the heads of theviziers.

  Mahmoud's predecessor had, on a similar request, surrendered the headsof the viziers. Mahmoud broke his sword in two above their heads, andthrowing the broken pieces in the dust, exclaimed:

  "Just as I now break in two this sword and nobody shall weld ittogether again, so also shall ye be overthrown and none shall raiseyou up again."

  The next moment the cannons of Ibraham the Infernal thundered forththeir volleys from the Etmeidan. The bombs tore through the ricketywooden barriers, and through the breach thus made rushed Hussein Pashaat the head of the akinjis with Thomar Bey by his side.

  The appearance of the detested new soldiers was greeted by theJanissaries with a furious howl, but the very first moment convincedthem that the bayonet was a very much more powerful weapon than thedirk. Thomar Bey headed the charge in person, making a way for himselfwith his bayonet and clearing the ranks of the insurgents like a sharpwedge.

  On this side there was no deliverance, so now, with the fury ofdespair, the insurgents flung themselves on the guns of Ibraham Pasha,three times charging his death-vomiting batteries, and, thricerecoiling, leaving the ground covered with their corpses, the terriblegrape-shot mowing them down in heaps.

  It was all, all over. The flowers of Begtash's garden, vanquished,humbled by the new soldiers, fled for refuge to the huge quadrangularbarracks which occupied the ground at the rear of the Etmeidan.

  Kara Makan did not live to experience that hour of humiliation; acannon-ball took off his head so cleanly that his body could only beidentified by his girdle.

  Within the walls of the barracks the Janissaries made ready for theirlast desperate combat. It was now late. Ibrahim the Infernal began tobombard the barracks with red-hot bullets, and within an hour's timethe whole of the enormous building was in flames. Those who wereinside the gates remained there, for there they were doomed to perishtogether. Amidst the roaring of the flames their death-cries wereaudible, but the flames grew stronger every moment and the cry oftheir mortal anguish waxed fainter. The generals stood around thebuilding, and tears glittered in more eyes than one; after all, it hadbeen a valiant host!

  Had been! Those words explain their doom.

  On that day twenty thousand Janissaries fell by the command of thePadishah. Those whom the bullet and the sword did not reach perishedby the axe and the bowstring. Their bodies were given to theBosphorus, and for a long time afterwards the billows of distant seascast their headless trunks on the shores of countries far away. Thesewere the flowers of Begtash.

  And so the name of the Janissaries was blotted out of the annals ofOttoman history.

  The wearing of their uniforms and their insignia was forbidden undersentence of death. Their barracks were levelled with the ground, theirbanners were torn to bits, their kettles were smashed to pieces, theirmemory was made accursed.

  The order of the Priests of Begtash was abolished forever, theirreligious homes were destroyed, their possessions confiscated.

  Thus came to an end a soldiery which had existe
d for centuries, whichthe wise Chendereli founded, and which had won so many glorioustriumphs for the Ottoman arms. It was now unlawful to mention its veryname.

  But when the bloody work was done, the Ottoman nation arose again fullof fresh vigor, and it owed a new life, full of glorious days, to thehand which delivered the empire from its two greatestenemies--Tepelenti and the Janissaries.

  GLOSSARY OF THE TURKISH WORDS USED IN THIS STORY

  AGA--a military and aulic title.

  AKINJI--a sort of irregular cavalry.

  ANADOLI HISSAR--eastern castle.

  AZAB--irregular infantry.

  BAIRAM--the great Muhammadan ecclesiastical feast.

  BAYADERE--a dancing-girl.

  BEY--a dignitary next below a pasha.

  BOSTANJI--originally the gardeners of the Seraglio, subsequentlyattendants, body-guards.

  CHORBAJI--a Janissary officer.

  CIAUS--palace officials employed as attendants, messengers, envoys.

  DERBEND AGA--the chief of the street watchmen.

  DIRHAM--a coin worth about 2-1/2_d._

  DIVAN--council of state.

  DZHIN--a huge supernatural being.

  EFFENDI--a title of honor.

  ETMEIDAN--the headquarters of the Janissaries.

  FETVA--the opinion or judgment of a mufti.

  FIRAK--bodies of troops.

  FIRMAN--a decree issued by the Sultan.

  GIAOUR--an infidel.

  ICHOGLANLER--pages of non-Muhammadan parentage brought up at theSultan's palace.

  IMAM--a priest who recites the canonical prayers.

  JAMAK--the servant of a Janissary.

  JANISSARIES--literally, "new soldiers" (jeni-cheri), originallycaptive children brought up to be soldiers. This corps was forcenturies the flower of the Ottoman army.

  JANISSARY AGA--the chief of the Janissaries.

  JERID--a stick used as a dart in military exercises.

  KADI--a judge.

  KADUN-KEIT-KHUDA--guardian of the harem.

  KAPU-AGASI--Lord Chamberlain.

  KAPUDAN PASHA--Lord High Admiral.

  KAPUJI--gate-keeper of the Seraglio.

  KAPUJI PASHA--the introducer of the ambassadors.

  KAPU-KIAJA--chief magistrate.

  KHAT-I-SHERIF--a command either signed by the Sultan or issueddirectly through him.

  KHUMBARAJI--a bombardier.

  KIZLAR-AGASI--chief inspector of the harem.

  MOLLAH--the title of the highest grade of Ulemas.

  MUEZZIN--the caller to prayer.

  MUFTIS--those of the Ulemas who publish or seal the fetvas or otherpublic documents.

  MURSHID--a spiritual guide.

  NAMAZAT--the canonical prayer.

  ODALISK--a concubine; literally, chambermaid.

  ORTA--a company of Janissaries.

  PALIKAR--"strong youth," a name given to themselves by the Klephts,freebooters of Thessaly.

  PARA--a farthing.

  REIS-EFFENDI--Minister of Foreign Affairs.

  SANDJAK-I-SHERIF--the sacred banner of the Prophet.

  SERAGLIO }SERAI } The Sultan's court.

  SERAI-AGASI--chief inspector of the Seraglio.

  SERASKIER--a commander-in-chief.

  SHEIK-UL-ISLAM--the chief of all the muftis and Ulemas.

  SILIHDARS--one of the six divisions of the mercenary cavalry, alsothe Sultan's armor-bearers.

  SIPAHIS }SPAHIS } One of six divisions of the mercenary cavalry.

  SULIOTES--a warlike Hellenized race of Albanian origin in the Pachalikof Janina.

  SULTANA-ASSEKI--The Sultan's consort.

  SULTANA-VALIDEH--the Sultan's mother.

  TIMARIOTES--Turkish feudal militia.

  TOPORABAJI--gunners.

  TOPIJIS--gunners.

  ULEMAS--the learned men, including the muftis, the mollahs, thekadis--in short, all the legal and ecclesiastical functionaries.

  THE END

  Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors present in theoriginal text have been corrected for this electronic edition.

  In Chapter I, "superflous cracks and crevices" was changed to"superfluous cracks and crevices".

  In Chapter II, "siezed him" was changed to "seized him".

  In Chapter III, "ninrethullita" was changed to "nimetullahita", and"It must not he supposed" was changed to "It must not be supposed".

  In Chapter IV, "the besieging Pehlivan" was changed to "the besiegingPehlivan".

  In Chapter VIII, "Meccao and Medina" was changed to "Mecca andMedina", and "Procelain Chamber" was changed to "Porcelain Chamber".

  In Chapter IX, "hill, morever" was changed to "hill, moreover", "wontyou" was changed to "won't you", and a question mark was changed to anexclamation point after "thy daughter Milieva".

  In Chapter X, "La Gullia" was changed to "La Gulia", "to horriblytortured Turks" was changed to "of horribly tortured Turks", and "rankor general" was changed to "rank of general".

  In Chapter XVIII, "silchidars" was changed to "silihdars".

  In the Glossary, "Silchidars" was changed to "Silihdars".

  Several names and words were spelled inconsistently in the originaltext. Except as noted above, these variant spellings have beenleft as they originally appeared.