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who had floats with ships mounted on them, in which, according to
Evliya, “are seen the finest cabin-boys dressed in gold, doing service
to their masters who make free with drinking. Music is played on all
sides, the masts and oars are adorned with pearls, the sails are of rich
stufs and embroidered muslin. Arrived at the Alay Köşkü they meet
five or ten ships of the Infidels with whom they engage in battle in
the presence of the Emperor. Thus the show of a fight is represented
with the roaring of cannons, the smoke covering the sky. At last, the
Moslems becoming victors, they board the enemy ships, take booty
and chase the fine Frank boys, carrying them of from the old bearded
Infidels, whom they put in chains, upset the crosses of their flags,
dragging them astern of their ships, crying out the universal Moslem
shout, Allah!, Allah!”
Besides the respectable tradesmen, artisans and craftsmen of the
city, the procession included less savoury groups such as, according
to Evliya, “the corporation of thieves and footpads who might be
here mentioned as a very numerous one and who have an eye to
our purses. But far be they from us. These thieves pay tribute to the
two chief officers of the police and get their subsistence by cheating
foreigners.”
The last guild in the procession was that of the tavern keepers.
Evliya tells us that there were “one thousand such places of misrule,
kept by Greeks, Armenians and Jews. In the procession wine is not
produced openly, but the inn-keepers pass all in disguise and clad
in armour. The boys of the taverns, all shameless drunkards, and all
the partisans of wine pass, singing songs, tumbling down and rising
again.” The last of all to pass were the Jewish tavern keepers, “all
masked and wearing the most precious dresses... bedecked with jewels,
carrying in their hands crystal and porcelain cups, out of which they
pour sherbet instead of wine for the spectators.”
Evliya then ends his account by stating: “Nowhere else has such
a procession been seen or shall be seen. It could only be carried into
efect by the imperial orders of Sultan Murat IV. Such is the crowd
and population of that great capital, Constantinople, which may God
guard from all celestial and earthly mischief and let her be inhabited
till the end of the world.” But the last procession of the guilds passed
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