Page:Busbecq, Travels into Turkey (1744).pdf/83

 Enemies. Haly Basha, Deputy to the Grand Vizier, treated the Persian with a sumptuous Dinner, which he made in his Garden, a Place far distant from us, and separated also by the interposal of the River, yet we could see the Manner of it well enough; for, I told you, the Place was seated so high on both sides of the Hill, that the Eye might easily discover what was done on each side. This Haly is a Dalmatian by Birth, a Man of much Wit, and, which is strange in Turkey, very courteous to Strangers. The Table, at which the Bashaw and the Persian Embassador sate, was covered over with a Canopy, and the Dishes were served up after this manner. There were one hundred Youths, which attended, like Waiters, all of them alike habited. First of all, they entered one by one, at a small distance from each other, till the Train of them reached up to the Table where the Guests were sitting. They had nothing at all in their Hands, that so they might not be hindered in saluting the Guests, which was done in this manner; they laid their Hands on their Thighs, and bowed their Heads downwards to the Ground; when this Ceremony was perform'd, then he that stood next the Kitchen, took a Dish and gave it to the next Page immediately before him; he handed it to a Third, and he to a Fourth, and so from one to another till it came to him who stood next the Table, and he delivered it to the Hands of the Gentleman-Sewer, who plac'd it on the Table. And thus one hundred Dishes, or more, were serv'd up to the Table in excellent Order, without any Noise at all; and, when that was done, those Waiters, or Pages, saluted the Guests a second time, and so returned in the same Order they came in; only, of course, those that were last before went out first, and those which were nearest