THE SULTAN AT HOME.

Globe, Volume V, Issue 542, 14 March 1876, Page 3

THE SULTAN AT HOME.

The Sultan pays almost daily visits to liis collection of wild beasts and birds. Some he makes favourites, while to the others he takes a dislike from the tone of their voice or other causes, and they are banished from the Imperial gardens to the extremity of the seraglio. Men-of-war are sent to all parts of the world to increase his collection, and the governor of every province tries to afford him an agreeable surprise by costly presents — Arabian horses, carpets, fruits, &c. So, too, wealthy Mahomedans, as soon as they purchase a handsome slave send her to the Sultan Valide, who never refuses her. The presents of course, do not come out of the officials’ own pockets, but rather serve to swell their gains, for they take ten horses from the taxpayers for one that they send the Sultan. Of late years pictures and vases from China and Japan have accompanied these gifts, the Sultan having taken a passion for these, and having spent this year £OO,OOO on pictures. The palace expenditure has been £2,000,000 a year ever since Ids accession. His servants number 5500—the kitchens employing 500, the stables 400, the menagerie 200, while there are 400 Caikdjis, 400 musicians, 000 doorkeepers of the 21 Palaces and Kiosques, and 100 porters. The Harem has 1200 inmates. The Sultan has 25 aides-de-camp, seven chamberlains, six secretaries, and at least 159 employes with various functions. There are 50 medical men, 150 black cnnuchs, and 100 Harem messengers. Many of these servants are married, and feed their families with the broken meat, while they have under servants, so that 7000 persons are daily fed in the Palace at an average cost of 5f a day, or £500,000 a year. The horses, 000 in number, are mostly presented by the Khcdhive, who also annually sends costly jewels, pictures, and birds. The stables cost at least £40,000 a year, and the harem £160,000, while the pensions to the Imperial Family amount to £1,821,600, and repairs to the Palaces and Kiosques, £BO,OOO, not to speak of the Sultan’s passion for building, which, since his accession, must have swallowed up at least £560,000. His nominal Civil List being only £1,240,000, the remainder of the £2,000,000 must figure in the Budget under other items.