SERAGLIO (properly, SmsAY) is the palace of the sultan at Constantinople. It stands in a beautiful situation on a head of land projecting into the sea, known as the Golden Porn, and is inclosed by walls 74- m. in circuit. Within the walls are a variety of mosques, gardens, and large edifices, capable of containing 20,000 persons, though the whole number of the inhabitants scarcely ever reaches the half of this. The principal entrance (Babi humayuu, or Sublime gate) is a kind of pavilion, which is constantly guarded by eapidjls, or officers of the seraglio; and the chief of the large edifices within is the harem. (Arab. sacred spot), which is distinctly separated from the rest of the seraglio, and consists of a group of houses and gardens, one of each being possessed by each of the sultan's wives, and of the habitations of the concubines and slaves. The harem is ruled by the kiaja-kliatun, or inspector of the wcmen, who is under the sultan's authority alone, and is supplied with what they require by the kislar-aga, or chief of the black eunuchs who form the principal or inner guard of the harem. The second and
outer guard is given to the white eunuchs, under their chief the kapu-agass.q, or kapu Other classes of household officers are the mutes (Turkish, lwtlwn or dllsn:q), who, till recently, were the executors of the sultan's orders, especially those iu which the utmost secresy was required; the bostaojis, or gardeners; the &dies, or cleavers of wood; and the itsh-oghlans, or attendants of the sultan. The sultan's mother always resides within the seraglio, but his sisters do not. Access may easily be had to the seraglio, with the exception of the harem, which is scrupulously guarded from even the eyes of strangers. The English have improperly confounded the two terms "seraglio" and "harem."