Seraglio 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 Horn, and is enclosed by walls seven and one-half miles in circuit. Within the walls are a variety of mosques, gardens and large edifices, capable of containing 20,000 people, though the whole number of the inhabitants scarcely ever reaches the half of this.

The principal entrance is a kind of pavilion, which is constantly guarded by capidjis, or officers 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-Khatun, or inspector of the women, 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-agassy, or Kapu-oghlan.

Other classes of household officers are the mutes, who, till recently, were the executors of the sultan’s orders, especially those in which the utmost secrecy was required; the bostanjis, or gardeners; the batajis, or clearers 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.”