The Name Of Each Ferrash Is Put Down
In The Lists Which Are Yearly Sent To Constantinople, And They All Share
In The Stipends Which The Town Receives From That Capital, And The Whole
Turkish Empire, In Which There Is Always A Considerable Portion For The
Ferrashyn.
It would appear that the office is hereditary; at least often
transmitted from father to son.
The number is fixed at five hundred; but
to
[p.345] increase it, an expedient has, according to D'Ohhson, been
adopted, of dividing each number into half, and third, and eighth
shares; and any fractional part may be bestowed upon an individual, who
thus becomes an inferior member of the corps. Many of these Ferrashyn
are in partibus, the title having been given to great foreign hadjys,
dispersed over the whole empire, who think themselves honoured in
possessing it.
Many of these Ferrashyn are, at the same time ciceroni, or Mezowars, and
exercise also, the very lucrative profession of saying prayers for the
absent. Most hadjys of any consequence who pass here, form an
acquaintance with some of these men, their guides over the holy places.
On their return home, they often make it a pious rule to send annually
some money, one or two zecchins, to their ancient cicerone, who is thus
bound in honour to recite some prayers, in the name of the donor, before
the window of the Hedjra. These remittances, wrapped up in small sealed
papers, with the address upon them, are collected in every province or
principal town of Anatolia, or Turkey in Europe, from whence they are
principally sent, and brought to Medina by the Surra writer of
Constantinople, who accompanies the pilgrim caravan, and is at the head
of its financial department.
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