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The MILITARY COSTUME OF TURKEY.

PUBLISHED BY THOMAS McLEAN JANUARY 1, 1813
From drawings by Octavien Dalvimart (d'Alvimart), engraved F.H. Clark

PLATE VI.

JANIZARY. (pl. 2.)

Source: NYPL

THE Janizaries are divided into one hundred and one ortahs, or regiments; each Janizary impresses a mark upon his arm expressive of the ortah to which he belongs, by puncturing his skin with a needle and rubbing gunpowder upon it, which makes an indelible impression. A crescent is the symbol of the first ortah, in which the Sultan is enrolled; that of the thirty-first, which serves on board the fleet, is an anchor.
The number of Janizaries in each ortah is not fixed, but depends upon its celebrity; from a vanity natural enough, greater numbers enrolling themselves in such ortahs as are most distinguished; the number in some is extremely great, that of the thirty-fifth, amounting to nearly thirty thousand.
This plate represents a Janizary belonging to a different ortah to the preceding.