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he sends at once to inform his subjects, and whoever may be acting as vice-consul sends his dragoman to inform the other consuls. These hoist their several ensigns, and at the hour appointed for the landing send their chancellor, dragoman and Janissaries to receive him on the shore. The subjects of the new consul are assembled there, and all escort him to his house, where the dragomans offer him the usual com-pliments. (Consuls hold, besides the letters patent of their own sovereign, the berat or exequatur of the Porte, in which they are styled beyler-bey, a title equal to ambassador.) The first dragoman is despatched at once to the capital to inform the government of his arrival, and of the double authority under which he assumes his office. The Governor dismisses the dragoman with congratulations, and on the latter's return the letters patent are read and the consul takes official possession of his post. The other consuls pay him visits of compliment, which he returns with the same ceremony. The regular expenses of a consulate consist of the presents offered at certain set times to local officials, amounting yearly to 400 Turkish piastres or 100 Florentine sequirjs, and the expenses of dragomans and Janissaries 100 sequins more. Extraordinary expenses are those incurred on behalf of a subject who, for the honour of the nation, has to be ransomed from the hands of the local police, and cannot himself pay the sum required. Or again on the visit of a Pasha, when the present offered him in stuffs and cloth costs as much as 150 sequins. Presents too are made to the commanders of caravels, or Turkish men of war, which anchor in the roadstead. The captains and officers of men of war are entitled to board at the table of their consul. The French consul is allowed 10 piastres or 2\ sequins a day for each such vessel. The English consul keeps an account of his expenses and forwards it to the Levant Company, by whom he is repaid, with some slight addition. The Venetian consul bears his own charges. 128 Consuls [CH.

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