The Day after my Arrival, the _Sanziac_ of the Place (for so the _Turks_ call a Governor, because a _Sanziac_ (_i. e._) a gilded brass Ball, is carried before him on the top of a Spear, as a Cornet to a Troop of Horse) was very earnest to speak with me; and tho’ I had no Letter, nor any other Command to deliver to him, yet such was his importunity, that go I must. And when I came, I found he had no Business with me, but only to see and salute me, and to ask me something of my Errand; and thus, exhorting me to promote a Peace, he wish’d me a happy Journey. In my Passage, I admir’d to hear the croaking of Frogs in such a cold Season of the Year as the Month of _December_; the cause was, the Waters stagnant in those Places are made warm by sulphureous Exhalations.
Leaving _Gran_, I went towards _Buda_; but to be sure, I took my Breakfast before-hand, which was likely to be my Dinner also; for there was no Place to bait at before I came to _Buda_. The _Sanziac_, or Governor of the Place, with all his Family, together with the Horse which he Commanded, came out of the Town with me, to bring me on my Way: I could by no means persuade him to omit this Office of Respect. The Horse, as soon as they came out of the Gates, began to shew me some sport, curvetting and discharging one against another; they threw their Bonnets on the Ground, and Galloping their Horses with full speed, by them, they took them up by the Points of their Spears; and many such Ludicrous Pranks did they perform. Amongst the rest of them, there was a _Tartar_, who had thick Bushy Hair hanging down over his Shoulders; they told me, that he always went bare Headed, and would never have any other Fence for his Head, either against the Violence of the Weather, or the Hazard of a Battle, but his own Hair. The _Sanziac_, after he had accompanied me as far as he pleased, returned Home, but not before we had taken our Leaves of one another, and he had left some Guides for my Journey, in my Retinue.
When I drew near to _Buda_, a few _Turkish Chiaux_’s met me on the Way, (they are in the Nature of Pursuivants, or Serjeants at Arms, to carry about the Commands of the Grand Seignior, or his Bashaw’s, and are Officers of great Esteem in that Nation) by them, I was brought to lodge in the House of a Citizen, who was an _Hungarian_, where my Baggage, Coach and Horses, was better provided for, than myself; for the _Turks_ take special Care that Horses, with their Equipage, be well accommodated; as for the Men, if they have but an House over their Heads to shelter them from the Weather, they think they may shift well enough for themselves. The Bashaw of _Buda_ sent one to visit me, and bid me welcome, his Name was _Tuigon_, (which in _Turkish_, signifies a Stork) by him he excused himself to me, that he could not admit me into his Presence for some Days, because of a grievous Disease he laboured under; but as soon as ever he recovered a little Strength, he said, he would wait upon me. This Delay was the Occasion, that the aforementioned Absence of _Palinai_ was less prejudicial to me, than otherwise it would have been, (to say no more) for he used great Diligence to Post after, lest he might come too late, and accordingly he overtook me a little while after.