text:  In former times the quality of the fur worn by different ranks and at different seasons of the year was a matter of strict etiquette regulated by the example of the sultan who on a day previously fixed by the imperial astrologer repaired in state to the mosque arrayed in furs varying from the squirrel or red fox assumed at the beginning of autumn to the samoor or sable worn during the depth of winter; while all ranks of persons in office changed their furs on the same day with the monarch for those appropriated to their respective grades