exquisite sauces and viands, and we promised ourselves a first-
rate dinner after our tedious journey.

The street leading to the palace was brilliantly illuminated, as was also
the palace itself, while the view from the reception-rooms was most
unique. The glare of lamps lighted up a square, in which was a garden
fitted with the grotesque frames of the various fireworks of the evening.
Birds and beasts of all descriptions were there, waiting to be let off.
Meantime, extraordinary equipages came driving up in rapid succession;
the magnificent coach-and-six of the King was followed by the
unpretending buggy of the bold subaltern, while natives of high degree
descended from gorgeously attired elephants, or sprang lightly off their
prancing Arabs: the varied costumes of the different guests as they
passed under a blaze of lamps added not a little to the brilliancy and
novelty of the scene.

The court-yard behind contained a large tank, in which the reflection of
hundreds of lamps glittered brightly. Servitors, soldiers, and officers
of his _Condimental_ Majesty's household, filled every available portion
of the yard. The spacious reception and banqueting rooms were crowded to
excess, and smelt like a perfumer's shop in which, by some accident, all
the bottles had been left uncorked; while brilliantly-attired natives
scratched past you, glittering with jewels, and _chevaux de frise_ of
sharp gold tinsel.

At last the King made his appearance, and the guests all jostled into
chairs as best they might. My position, almost immediately opposite his
Majesty, afforded me ample opportunity of inspecting the quantity and
quality of the jewels with which his person was absolutely loaded, and
which I had never seen equalled in magnificence: a rope of pearls,
passing over one shoulder, was tied in a knot at his waist, from which
the costly ends negligently depended; his turban and breast were covered
with diamonds and other precious stones; and it was a matter of wonder
that he did not sink under the heat of the room, combined with the extent
of mineral productions he carried on his person. But the jewels, though
worthy of great attention, did not possess nearly so much interest in my
eyes as did the mode by which he renovated the burly form that they
adorned. On one side of him stood the bearer of his magnificently
jewelled hookah, on the other the bearer of the royal spoon, the contents
of which he was already wistfully surv