he porters or door-keepers were in number 700. Barges and
boats, with the most superb decorations, were swimming on the Tigris.
Nor was the palace itself less splendid, in which were hung _38,000
pieces of tapestry, 12,500 of which were of silk embroidered with
gold_. The carpets on the floor were 22,000. A hundred lions were
brought out with a keeper to each lion. Among the other spectacles of
rare and stupendous luxury, was a tree of gold and silver, which
opened itself into eighteen larger branches, upon which, and the other
less branches sate birds of every sort, made also of gold and silver.
The tree glittered with leaves of the same metals, and while its
branches, through machinery, appeared to move of themselves, the
several birds upon them warbled their natural notes.

The skill of the eastern embroiderer has always had a wide field for
display in the decoration of the _tents_, which were in such request
in hot countries, among Nomadic tribes, or on military excursions.

The covering of tents among the Arabs is usually black goats' hair, so
compactly woven as to be impervious to rain. But there is, besides
this, always an inner one, on which the skill and industry of the fair
artisan--for both outer and inner are woven and wrought by women--is
displayed. This is often white woollen stuff, on which flowers are
usually embroidered. Curious hangings too are frequently hung over the
entrances, when the means of the possessors do not admit of more
general decoration. Magnificent _perdahs_, or hangings of needlework,
are always suspended in the tents of persons of rank and fashion, who
assume a more ambitious decoration; and there are accounts in various
travellers of tents which must have been gorgeous in the extreme.

Nadir Shah, out of the abundance of his spoils, caused a tent or
tabernacle to be made of such beauty and magnificence as were almost
beyond description. The outside was covered with fine scarlet broad
cloth, the lining was of violet coloured satin, on which were
representations of all the birds and beasts in the creation, with
trees and flowers; the whole made of pearls, diamonds, rubies,
emeralds, amethysts, and other precious stones; and the tent-poles
were decorated in like manner. On both sides of the peacock throne was
a screen, on which were the figures of two angels in precious stones.
The roof of the tent consisted of seven pieces; and when it was
transported to any place, two of these piece