ima was completing
the adjustment of the imperial borla upon the young monarch's temples,
the lord high chamberlain appeared with the intimation that the guests
were all assembled, and that nothing now was needed, save the Inca's
presence, to enable the banquet to be begun. Whereupon Harry arose,
and, preceded by the chamberlain and his satellites, made his way to the
banqueting hall, which was an enormous chamber on the upstairs floor of
the palace, occupying the entire length and width of that part of the
building in which was situated the main entrance. One row of windows
overlooked that part of the garden which gave upon the main road, while
the windows on the opposite side of the apartment commanded a view of
the piece of garden which lay between the two wings and extended down to
the shore of the lake.

The decorations of this room, if they could not be accurately described
as "artistic", from a European's point of view, were at least impressive
on account of the wanton lavishness with which gems and the precious
metals were used; for, look where one would, the eye encountered nothing
but gold, silver, and precious stones; indeed the impression conveyed
was that the architect had exhausted his ingenuity in devices for the
employment of the greatest possible quantity of these costly minerals.
The huge beams which supported the ceiling were encased in thick plates
of gold, the ceiling itself, or at least those portions of it which
showed between the beams, consisted of plates of silver, thickly studded
with precious stones arranged--as Tiahuana explained--to represent the
stars in the night sky over the city. The walls, of enormous thickness,
with deep niches or recesses alternating with the windows, were covered
with thick gold plates heavily chased into a variety of curious
patterns; and each niche contained either a life-size image of an
animal--the llama figuring most frequently--in solid gold, wrought with
the most marvellous patience and skill, or was a miniature garden in
which various native trees and plants, wrought with the same lifelike
skill, and of the same precious materials, seemed to flourish
luxuriantly. The floor was the only portion of the apartment that had
escaped this barbarously magnificent system of treatment, but even that
was composed of thick planks of costly, richly tinted native timber of
beautiful grain, polished to the brilliancy of a mirror; and, as though
this were not sufficient