she
finally told us to come and walk alongside of her. This, as I afterwards
found out, was a great condescension on her part and a thing that
she very seldom ever did. She, like everybody else, had her pets and
hobbies, such as flowers, trees, plants, dogs, horses, etc., and there
was one dog in particular that was her favorite pet. This dog was with
Her Majesty always and followed her wherever she went, and a more homely
dog I never saw. It had absolutely nothing to recommend it in any way.
Her Majesty thought it beautiful, and called it Shui Ta (Sea Otter).

A short distance from the Audience Hall we came to a large courtyard.
On each side of this courtyard were two immense baskets fifteen feet
in height, built of natural logs and literally covered with purple
wisteria. They were simply gorgeous and great favorites of Her Majesty.
She was always very proud of them when in bloom and took great delight
in showing them to the people.

From this courtyard we entered a sort of passageway which ran along
the sides of a big hill and led directly to the theatre, where we soon
arrived. This theatre is quite unlike anything that you can imagine.
It is built around the four sides of an open courtyard, each side being
separate and distinct. The building has five stories. It is entirely
open on the front and has two stages, one above the other. The three top
stories are used for holding the drops and for store rooms. The stage on
the first floor is of the ordinary kind; but that on the second floor
is built to represent a temple and used when playing religious plays, of
which Her Majesty was very fond.

On the two sides were long, low buildings with large verandas running
their entire length, where the Princes and Ministers sat when invited
by Her Majesty to witness the play. Directly opposite this stage was
a spacious building, containing three large rooms, which was used
exclusively by Her Majesty. The floor was raised about ten feet above
the ground, which brought it on a level with the stage. Large glass
windows ran along in front, so made that they could be removed in the
summer and replaced with pale blue gauze screens. Two of these rooms
were used as sitting rooms and the third, the one on the right, she used
as a bedroom, and it had a long couch running across the front, on which
she used to sit or lie according to her mood. This day she invited us
to go to this room with her. Later I was told that she would very
often