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Rh and looked about him with the conscious authority of a powerful policeman. This individual saluted my guide in a stealthy, underhand sort of way. All the others were yellow and coffee-coloured people; thin and unhappy-looking beings, who wore only a single garment which reached from their necks to their heels. There was nothing, not even hair, on their bare skulls. We walked on and on past hundreds of doors, elbowing our way through the crowds, which seemed to grow denser every moment; our nostrils, mine at least, being saluted every now and again by an unearthly and abominable smell, and our ears by an increasing discord of wild screams and discordant singing. Advancing to a wide cross-street we stood before a great palace, upon which I gazed with wonder. It was a grand picture of oriental beauty. It was surrounded by guards, on foot and on horseback, men with fierce, swarthy complexions, who were armed in a fearful manner. Blazing lights were in all the apartments, and through the windows I saw numbers of people, men and women, running to and fro.

Suddenly a loud crash of drums and trumpets made me start violently, and I saw approaching a chariot so gaudily painted that it seemed to be on fire. It was drawn by men and horses mingled together. It evidently contained some great personage, for it was preceded and followed by many mounted guards. We drew aside to let it pass. Within it sat a tall, dark-featured woman, on whose countenance might be discovered the traces of extreme and severe beauty, but they were accompanied with those of the fiercest human passions, and of exaggerated pride and evil temper. She had on her head a leaden crown, and around her shoulders was thrown a gorgeous robe like the variegated skin of a tiger snake. Facing her, with his back to the horses, sat an officer, who seemed to be of very high rank. He wore the grand