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84 of benzoin, that he was quite out of civet, and that the silken pouch, embroidered with gold and studded with spangles, in which he kept his latakia, was frayed and that it was high time to replace it by another, richer and in better taste. Barely giving himself time to perform his ablutions and say his morning prayer, turning his face the while toward the rising sun, he went forth from his abode, first having re-copied his verses and placed them in his sleeve, as he had done the other time, not, however, with the intention of showing them to his friend Abdul, but of giving them to the princess Ayesha in person should he be so happy as to meet with her at the bazaar, in the shop of the merchant Bedreddin. The muezzin, perched aloft upon the balcony of the minaret, had only called the fifth hour, and the streets were untenanted save for the fellahs driving before them their asses loaded with watermelons, frails of dates, chickens tied together by their claws and quarters of mutton, which they were carrying to the market. He was in the quarter where Ayesha's palace was situated, but all that he could see was crenelated and whitewashed walls. Nothing was to be seen at the three or four small windows, obstructed by wooden lattices with narrow openings, which allowed the people of the house to see what was going on in the street, but were provokingly disappointing to the inquisitive glances of the Paul Prys who were outside. The palaces of the East, unlike the palaces of Frankestan, save their glories for the interior, and, so to speak, turn their back to the wayfarer. So Mahmoud-Ben-Ahmed did not profit greatly by his investigations. He saw three or four richly appareled negro slaves