At First I Only Saw
Their Fingers; And Afterwards, Applying Their Faces To The Holes, I
Could At Times See An Eye, And At Length Could Discern Their Entire
Countenances.
They were indifferently fair, having their black hair
smoothed up from their foreheads; and they were so adorned with pearls
and diamonds, that I might have seen them without the help of any other
light.
On my looking at them, they retired very merry, and, as I
supposed, laughing at me.
After some time, the king departed from the window, and we all went to
the durbar, to wait his coming out of the inner apartments. He came not
long after, and remained in the durbar for about half an hour, till his
ladies had mounted their elephants, which were in all about fifty, all
richly caparisoned, especially three, which had turrets or howders of
gold, with grates of gold wire for the ladies to see through, and rich
canopies over head of cloth of silver. The king then descended the
stairs, amid such acclamations of health to the king, as would have
drowned the noise of cannon. At the foot of the stairs, where I
contrived to be near him, a person brought to him a large carp, and
another presented a dish of some white stuff like starch, into which the
king dipped his finger, with which he touched the fish, and then rubbed
it on his forehead. This ceremony was said to presage good fortune. Then
came another officer, who buckled on his sword and buckler, all set with
large diamonds and rubies.
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