been found possible, by employing several thousand laborers, to erect
this magnificent structure, in a few weeks, and nothing was lacking to it
that could be desired, even by a king so accustomed as Rameses to
luxury and splendor. A high exterior flight of steps led from the
garden--which had been created out of a waste--to the vestibule,
out of which the banqueting hall opened.

This was of unusual height, and had a vaulted wooden ceiling, which was
painted blue and sprinkled with stars, to represent the night heavens,
and which was supported on pillars carved, some in the form of date-
palms, and some like cedars of Lebanon; the leaves and twigs consisted of
artfully fastened and colored tissue; elegant festoons of bluish gauze
were stretched from pillar to pillar across the hall, and in the centre
of the eastern wall they were attached to a large shell-shaped canopy
extending over the throne of the king, which was decorated with pieces of
green and blue glass, of mother of pearl, of shining plates of mica, and
other sparkling objects.

The throne itself had the shape of a buckler, guarded by two lions, which
rested on each side of it and formed the arms, and supported on the backs
of four Asiatic captives who crouched beneath its weight. Thick carpets,
which seemed to have transported the sea-shore on to the dry land-for
their pale blue ground was strewn with a variety of shells, fishes, and
water plants-covered the floor of the banqueting hall, in which three
hundred seats were placed by the tables, for the nobles of the kingdom
and the officers of the troops.

Above all this splendor hung a thousand lamps, shaped like lilies and
tulips, and in the entrance hall stood a huge basket of roses to be
strewn before the king when he should arrive.