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