GAUAEONGA, THE GEEAT CHIEF 165 



curtain. One half was empty, for here the handmaids 

 bring their sleeping-mats and curl themselves up for 

 the night ; on the other side is the queen's bed, a 

 huge divan covered with Persian rugs and big leather 

 cushions. 



The queen is a Wadaian, and married Gauaronga 

 when he was a captive at Abechir. She is now very- 

 unattractive, and has never borne him any children, 

 but in gratitude for the past he retains her as his 

 principal wife. The others bear the lesser title of 

 Leli — princess. 



It was to the Leli Bondigul we now went. Her 

 name is that of the town or district which she owns, 

 from whence the subsidies come by which she main- 

 tains her private purse. 



She was a pleasant, intelligent woman, and seemed 

 really pleased to see us, and her women made no secret 

 of their interest. Her dress was a gorgeous cerise- 

 coloured robe of Arabic work, and she glittered with 

 jewels. She was sitting in a quaint little circular 

 vestibule, with a long, narrow passage off it. There 

 was just room for her and us and her two principal 

 attendants, while her suite crouched outside, some 

 eight or ten women, in the best place of vantage they 

 could get. 



She has no child to bear her name, as is the custom 

 among the princesses, for each own son takes the name 

 of his mother's estate. Her one son is the heir-ap- 

 parent, and he bears a title equivalent to that of our 

 Prince of Wales, Churoma. Though only a boy of 

 seventeen, he had been to France, she told us, where 

 he had spent six months ; he had told her much about 

 French ladies, and particularly of the wonderful nature 



