60 SPORT AND TRAVEL 



part of the palace, and all carefully shut off from 

 the sight of man, save for the Sultan and the 

 eunuchs who guarded them. 



Of course these palaces seem a little bare now and 

 give no impression of the comfort and luxury which 

 we know the Mogul kings loved above all else. But 

 one must let his imagination rove a little, and pic- 

 ture the halls and chambers furnished, as they must 

 once have been, with magnificent Persian carpets 

 and thick curtains and draperies, beautiful tapes- 

 tries, luxurious divans and cushions, and soft rugs 

 to deaden the sound of feet on marble floors, which 

 now echo rather mournfully through the corridors. 

 History tells us, too, that the sultans and their wives 

 dressed in unimagined splendor, that their robes 

 were of the finest silk and satin and embroidered 

 with gold, and that they wore jewels of untold 

 value. It is not surprising that the apartments of 

 their palaces should seem unending ; in the zenanas 

 alone the sultanas had five thousand women around 

 them, including representatives of every profession 

 and trade, artists, musicians, seamstresses, em- 

 broiderers, hair-dressers, cooks, and innumerable 

 other servants, besides the wives themselves and 

 some three hundred concubines. When you add to 

 this the number of the Sultan's suite and servants, 

 and the soldiers who guarded the palace, you can 



