CHAr. XIV. INVITATION TO A FETE AT THE PALACE. 397 



came to know when I should be ready to take the likeness. I 

 took him into the room to see the camera and the chemicals, 

 &c., and told him that one bottle was missing, but that as 

 soon as I was ready I would inform the prince. After break- 

 fast the queen's secretary came to let me know that there 

 would be a ball or dance, in the presence of the queen, on 

 the following day, and that I was invited to be present. He 

 said the queen was pleased with my visit ; and he inquired 

 when I should begin with the likenesses, as both the prince 

 and princess proposed to come on Friday, and he hoped I 

 should be ready then. 



While we were talking, one of the chief officers of the 

 palace came and asked me to go and see his wife, who was an 

 invalid. I accompanied him to his residence, a nice comfort- 

 able two-storied house, built of wood, with sleeping rooms 

 up-stairs. Soon after our arrival his wife, attended by a 

 female domestic, came down stairs into the pleasant, neatly- 

 furnished room in which we were waiting. After a short con- 

 versation, I said I thought I had some medicine that would 

 afford her relief; and as the chief returned with me, I gave 

 him a supply for her use. The friends who visited me in the 

 evening were equally astonished and delighted with this 

 chief's coming to me. Later in the day he brought me a 

 turtle as a present, and said he would come and live in a 

 house very near, in order that I might see his wife often. 



On Thursday, September 18th, I was early at work with 

 my camera, but was obliged to leave off, as I expected a 

 messenger from the palace. Soon after twelve I was sent for, 

 and followed the messenger. The road to the palace was 

 literally thronged, and the walls of the enclosures round the 

 houses were surmounted by the heads and shoulders of people 

 standing inside, two or three deep, chiefly of women in holi- 

 day costume. The roofs of the buildings overlooking the 

 palace-yard were also thronged with spectators. 



