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sand persons; and the erecting of it employed one thousand men 

 for a week, with the help of machines; one of these shahmy- 

 anahs, without any ornaments, cost ten thousand rupees. 



I cannot illustrate what the beds of silver and gold were, 

 from modern Asiatic furniture. The divan, or hall of audience, 

 as also the room for receiving guests in private houses, is gene- 

 rally covered with a Persian carpet; round which are placed 

 cushions of different shape and size, in cases of gold and silver 

 kincob, or of scarlet cloth embroidered: these are occasionally 

 moved into the courts and gardens, and placed under the shah- 

 myanah, for the accommodation of company. Respecting ano- 

 ther kind of bed mentioned in scripture, I think there can be 

 little doubt, that it means the palanquin of Hindostan, or some- 

 thing very similar; in which the prince not only reclines, or 

 sits in state in paying visits of ceremony, but the traveller also 

 reposes during a journey, as if he were in his own bed. I have 

 been in a situation nearly nine months together in which I not 

 only travelled in my palanquin during the day, but slept in it 

 every night, with the purdoe or curtain dropped round it; either 

 in or out of a tent, under a shamyanah, or a banian-tree, as the 

 •weather permitted. 



The words in Solomon's Song to which I allude, exactly de- 

 scribe the procession of an Indian prince in his palanquin, sur- 

 rounded by his guards; " Who is this that cometh out of the wil- 

 derness, like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankin- 

 cense, with all powders of the merchant? Behold the bed, which is 

 Solomon's; three score valiant men are about it, of the valiant of 

 Israel; they all hold swords, being expert in war; every man 



