64 



the least, five thousand troops; there were also stables for five 

 hunched horses. 



The hall, which we converted into a dining room, was a square 

 of sixty-three feet, opening in front to a pretty garden, and back- 

 wards to a large tank, paved with marble, for cold bathing. 

 Two rows of handsome pillars in front gave it an elegant appear- 

 ance; the roof of carved wood was beautifully painted. On each 

 side of the hall was a central large room, and two smaller, the 

 former with a cove roof, the latter under a dome. The pannels, 

 walls, and ceilings of these rooms were all carved and painted 

 with taste, the concave roofs ornamented with boiders and com- 

 partments of chain-work, painted white, and the interstices filled 

 with looking-glass. The windows M'ere of a composition like 

 isinglass, which only the nicest examination, or the touch could 

 distinguish from glass. They had a peculiar light and airy appear- 

 ance, disposed in a pretty tracery. The small recesses, which in 

 most Indian buildings are formed in the walls, and generally pro- 

 duce a disagreeable effect, are in these rooms rendered ornamen- 

 tal by the well-adapted expedient of introducing fruit and flowers, 

 painted in a brilliant style. 



Some smaller apartments in a different quarter, which formed 

 part of the haram, were entirely lined with looking-glass, and the 

 octagonal columns around them covered with the same material. 

 This range, when illuminated in the former profuse fashion of the 

 Moguls, must have made a brilliant appearance. Belonging to 

 this part of the zenana, I had, for the first time, an opportunity 

 of seeing another species of eastern luxury, in the apartment 

 called surd conna, or teh konna, which signifies in Persian, cool 



