44G 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



THE PAI.ACE: OF 



Photograph by Maynard Owen Williams 

 MIRRORS AT LAHORE 



Thousands of tiny mirrors set in plaster and interspersed with 

 porcelain figures form the roof decorations of this part of the 

 ancient palace. Behind are smaller rooms which can be darkened 

 so that a candle moved slowly in a circle by the bearded guide is 

 reflected in a myriad of dancing lights. 



the harpies and cut into a mam bazaar, 

 where the mellow glint of hand-hammered 

 copper suggested Mohammedan ways, 

 just as the more radiant brass of Benares 

 would later signify the Hindu faith. 



A crowd was gathered about a hand- 

 some man who bore a banner and a 

 wallet, the one proclaiming his ability to 

 prove the sun's revolution about the earth, 

 the other containing copies of the proof, 

 which he was peddling to the credulous 

 at four annas a copy. Although Einstein 

 had not yet shaken my faith in the old- 

 time planetary laws, I refused the invita- 

 tion to debate the theorem before that 



interested mob, even 

 though he generously 

 ottered to translate 

 my arguments into 

 Pa s h t o or 1 1 indu- 

 stani for the benefit 

 of the audience. In 

 Peshawar it is not 

 even necessary to hire 

 a hall, nor is the soap- 

 bo x essential as a 

 foundation for Uto- 

 pia. 



THE BARBER IS A PUB- 

 LIC TORTURER 



At a prominent cor- 

 ner, near the princi- 

 pal mosque and sur- 

 rounded by the booths 

 of money - changers, 

 who, like All Baba's 

 wife, measure the an- 

 cient-looking Afghan 

 currency which here 

 is changed for Indian 

 coins, there is a small 

 kiosk wherein a 

 sloppy fountain soaks 

 a floor deep hid in 

 cast-off pith of tooth- 

 crushed sugar - cane. 

 Its rails are hung 

 with flabby skin s 

 w h i c h the tanners 

 leave for an ardent 

 sun to cure, and on 

 the sidewalks, safe 

 from the feet of plod- 

 d i n g bullocks and 

 slow camel trains, a 

 bevy of barbers prac- 

 tice chin-golf on pained faces, whereon 

 they never make the course in anything 

 like par. The claims of any modern 

 shaving preparation would sound like a 

 fairy tale to those tortured beings whose 

 heads and chins are razed with ruthless 

 lack of emollient aids to a close shave. 



A side street climbs to a high tower 

 from which mere man could feast his eyes 

 on a Moslem paradise peopled with houris 

 were it not for the fact that this is well 

 known by the women of the neighbor- 

 hood, who, when they venture forth upon 

 the flat mud roofs, draw close their veils 

 to shield the modesty which is their all. 



