VISIT TO THE PALACE. 



250 



soldieresses, mounted, as are the Kafirs, upon oxen 

 — -the Portuguese c boi-cavallos.' Some travellers 

 have asserted that the Cape tribes learned cattle- 

 riding from Europeans : but Camoens, making 

 his hero land at the Aguada de S. Braz, after 

 sailing from the Angra de Santa Elena, expressly 

 states — 



1 Embrown'd the women by the burning clime, 

 On slow-paced oxen riding came along.' — Canto V. 63. 



Durbars, or levees, are held three times a 

 day, after dawn-prayers, in the afternoon, and at 

 night. The ceremonial is simple. The lieges, 

 passing the two Sepoys on guard at the gate, 

 enter with the usual Moslem salutation, and 

 after kissing hands take their appointed places. 

 There is no lord of the basin, lord of the towel, or 

 lord of the pelisse, deemed indispensable by every 

 petty Persian governor. The ruler is addressed, 

 Ya Sidi, my lord, and is spoken of by his sub- 

 jects as Sayyidna, our prince. Coffee is served, 

 but only at night ; and all forms of intoxicants 

 are jealously banished. The long, bare recep- 

 tion-hall, ceilinged with heavy polished beams, 

 and paved with alternate slabs of white and black 

 marble brought from Marseille, boasts only a 

 few dingy chandeliers, and three rows of common 

 wooden-bottomed chairs. It is, however, un- 



