four steps lead to it; its inside is covered with a paint- 
ed cloth, the floor is covered with a carpet, a bed 
with curtains is placed opposite the door, on one side 
is an arm chair, and on the other a small mattrass. 
This cabinet is not more than fifteen feet square, and 
is the place where the sultan receives, lying^on a bed or 
seated in an arm chair, those who have obtained permis- 
sion to be presented to him, but who never come within 
the door; his favourites alone pass through that and sit 
down on the small mattrass near the bed; this favour was 
always granted to me. 
In the same yard there is a chapel or small mosque, 
where the sultan makes his daily prayers, except on 
Fridays, when he visits the great mosque of the palace, 
which is open to the public by a door which leads into 
the street. 
In the second yard is the office of the minister; it is 
small, low, and damp, and at the bottom of a small stair- 
ease; it is about five feet wide by eight long; its walls 
are extremely black, and are crumbling away; it has no 
other furniture than an old carpet, which covers the 
floor; the minister is generally found squatting down in 
a corner of this miserable hole, with a common inkhorn 
at his side, his papers are in a silk handkerchief, with a 
little book in which he makes his notes; when he goes 
out he closes the inkhorn, and wraps his papers and 
memorandum book in his handkerchief, and puts them 
under his arm, so that whenever he moves he always 
carries his archives with him. 
This palace is situated on an elevation, and in a 
quarter or suburb out of the town, which is called New 
Fez. The Jews are forced to live in this quarter, where 
they are locked up every night. 
