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amongst us pashas, hhaliphes and kaids charged with 
the command of every dinner, tea, collation, or walk. 
The only game which offered some interest consist- 
ed of placing on a large dish about a dozen of cups 
upside down. The company then divides into two 
bands, and after one of them had put a ring or a piece 
of coin under one of the cups, the other band !s to 
discover it in the first or last of the cups which they may 
lift up. If the ring should happen to be in one of the 
intermediate cups, he that has lifted up the wrong cup 
is punished with receiving from every member of the 
opposite band, some blows on his hands with a knotted 
handkerchief. But if the ring be found in the first or 
last cup lifted up, the party takes the same revenge. 
This game is for want of a better, amusing enough, as 
it gives rise to many curious scenes in the disputes 
about lifting up the cups, and the struggle between the 
weak and the strong produces some droll exhibitions. 
Such are the amusements that occupied us for three 
days and two nights, which we spent in the garden. The 
last day was on Thursday, and as I had apprized the 
sultan that a new moon would be seen that day, if the 
clouds did not prevent it, he ordered the beginning of 
Ramadan to be proclaimed for Friday, though the moon 
was constantly covered by clouds. 
In pursuance of the Sultan's orders, Sidi Ginnan came 
on Friday to accompany me- to the palace, I went on 
horseback, and we arrived together at the mosque of the 
palace, where he made me sit down and left me alone. 
An hour after the sultan arrived in the gallery, where he 
usually recited his Friday prayers without being seen 
by the people. As soon as the public prayers were over, 
the sultan went away without my having been able t® 
see him. 
