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fixed, without regard to the silence of history, because 
it might not have attracted attention in consequence of 
some remarkable event, or if it might be thought to 
have been the habitation of some important person, like 
those edifices which I have seen in several parts of the 
mountains of Africa, which serve as habitations to the 
Arab chiefs, I should say that it was built under similar 
circumstances, when there were no houses in the coun- 
try; but when I behold the magnificence and costliness 
of this palace, a monument of the progress of the arts 
at that period, and reflect upon its impregnable situa- 
tion, I think I perceive the habitation of a great sove- 
reign. 
It results from these observations, that the queen's 
palace was without doubt built, and inhabited before the 
period of history; that it was built by a sovereign of 
the island, who was rich and powerful. 
This edifice appears at the same time to have been 
an impregnable fortress, and a dwelling of pomp, where 
the pleasures of society were united. But who was the 
prince that constructed it? 
The name of the queen's palace has been constantly 
handed down from father to son; so that there is not a 
single individual in the island who does not know it by 
that appellation. 
As every religion has its mystery, they showed me at 
the monastery of St. John Chrysostom, an old picture, 
painted upon wood, about two feet square, representing, 
as they informed me, the lady foundress, to whom the 
monks also attribute the foundation of their monastery. 
This princess is represented at prayers before an image 
of the Virgin Mary. The painter has executed the face 
