158 
THE ORIENTAL ANNUAL. 
armed. He travelled with the speed of a whirlwind ; 
and on the evening of the third day, a little before 
the time of sunset prayer, he took up his abode for 
the night in a spacious moohkburra , the tomb of a 
Mohummedan saint, which stood immediately with- 
out the walls of Dherm-ben-Nassuk’s palace. Im- 
mediately upon his arrival, he set ten men, expert 
sappers and miners, to work within the tomb, to 
excavate a passage into the palace court. This they 
had completely performed by midnight, and came to 
the surface in one of the chambers of the treasury. 
Taking with him only ten of his followers, he entered 
the palace, all the interior doors whereof, according 
to Eastern custom, were wide open ; and slaves lay 
asleep upon the floors, in all the passages, with their 
swords and spears beside them. In profound silence, 
and with the stealthy movements of a cat, he, as a 
precautionary measure, first gathered up all the 
arms, and sent them to the tomb. Then, having 
collected all the most precious of the costly things 
which lay around, consisting of various small articles 
of furniture of pure gold inlaid with gems, and 
several caskets of court jewels and regalia of inesti- 
mable value, including the Mogul cap of state, (the 
weight of the princely jewels therein being six seers*) 
he had them speedily packed up into convenient 
bales, and ordered them to be removed to the tomb ; 
where his horse was already prepared, his troopers in 
* About twelve pounds weight. 
