ROYAL RESIDENCE. 
229 
even with its surface, from which spout the fountains, to the 
height of sixteen or eighteen inches ! The natives are particu¬ 
larly fond of this luxury; and generally contrive to have the 
tank so close to the open window of the reception saloon, that, 
instead of being always delighted in warm weather with its 
refreshing coolness, the host and his visitors are often pestered 
out of all patience by the stings of innumerable insects engen¬ 
dered by the heat, and near enough to the room to fill its atmo¬ 
sphere with buzzing myriads. This reception saloon, or hall of 
audience, varies according to the rank of the owner, in the 
decoration of its walls, or the costliness of the nummuds, a sort 
of felt or carpet on which the host and his visitors sit. But the 
circumstances of a court, and a state-room looking into it, are 
the regular order of every respectable habitation in Persia. The 
same resemblance reigns through the disposition of all the other 
apartments, only encreasing in number and size with the station 
and wealth of the possessor. But all this exists unobserved, 
behind the monotonous walls of mud, which usually form the side 
of the quadrangle nearest the street. The palace of the prince, 
exteriorly, is hardly to be discerned from one of the obscurest of 
these mansions ; and its apartments of ceremony are arranged in 
the same manner. His B,oyal Highness being absent when I 
arrived, I had good time for rest, and ample leisure to examine 
his capital and the details of his palace, before I had the plea¬ 
sure of paying my respects to himself. 
Having gone over most of the royal residence, I was curious 
to see how the gentler sex are accommodated, in a country 
where their home is their prison. At least, so we consider 
their sequestration. But such is the kindly influence of habit, 
though many of these women must be full of conscious beauty, 
