234 
THE PALACE. 
paved in parts, and watered with fountains and canals. On one 
side appeared the grand saloon of audience of the Prince ; the 
style of which, though in a more elegant degree, may characterize 
those of all his ministers, khans, &c. The room is very spacious, 
the front wide, and open entirely to the garden, from the roof to 
the floor. The latter is elevated only four feet above the out¬ 
ward pavement. Two superb columns of a pentagonical shape, 
without bases, and tapering gracefully to their summits, are each 
finished by a capital in the form of an inverted pyramid, orna¬ 
mented with small niches in regular rows, crowned with a deep 
plinth nearly square, on which rests the ceiling, The pillars are 
made of wood, overlaid with gilding, on which flowers, and ara¬ 
besque devices interspersed with rich fretwork, are painted in 
the most brilliant colours. Various compartments in the walls 
were filled with pictures of former shahs, of their exploits in 
hunting, and of Abbas Mirza’s own achievements in the dan¬ 
gerous chase; the objects of such amusement in Persia, being 
generally ferocious, as well as wild animals. The semblances of 
beautiful women, had also found a place in the saloon of this 
gallant prince. A great deal of gold, silver, and the gayest 
colours, being used by the artists of the country to complete 
the magnificence of a royal portrait, it forms a very sump¬ 
tuous hanging of itself; and where pictures were not placed, the 
walls exhibited every other splendour in the shape of mirrors, 
with plates of looking-glass, inserted amidst the wreathing of rich 
gilding, and every variety of flowers, which covered not only the 
walls, but the ceiling. The reflections from the glass so mul¬ 
tiplied the columns, and carried the brilliant compartments of 
the room into a thousand deepening recesses, that the eye soon 
became lost in the gorgeous maze. The head of the chamber, 
