d me to a seat therein. I again bowed profoundly to the Mayor and
Councillors, and drove off with my entertainer, whose name was Senoj
Nosnibor. After about half a mile the carriage turned off the main road,
and we drove under the walls of the town till we reached a _palazzo_ on a
slight eminence, and just on the outskirts of the city. This was Senoj
Nosnibor's house, and nothing can be imagined finer. It was situated
near the magnificent and venerable ruins of the old railway station,
which formed an imposing feature from the gardens of the house. The
grounds, some ten or a dozen acres in extent, were laid out in terraced
gardens, one above the other, with flights of broad steps ascending and
descending the declivity of the garden. On these steps there were
statues of most exquisite workmanship. Besides the statues there were
vases filled with various shrubs that were new to me; and on either side
the flights of steps there were rows of old cypresses and cedars, with
grassy alleys between them. Then came choice vineyards and orchards of
fruit-trees in full bearing.

The house itself was approached by a court-yard, and round it was a
corridor on to which rooms opened, as at Pompeii. In the middle of the
court there was a bath and a fountain. Having passed the court we came
to the main body of the house, which was two stories in height. The
rooms were large and lofty; perhaps at first they looked rather bare of
furniture, but in hot climates people generally keep their rooms more
bare than they do in colder ones. I missed also the sight of a grand
piano or some similar instrument, there being no means of producing music
in any of the rooms save the larger drawing-room, where there were half a
dozen large bronze gongs, which the ladies used occasionally to beat
about at random. It was not pleasant to hear them, but I have heard
quite as unpleasant music both before and since.

Mr. Nosnibor took me through several spacious rooms till we reached a
boudoir where were his wife and daughters, of whom I had heard from the
interpreter. Mrs. Nosnibor was about forty years old, and still
handsome, but she had grown very stout: her daughters were in the prime
of youth and exquisitely beautiful. I gave the preference almost at once
to the younger, whose name was Arowhena; for the elder sister was
haughty, while the younger had a very winning manner. Mrs. Nosnibor
received me with the perfection of courtesy, so that I