t night, and the keys
brought to him, so that he remains free from any fear of attack. The
castle is entered by a long winding passage in the wall, quite dark
and very steep. At the door is a large shed, looking on a square
place capable of containing three or four hundred men, closely
huddled together. Under this shed is a great chair of state, once
finely gilt and ornamented, with a patchwork quilt thrown over it,
and behind it are the remains of two large looking-glasses. In this
chair the sultan receives homage every Friday, before he ascends the
castle, after returning from the mosque. This place is the Mejlees,
and was the scene of all the cruelties practised by Mukni, when he
first took possession of the country.

The habitation in which Captain Lyon and his party were lodged, was a
very good one, and as all the houses are built upon nearly the same
plan, the following description will give an idea of all the rest. A
large door, sufficiently high to admit a camel, opened into a broad
passage or _skeefa,_ on one side of which was a tolerable stable for
five horses, and close to it, a small room for the slaves, whose duty
it might be to attend the house. A door opposite to that of the
stable opened into the _kowdi,_ a large square room, the roof of
which at the height of eighteen feet, was supported by four palm
trees as pillars. In the centre of the roof was a large open space,
about twelve feet by nine, from this, the house and rooms receive
light, not to mention dust and excessive heat in the afternoon. At
the end of the room facing the door, a large seat of mud was raised
about eighteen inches high, and twelve feet in length. Heaps of this
description, though higher, are found at the doors of most houses,
and are covered with loungers in the cool of the morning and evening.
The large room was fifty feet by thirty-nine. From the sides, doors
opened into smaller ones, which might be used as sleeping or store
rooms, but were generally preferred for their coolness. Their only
light was received from the door. Ascending a few steps, there was a
kind of gallery over the side rooms, and in it were two small
apartments, but so very hot as to be almost useless. From the large
room was a passage leading to a yard, having also small houses
attached to it in the same manner, and a well of comparatively good
water. The floors were of sand, and the walls of mud roughly
plastered, and showing every where the marks of the onl