ed by his highness's own creation for the
introduction of living forms into Moslem sculpture and carving. They
might have varied their huge present with advantage. Indeed, with the
crocodile and the palm-tree, surely something more beautiful and not
less characteristic than their metallic mausoleum might easily have been
devised.

This marble pavilion at Shoubra, indeed, with its graceful, terraced
peristyles, its chambers and divans, the bright waters beneath, with
their painted boats, wherein the ladies of the harem chase the gleaming
shoals of gold and silver fish, is a scene worthy of a sultan; but my
attendant, a Greek employed in the garden, told me I ought to view it
on some high festival, crowded by the court in their rich costumes, to
appreciate all its impressive beauty. This was a scene not reserved
for me, yet my first visit to Shoubra closed with an incident not
immemorable.

I had quitted the marble pavilion and was about to visit the wilderness
where roam, in apparent liberty, many rare animals, when I came,
somewhat suddenly, on a small circular plot into which several walks
emptied, cut through a thick hedge of myrtle. By a sun-dial stood a
little man, robust, though aged, rather stout, and of a very cheerful
countenance; his attire plain and simple, a pelisse of dark silk, and a
turban white as his snowy beard; he was in merry conversation with his
companion, who turned out to be his jester. In the background,
against the myrtle wall, stood three or four courtiers in rich
dresses--courtiers, for the little old man was their princely
master--the great Pasha of Egypt.

EDEN AND LEBANON

I FOUND myself high among the mountains, and yet amid a series of green
slopes. All around me sparkled with cultivation--vineyards, gardens,
groves of young mulberry trees, clustering groups of the sycamore and
the walnut. Falling around, the cascades glittered in the sun, until,
reaching the bottom of the winding valley, they mingled with the waters
of a rivulet that glided through a glade of singular vividness.

On the broad bosom of a sunny hill, behind which rose a pyramid of bare
rock, was a most beautiful village--flat cottages with terraced roofs,
shaded by spreading trees, and surrounded by fruit and flowers. A
cerulean sky above; the breath of an infinite variety of fragrant herbs
around; and a land of silk and wine; everywhere the hum of bees and
the murmur of falling streams; while, on the undulatin