arena situated within the palace.

At his command two naked men appeared, their hands covered with steel
claws. They immediately began to attack each other, trying to strike one
another with this sharp weapon, which left long cuts, from which the
blood flowed freely down their dark skin.

It lasted for a long time, till their bodies were a mass of wounds, and
the combatants were tearing each other's flesh with this sort of rake
made of pointed blades. One of them had his jaw smashed, while the ear
of the other was split into three pieces.

The prince looked on with ferocious pleasure, uttered grunts of delight,
and imitated all their movements with careless gestures, crying out
constantly:

"Strike, strike hard!"

One fell down unconscious, and had to be carried out of the arena,
covered with blood, while the rajah uttered a sigh of regret because it
was over so soon.

He turned to me to know my opinion; I was disgusted, but I congratulated
him loudly. He then gave orders that I was to be conducted to
Couch-Mahal (the palace of pleasure), where I was to be lodged.

This bijou palace was situated at the extremity of the royal park, and
one of its walls was built into the sacred lake of Vihara. It was
square, with three rows of galleries with colonnades of most beautiful
workmanship. At each angle there were light, lofty or low towers,
standing either singly or in pairs: no two were alike, and they looked
like flowers growing out of that graceful plant of Oriental
architecture. All were surmounted by fantastic roofs, like coquettish
ladies' caps.

In the middle of the edifice a large dome raised its round cupola like a
large white woman's breast, beside a beautiful clock-tower.

The whole building was covered with sculpture from top to bottom, with
those exquisite arabesques which delight the eye, of motionless
processions of delicate figures whose attitudes and gestures in stone
told the story of Indian manners and customs.

The rooms were lighted by windows with dentelated arches, looking on to
the gardens. On the marble floor were designs of graceful bouquets in
onyx, lapis-lazuli, and agate.

I had scarcely had time to finish my toilet when Haribada, a court
dignitary who was specially charged to communicate between the prince
and me, announced his sovereign's visit.

The saffron-colored rajah appeared, again shook hands with me, and began
to tell me a thousand different things, constantly asking me f