sapphire. Her robes were of white silk embroidered with broad bands of
orange and arranged in innumerable folds. Her boots were incrusted
with sapphires. All this I saw at a momentary glance as Koshnili led
me forward to his majesty. I was announced as "His Excellency,
Lexington White, commander of the _Polar King_, the discoverer of the
Polar Gulf, and the first inhabitant of the outer world who had ever
reached Bilbimtesirol and Atvatabar."

The king embraced me and I kissed the hand of her majesty. The
officers and sailors received their due share of royal attention. We
were the objects of unbounded curiosity on the part of the royal
retinue.

Amid a salute of guns and music we passed through the archway that
formed the boundary between the palace gardens and the court of the
holy locomotive, and saw the palace of King Aldemegry Bhoolmakar
before us.

It was a high, conical building, twenty stories in height. Each story
was surrounded by a row of windows decorated with pillars. Colossal
lions of gold stood on the entrance towers, their claws formed of
straps of gold running down the walls and riveted to the lower tiers
of stone, giving the impression that they held together the whole
structure beneath. The style of architecture was an absolutely new
order. It was neither Hindoo, Egyptian, Greek, nor Gothic, but there
was a flavor of all four styles in the weirdly-carved circular walls
and roofs. The palace was surrounded by a spacious court, enclosed by
cloistered walls. Flowers bloomed in immense square-shaped vases of
stone supported on diminutive square pillars. A tank of crystal water,
on each side of which broad wide steps led down into the cool wave,
lay in the centre of the court. The tank was fed by a wide rivulet of
rippling water that ran along a chiselled bed in the marble floor of
the court.

The entire scene was a picture of glorious and blessed repose. The
sculptor had covered the base and frieze of the walls with a profusion
of ornament in high relief. Imagination and art had produced scenes
that created a profound impression. A dramatic calmness held lion and
elephant, serpent and eagle, wayleal and bockhockid, youth and maiden,
in glorious embrace.

The banquet given by the king in our honor in the topmost story of the
palace was both delicious and satisfying. All the fertility of
Atvatabar ministered to our delight. Strange meats and fruits were
music to the body, as art and music were meats