ve
listening. When the Vizier assumes this energetic posture he is commonly
either introducing prisoners or bringing in spoil to the king. When he
is quiescent, he stands before the throne to receive the king's orders,
or witnesses the ceremony with which it was usual to conclude a
successful hunting expedition.

The pre-eminent rank and dignity of this officer is shown, not only by
his participation in the insignia of royal authority, but also and very
clearly by the fact that, when he is present, no one ever intervenes
between him and the king. He has the undisputed right of precedence, so
that he is evidently the first subject of the crown, and he alone, is
seen addressing the monarch. He does not always accompany the king on
his military expeditions but when he attends them, he still maintains
his position, having a dignity greater than that of any general, and so
taking the entire direction of the prisoners and of the spoil.

The royal fan-bearers were two in number. They were invariably eunuchs.
Their ordinary position was behind the monarch, on whom they attended
alike in the retirement of private life and in religious and civil
ceremonies. On some occasions, however, one of the two was privileged to
leave his station behind the king's chair or throne, and, advancing in
front, to perform certain functions before the face of his master. He
handed his master the sacred cup, and waited to receive it back, at the
same time diligently discharging the ordinary duties of his office by
keeping up a current of air and chasing away those plagues of the
East--the flies. The fan-bearer thus privileged wears always the long
tasselled scarf, which seems to have been a badge of office, and may not
improbably mark him for the chief Eunuch. In the absence of the Vizier,
or sometimes in subordination to him, he introduced the tribute-bearers
to the king, reading out their names and titles from a scroll or tablet
which he held in his left hand. [PLATE CXVII., Fig. 2.]

[Illustration: PLATE 117]

[Illustration: PLATE 118]

The fan carried by these attendants seems in most instances to have been
made of feathers. It had a shortish handle, which was generally mere or
less ornamented, and frequently terminated in the head of a ram or other
animal. [PLATE CXVIII., Fig. 1.] The feathers were sometimes of great
length, and bent gracefully by their own weight, as they were pointed
slantingly towards the monarch. Occasionally a compara