dem ye are! To
you, ye stars, man owes his subtlest raptures, thoughts unspeakable,
yet full of faith.

But how your mild effulgence stings the boding heart. Am I a
murderer, stars?

Hours pass. The starry trance is departed. Long waited for, the dawn
now comes.

First, breaking along the waking face; peeping from out the languid
lids; then shining forth in longer glances; till, like the sun, up
comes the soul, and sheds its rays abroad.

When thus my Yillah did daily dawn, how she lit up my world; tinging
more rosily the roseate clouds, that in her summer cheek played to
and fro, like clouds in Italian air.

CHAPTER LIX
Their Morning Meal

Not wholly is our world made up of bright stars and bright eyes: so
now to our story.

A conscientious host should ever be up betimes, to look after the
welfare of his guests, and see to it that their day begin
auspiciously. King Media announced the advent of the sun, by rustling
at my bower's eaves in person.

A repast was spread in an adjoining arbor, which Media's pages had
smoothed for our reception, and where his subordinate chiefs were in
attendance. Here we reclined upon mats. Balmy and fresh blew the
breath of the morning; golden vapors were upon the mountains, silver
sheen upon the grass; and the birds were at matins in the groves;
their bright plumage flashing into view, here and there, as if some
rainbow were crouching in the foliage.

Spread before us were viands, served in quaint-shaped, curiously-dyed
gourds, not Sevres, but almost as tasteful; and like true porcelain,
fire had tempered them. Green and yielding, they are plucked from the
tree; and emptied of their pulp, are scratched over with minute
marks, like those of a line engraving. The ground prepared, the
various figures are carefully etched. And the outlines filled up with
delicate punctures, certain vegetable oils are poured over them, for
coloring. Filled with a peculiar species of earth, the gourd is now
placed in an oven in the ground. And in due time exhumed, emptied of
its contents, and washed in the stream, it presents a deep-dyed
exterior; every figure distinctly traced and opaque, but the
ground semi-transparent. In some cases, owing to the variety of dyes
employed, each figure is of a different hue.

More glorious goblets than these for the drinking of wine, went never
from hand to mouth. Capacious as pitchers, they almost superseded
decanters.

Now, in a tropical climate, frui