It proves the
extraordinary power of fascination which our traveller possessed, that
she obtained from this feminine despot so many concessions--being allowed
to travel about the island with comparative freedom, and being even
admitted to the royal presence. The latter incident is thus described:--
Towards four o'clock in the afternoon her bearers carried Madame Pfeiffer
to the palace, over the door of which a great gilded eagle expands its
wings. According to rule, in stepping across the threshold the visitor
put her right foot foremost; and this ceremony she also observed on
entering, through a second gateway, the spacious courtyard in front of
the palace. Here the queen was visible, being seated on a balcony on the
first story, and Madame Pfeiffer and her attendants were directed to
stand in a row in the courtyard opposite to her. Under the balcony some
soldiers were going through divers evolutions, which concluded, comically
enough, by suddenly lifting up the right foot as if it had been stung by
a wasp.
The queen was attired in a wide silk simbre, and wore on her head a large
golden crown. Though she sat in the shade, a very ample umbrella of
crimson silk--throughout the East a sign of royal dignity--was held over
her head. She was of rather dark complexion, strongly and even sturdily
built, and, though seventy-five years of age, remarkably healthy and
active.
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