248                         DESCRIPTION OF

with a cotton mattress four inches in thickness, over which
a fine white cloth is spread during the summer, and a silk
carpet in the winter. At the most conspicuous side of the
chamber are one or two mattresses, with fine coverings
quilted in the form of flowers and ornamented with delicate
silk embroidery, interspersed with gold and silver. These
are intended for the master of the house, or any person
of quality who may happen to call. Each mattress has a
large cushion of brocade to lean upon, and there are
other cushions placed round the room, covered with
brocade, velvet or flowered satin, for the rest of the
company. Five or six feet from the floor, the sides of
the room are full of niches, cut in a variety of shapes,
tasteful and well proportioned, in which are seen porcelain
vases and flower-pots. The ceiling is gilt and painted,
but without pictures of man or beast, such representations
being forbidden by the religion of the country.

This is a pretty fair description of a fine house in these
parts, and as there are many in Dehli possessing all the
properties above mentioned, I think it may be safely
asserted, without disparagement to the towns in our
quarter of the globe, that the capital of Hindoustan is not
destitute of handsome buildings, although they bear no
resemblance to those in Eurojie.

That which so much contributes to the beauty of
European towns, the brilliant appearance of the shops, is
wanting in Dehli. For though this city be the seat of a
powerful and magnificent court, where an infinite quantity
of the richest commodities is necessarily collected, yet
there are no streets like ours of S. Denis, which has not
perhaps its equal in any part of Asia. Here the costly
merchandise is generally kept in warehouses, and the
shops are seldom decked with rich or showy articles. For
one that makes a display of beautiful and fine cloths, silk,
and other stuffs striped with gold and silver, turbans
embroidered with gold, and brocades, there are at least
five-and-twenty where nothing is seen but pots of oil or