MAGNIFICENT JEWELS.

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You can imagine

big as large Barcelona nuts. -a beautiful full-blown rose, with its blossoms, buds, and leaves all composed of diamonds; a very large one formed the heart of that queen of flowers, which was only fitted to have been plucked by a fairy from the garden of the Peri..

"Then I was shown a splendid waistband, about half a foot wide, and of good length, and so heavy that my hands trembled beneath its weight. Do you wish to know what rendered it so heavy? Well, my dear friends, it consisted of diamonds, and such diamonds, that it actually appeared as if it were one solid piece. It is utterly impossible for me to describe to you all the head-dresses, bracelets, clasps, rings, and smaller articles contained in that chest.

"As to the quantity of gold and less valuable precious stones, all of which would have made the eyes of a London belle of the season sparkle with delight, they were countless, although scarcely any slave in that Harem would have considered any of them worth her acceptance. I cannot omit stating the fact, however unpalatable such may be to the French nation,

that within that iron coffer were to be seen a superb crown of diamonds and several most costly trinkets which had formerly belonged to that amiable Empress Josephine, Napoleon the Great's consort; but by what chance they had become buried, as it were, within the precincts of an Egyptian Harem, I was unable to learn.

"The Grand Princess, at a latter period, I believe, presented them to one of the little Princesses, so that the costly Imperial crown passed away into the hands of a less worthy and less distinguished personage. Now it is the property of H. H. the Validè Princess of Egypt, and she wore it on her last visit to Constantinople. The Princess Nuzly hardly deigned to bestow a glance upon all these priceless

treasures.

"Your Highness,' inquired I, after having greatly extolled the beauty and workmanship of those wonders of art and nature, 'does not often wear them?'

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Never,' replied she, very curtly. 'No, never; they are too heavy; and of what use would it be for me to adorn my person with them ?'

THE GRAND PRINCESS'S HAREM.

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"Then there was a long pause: the silence at length became so painful, that my embarrassment was extreme, more especially as the Princess never removed her eyes from off my face.

"Not daring to presume to break the silence, for fear I might be considered too loquacious, I endeavoured to conceal my perplexity, by smoking a little, and drinking coffee; a slave, the same who had attended upon me on my entrance into the room (for each has her office allotted to her), that handsome Circassian, of whom I have already spoken, kept continually replenishing my pipe.

"I have been told that you have a great desire to visit my Harem : your request shall be gratified.' Upon a sign being given, I was immediately surrounded by half-a-dozen slaves, all equally pretty, who took me with them. They were preceded by an older one, who led me into the interior of the apartments.

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The Mother of the Harem, who wore a large diamond necklace, appeared to have supreme command over all the others; she was a funny jovial creature, as nearly all the old slaves

generally are; the young ones, on the contrary, appeared sad, with downcast eyes, like weak plants, which have been kept away from the sun, nay, even shut up from the fresh air, and doomed never to enjoy either liberty or love.

"We ascended a marble double staircase, protected by wooden banisters, which gave access to the smaller apartments. The latter were composed of a great number of rooms, similar to each other, and separated by thick velvet and silk curtains, which, although considerably smaller than the others, were all furnished alike. A number of beautiful caskets, silver fountains, embroidered handkerchiefs, numerous vases of all shapes and sizes, a number of pretty little objects used by the women of the East, lay scattered about in all directions, which showed that these apartments were constantly occupied. In vain did I look around to find a book, not even an embroidery frame was to be seen; so that I naturally concluded that these distinguished personages considered it quite derogatory of them to do any single thing with their fingers. Thus it is almost impossible to conceive the ennui which

INCONGRUOUS DECORATION.

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those lovely beings must endure in these gilded cages: a most dreadful monotony, because the windows looked out on to blank walls.

"Truth compels me to affirm, that most outrageous incongruities meet the eye at every step we took in those splendid suites of rooms. Thus, for instance, scanty calico curtains were hung up at several windows, rush-bottom and cane chairs were placed side by side with some of the most beautiful inlaid drawing-room chairs, and the richest divans. The European chairs, in the Princess's drawing-room, were anything but in keeping with the magnificent decorations of the apartment. And I considered myself lucky even in finding a marble floor, where I expected to see but deal planks.

"The bad taste of modernizing had even been carried so far, as to paint the freestone of the outside, as is now the case with the palace of His Highness, the present Viceroy, at Old Cairo. There were no signs of any bedchambers, as the inmates sometimes slept in one room, and sometimes in another. Mattresses, which are encased in satin cases, and piled up in an empty chamber in the daytime, were laid down upon