第86章

The palace is on this fashion:it has a gate opening on to the open space[435]of which I have spoken,and over this gate is a tower of some height,made like the others with its verandahs;outside these gates begins the wall which I said encircled the palace.At the gate are many doorkeepers[436]with leather scourges in their hands,and sticks,and they let no one enter but the captains and chief people,and those about whom they receive orders from the Chief of the Guard.Passing this gate you have an open space,and then you have another gate like the first,also with its doorkeepers and guards;and as soon as you enter inside this you have a large open space,and on one side and the other are low verandahs where are seated the captains and chief people in order to witness the feasts,and on the left side of the north of this open space is a great one-storeyed building (TERREA);all the rest are like it.This building stands on pillars shaped like elephants and with other figures,and all open in front,and they go up to it by staircases of stone;around it,underneath,is a terrace (CORREDOR)paved with very good flagstones,where stand some of the people looking at the feast.This house is called the House of Victory,as it was made when the king came back from the war against Orya,as I have already told you.On the right side of the open space were some narrow scaffoldings,made of wood and so lofty that they could be seen over the top of the wall;they were covered at the top with crimson and green velvet and other handsome cloths,and adorned from top to bottom.Let no one fancy that these cloths were of wool,because there are none such in the country,but they are of very fine cotton.These scaffoldings are not always kept at that place,but they are specially made for these feasts;there are eleven of them.Against the gates there were two circles in which were the dancing-women,richly arrayed with many jewels of gold and diamonds and many pearls.Opposite the gate which is on the east side of the front of the open space,and in the middle of it,there are two buildings of the same sort as the House of Victory of which I have spoken;these buildings are served by a kind of staircase of stone beautifully wrought,--one is in the middle and the other at the end.This building was all hung with rich cloths,both the walls and the ceiling,as well as the supports,and the cloths of the walls were adorned with figures in the manner of embroidery;these buildings have two platforms one above the other,beautifully sculptured,with their sides well made and worked,to which platforms the sons of the king's favourites come for the feasts,and sometimes his eunuchs.On the upper platform,close to the king,was Christovao de Figueiredo,with all of us who came with him,for the king commanded that he should be put in such a place as best to see the feasts and magnificence.That I may not forget to tell of the streets that are in the palace I here mention them.You must know that inside the palace that I have spoken of is the dwelling of the king and of his wives and of the other women who serve them;as I have already said,who are twelve thousand in number;and they have an entrance to these rows of houses so that they can go inside.Between this palace and the House of Victory is a gate which serves as passage to it.Inside there are thirty-four streets.