Upon the arrival of a visitor the great door would be folded back, revealing a courtyard arranged in a style of true Eastern magnificence. The floor was formed of mosaics of elegant design cut from costly marbles. Shrubs, flowers, and trees of exotic birth filled convenient parterres, while a fountain played its crystal waters in feathery spray, giving the scene a refreshing sense of coolness. Birds of beautiful plumage disported themselves amongst the trees, adding colour, as well as life to the picture. The tiny humming-bird, like a moving flower-bud hung on the branches of beautiful shrubs, or basked in the sunshine of this artificial Eastern clime; for the whole was covered with a high dome of glass of considerable area, which was supported by graceful pillars of manufactured marbles erected in regular succession. The tropical temperature obtained by the conservation of solar heat, being evenly sustained the year through, independently of the changes of weather.
The apartments within were arranged in similarly luxurious style. The walls were hung with crimson satin, embroidered richly in gold, but the colours were varied according to the character of the apartments.
While the wall draperies of one room were composed of crimson satin, those of another were pale blue, another yellow, and so on, all of which were embroidered in richest hues, intermingled with gold. The couches and curiously carved stools were upholstered in rich materials that were in character with the decorations of the walls, and window draperies; while Persian carpets of the softest velvet pile sank like turf beneath the tread.
Costly ornaments of Eastern manufacture adorned the side tables, or were arranged on beautifully carved ivory brackets; while native Japanese paintings, encased in richest frames gave the tout ensemble a decidedly oriental appearance. The picturesque delineations of the Jap, whose ideas of art were totally different from those of the Western world, made their paintings real curiosities to the English mind. These represented lovers in nearly all stages of the grande passion seated in Japanese teahouses, or holding loving converse beneath the shade of luxurious trees, whose branches seemed to reach the deep blue skies. In another apartment portraits of great Eastern potentates, celebrated Hindus, and venerable Mahatmas gave the English visitor an idea of the former prestige of the Indian Empire.
In the lady’s withdrawing-room containing the Japanese pictures, strains of sweetest music were set agoing at will, given apparently by a stringed band of automatic performers, made to imitate an orchestra of little men; who looked excruciatingly comic, as they moved their arms up and down, and waved about their funny little heads. The whole arrangement was set in motion by the same energy that gave heat to the apartments, conservatory, and cooking apparatus.
In his ‘room of contemplation,’ or studio, was daily seated at stated hours the highly gifted Swami, surrounded by his ‘silent servants’—his books of Eastern lore. Tier upon tier of carved framework contained works from the most remote antiquity, dating backwards nearly four thousand years; and so on, through all the centuries, till quite up-to-date literature of the various epochs was represented. Rare manuscripts of the ancient Rig Veda, with plays, love stories, and fables, together with works on medicine, philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, and magic arts, all of very ancient date, filled the shelves of the library. While gorgeously-bound volumes of poetry, part of which were in the original Sanskrit, and part translated into English, were strewed on the elegantly designed coffee-tables, or stands, with which the drawing-room was furnished.
Here is a graphic description of the drought in an Indian summer, taken from a poem by Kâlidhâsa, of great antiquity, entitled—
The Ritu-Sanhara, or, The Seasons.[[1]]
‘Now the burning summer sun
Hath unchallenged empire won;