The sultan has three sons and two daughters, who live with him in this cage, the doors of which are locked at night, and the keys brought to him, so that he remains free from any fear of attack.  The castle is entered by a long winding passage in the wall, quite dark and very steep.  At the door is a large shed, looking on a square place capable of containing three or four hundred men, closely huddled together.  Under this shed is a great chair of state, once finely gilt and ornamented, with a patchwork quilt thrown over it, and behind it are the remains of two large looking-glasses.  In this chair the sultan receives homage every Friday, before he ascends the castle, after returning from the mosque.  This place is the Mejlees, and was the scene of all the cruelties practised by Mukni, when he first took possession of the country.

The habitation in which Captain Lyon and his party were lodged, was a very good one, and as all the houses are built upon nearly the same plan, the following description will give an idea of all the rest.  A large door, sufficiently high to admit a camel, opened into a broad passage or skeefa, on one side of which was a tolerable stable for five horses, and close to it, a small room for the slaves, whose duty it might be to attend the house.  A door opposite to that of the stable opened into the kowdi, a large square room, the roof of which at the height of eighteen feet, was supported by four palm trees as pillars.  In the centre of the roof was a large open space, about twelve feet by nine, from this, the house and rooms receive light, not to mention dust and excessive heat in the afternoon.  At the end of the room facing the door, a large seat of mud was raised about eighteen inches high, and twelve feet in length.  Heaps of this description, though higher, are found at the doors of most houses, and are covered with loungers in the cool of the morning and evening.  The large room was fifty feet by thirty-nine.  From the sides, doors opened into smaller ones, which might be used as sleeping or store rooms, but were generally preferred for their coolness.  Their only light was received from the door.  Ascending a few steps, there was a kind of gallery over the side rooms, and in it were two small apartments, but so very hot as to be almost useless.  From the large room was a passage leading to a yard, having also small houses attached to it in the same manner, and a well of comparatively good water.  The floors were of sand, and the walls of mud roughly plastered, and showing every where the marks of the only trowel used in the country—­the fingers of the right hand.  There are no windows to any of the houses, but some rooms have a small hole in the ceiling, or high up the wall.