es.

Le ex

In this panel the Queen is shown arriving at the gates of Jerusalem. Certain inaccuracies in the treatment of the scene prove that the original painting was composed from hearsay. Among the figures repre-" sented will be noted Abishai, riding at the head of the escort, Magog, conversing with the musicians, and inn the right foreground, Ahishar pushing Benaiah forward is to greet the royal visitor. While the picture is obviously not the work of an eyewitness of the event, nevertheless the accurate rendition of the fortifications of Jerusalem marks it as contemporary, cortege for the

t

Under the gateway will be observed a charabanc full of Solomon's wives, in the depiction of whom the artist has very happily caught the mingled scorn and amaze-s ment with which these ladies viewed their master's royal guest. Some scholars are of the opinion that the two Queens in the front row facing Balkis are Ichneumon pointing out the guest of Panorama, and that the lady in the back row scratching her left shoulder is Pilaff, but this is mere conjecture. description of the er courtyards with bows, and poured out

of Mar.

rights

(See also page 96)

precious

id for three days and

before pot and certainly never since, Forbis witness d. I. a procession winding acts its olen saids over the hills and for 9835

Two such proccasions, for of this host one part tout in advance of the other and proceeded by

land up the coast to Ezion-geber, there to await the Queen. This caravan, comprising five hundred camels and several hundred mules guarded by three thousand soldiers of all arms, carried with it nothing but the Queen's wardrobe and the bulk of her personal paraphernalia, contained in some two thousand pieces of baggage.1

The other section, which was infinitely more gorgeously caparisoned and more richly freighted than the rest, included the Queen's personal suite, attendants and scribes, the retainers attached to Sophonisba, who of course followed her royal mistress, and Balkis herself; an assemblage of several hundred personages, satellites and minions escorted by the entire Sheban Guards Brigade. Poteau describes the passage of this cavalcade follows:

as

"The line of march was headed by the Heralds, mounted on brindled dromedaries and supported by three companies of Guards. After them in single file came the officials selected to constitute the Queen's staff, surrounded by their slaves, and riding in brilliantly ornamented litters covered

1 For feminine students of the subject, Poteau's detailed paragraphs covering the list of these sartorial impedimenta will be found of engrossing interest.

with cloth of gold to protect them from the stains of travel.

There next appeared another company of Guards, especially detailed to watch over the ten gilded cages containing the Queen's cats, and preserve order in the twenty tanks of black goldfish from which these felines were fed, an extremely arduous task owing to the peculiar ferocity of this breed of the ichthyomorphic species.1 The rear of this subdivision was occupied by the royal servants, hair-dressers and manicurists, under the immediate supervision of Sophonisba, and contained, besides, the Queen's ivory bath and the seventy-five white she-asses who provided the milk in which she immersed herself daily in that commodious receptacle.

After these, in her jeweled litter of state-fitted for the occasion with jade wheels rimmed with gold and drawn by thirty full-blooded zebras jingling with silver bells and diamond studded harnesspreceded by a corps of air purifiers known as Dust Biters, and attended by her tablet carriers, time passers and cramp eradicators, the Queen, in a simple traveling dress of spun glass with her locks concealed by a close-fitting cap of elephant's

1 1 Ichthyosaurus Parvus.