At
midnight the camp broke up, amidst the flourishing of trumpets and other
martial instruments; but loud indeed must have been the sound of the
tymbals to overpower the blubbering of the Emir and his long-beards, who,
by an excessive profusion of tears, had so far exhausted the radical
moisture, that their eyes shrivelled up in their sockets, and their hairs
dropped off by the roots. Nouronihar, to whom such a symphony was
painful, did not grieve to get out of hearing; she accompanied the Caliph
in the imperial litter, where they amused themselves with imagining the
splendour which was soon to surround them. The other women, overcome
with dejection, were dolefully rocked in their cages, whilst Dilara
consoled herself with anticipating the joy of celebrating the rites of
fire on the stately terraces of Istakar.
In four days they reached the spacious valley of Rocnabad. The season of
spring was in all its vigour, and the grotesque branches of the almond
trees in full blossom fantastically chequered the clear blue sky; the
earth, variegated with hyacinths and jonquils, breathed forth a fragrance
which diffused through the soul a divine repose; myriads of bees, and
scarce fewer of Santons, had there taken up their abode; on the banks of
the stream hives and oratories were alternately ranged, and their
neatness and whiteness were set off by the deep green of the cypresses
that spired up amongst them.
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