تحفة النظار في غرايب الامصار وعجايب الاسفار 12.9.1

12.9.1

When the Sultan returns from his journeys, the elephants are adorned, and sixteen parasols are raised on sixteen of them, some embroidered with gold and some studded with jewels, and al-ghāshiya is carried before him, which is the covering studded with precious jewels. Wooden pavilions are built, divided into tiers and covered with silk cloths, and on each tier are singing slave girls in the finest dress and the most beautiful ornaments, some of them dancers. In the middle of each pavilion is placed a large basin made of hides, filled with julep syrup dissolved in water, from which all the people drink, comer and goer, local or foreigner, and everyone who drinks from it is given betel and areca nut.