Copper braziers, suspended from the pillars, sent dim spirals of perfumed smoke aloft into the blue air.
About sixty feet from the floor, a row of clerestory windows, unglazed, admitted arrows of sunlight through a golden fretwork; and these arrows, piercing the incense vapor, checkered intricate patterns on the enormous, deep-piled Persian rugs of rose, lilac, and misty blue.
Tables and chairs, of course, there were none.

A _dakkah_, or platform, in horseshoe shape, at the far end, covered with rugs and cushions, and with water-jars, large copper fire-pans, coffee-pots of silver, and _shishahs_ (water-pipes) told where the feast was to be offered.
From a side door, as a silken curtain was drawn back, some fifteen slave-girls entered--whiter than their masters and in tight jackets and loose, silk trousers.

These girls brought copper basins of rose-water for the Arabs' "lesser ablution" before a meal.

Bara Miyan smiled slightly as he gestured the Legionaries also to wash hands and faces; but the Master, little relishing the idea of using this same water after the Arabs, shook his head.
Not thus slyly could the Olema inflict humiliation on unbelievers.

A hard look crept into the Master's eyes.