On the angles of the porticoes and at the four corners of the tower stood vases filled with kindled aromatics.

The capitals were laden with pomegranates and coloquintidas.

Twining knots, lozenges, and rows of pearls alternated on the walls, and a hedge of silver filigree formed a wide semicircle in front of the brass staircase which led down from the vestibule.
There was a cone of stone at the entrance between a stela of gold and one of emerald, and Matho kissed his right hand as he passed beside it.
The first room was very lofty; its vaulted roof was pierced by numberless apertures, and if the head were raised the stars might be seen.

All round the wall rush baskets were heaped up with the first fruits of adolescence in the shape of beards and curls of hair; and in the centre of the circular apartment the body of a woman issued from a sheath which was covered with breasts.

Fat, bearded, and with eyelids downcast, she looked as though she were smiling, while her hands were crossed upon the lower part of her big body, which was polished by the kisses of the crowd.
Then they found themselves again in the open air in a transverse corridor, wherein there was an altar of small dimensions leaning against an ivory door.