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When ready to start, her cart or chair is drawn up as close as
possible to the gate of the women's apartments. A screen of blue
silk eighteen or twenty feet long and six feet high, fastened to
two wooden standards, is held by eunuchs to screen her while she
enters the cart. The chair can be used only by princesses or
wives of viceroys or members of the Grand Council. But whether
chair or cart it is lined and cushioned with scarlet satin in
summer, and in winter with fur. It is an accomplishment to enter
a cart gracefully, but years of practice enable her to do so, and
as soon as she is seated in Buddhist fashion, the curtain is
dropped; her attendant seats herself cross-legged in front;
several male servants rush up, seize the shafts of the cart,
place the mule between them, fasten the buckles (it reminds one
of the fire department), the driver takes his place at the lines,
two other male servants take hold of the sides of the mule's
bridle, and all is in readiness to start. Female servants and
slave girls crowd into other carts, outriders mount their mules,
and the cavalcade starts with my lady's cart ahead.
As they pass along the streets they are remarked upon by all
foot-passengers, and as they near their destination, a courier on
horseback spurs up his steed, makes a wild dash forward, leaps
from his horse, and announces to the gate-keeper that the
Princess will soon arrive
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