text:  The expenses of the establishment must have consumed the revenues of a kingdom if we are to believe the statement that 12 000 loaves of bread were daily allowed to feed the fish in the ponds! "But all this and more is recorded by orators and poets who have exhausted the mines of eloquence in the description " --says Al-Makkari who after enlarging upon "the running streams the luxuriant gardens the stately buildings for the accommodation of the guards and high functionaries--the throngs of soldiers pages eunuchs and slaves attired in robes of silk and brocade moving to and fro through its broad streets--and the crowds of judges katibs theologians and poets walking with becoming gravity through the spacious halls and ample courts of the palace "--concludes with a burst of pious enthusiasm