Note Page 232 — VATHEK: AN ARABIAN TALE BY WILLIAM BECKFORD (continued 2)

They descended, however, unhurt into the valley, by the easy slopes which the emir had ordered to be cut in the rock; and already the murmuring of streams and the rustling of leaves began to catch their attention. The cavalcade soon entered a path, which was skirted by flowering shrubs, and extended to a vast wood of palm trees, whose branches overspread a vast building of freestone. This edifice was crowned with nine domes, and adorned with as many portals of bronze, on which was engraven the following inscription:* “This is the asylum of pilgrims, the refuge of travellers, and the depository of secrets from all parts of the world.”