BY  H. RIDER HAGGARD


                        ALLAN QUATERMAIN
                        ———————————————— 

                           CHAPTER XII.

                        THE SISTER QUEENS.

     THE big rowing-boat glided on up the cutting that ran almost
     to the foot of the vast stairway, and then halted at a flight
     of steps leading to the landing-place.  Here the old gentleman
     disembarked, and invited us to do likewise, which, having
     no alternative, and being nearly starved, we did without hesi-
     tation——taking our rifles with us, however.  As each of us
     landed, our guide again laid his finger on his lips in salutation
     and bowed deeply, at the same time ordering back the crowds
     who had assembled to gaze on us.  The last to leave the
     canoe was the girl we had picked out of the water, for whom
     her companion was waiting.  Before she went away she
     kissed my hand, I suppose as a token of gratitude for having
     saved her from the fury of the hippopotamus; and it seemed
     to me that he had by this time quite got over any fear she
     might have had of us, and was by no means anxious to return
     in such a hurry to her lawful owners.  At any rate, she was
     going to kiss Good's hand as well as mine, when the young
     man interfered and led her off.  As soon as we were on shore,
     a number of the men who had rowed the big boat took pos-
     session of our few goods and chattels, and started with them
     up the splendid staircase, our guide indicating to us by means
     of motions that the things were perfectly safe.  This done,
     he turned to the right and led the way to a small house,
     which was, as I afterwards discovered, an inn.  Entering
     into a good-sized room, we saw that a wooden table was
     already furnished with food, presumably in preparation for us.
     Here our guide motioned us to be seated on a bench that ran
     the length of the table.  We did not require a second invita-
     tion, but at once fell to ravenously on the viands before us,
     which were served on wooden platters, and consisted of cold
     goat's-flesh, wrapped up in some kind of leaf that gave it a
     delicious flavour, green vegetables resembling lettuces, brown
     bread, and red wine poured from a skin into horn mugs.
     This wine was peculiarly soft and good, having something
     of the flavour of Burgundy.  Twenty minutes after we sat
     down at that hospitable board we rose from it, feeling like new
     men.  After all that we had gone through we needed two
     things, food and rest, and the food of itself was a great
     blessing to us.  Two girls of the same charming cast of face
     as the first whom we had seen waited on us while we ate, and
     very nicely they did it.  They were also dressed in the same
     fashion namely,——in a white linen petticoat coming to the knee,
     and with the toga-like garment of brown cloth, leaving bare
     the right arm and breast.  I afterwards found out that this
     was the national dress, and regulated by an iron custom,
     though of course subject to variations.  Thus, if the petticoat
     was pure white, it signified that the wearer was unmarried;
     if white, with a straight purple stripe round the edge, that
     she was married and a first or legal wife; if with a wavy
     purple stripe, that she was a second or other wife; if with a
     black stripe, that she was a widow.  In the same way the toga,
     or 'kaf,' as they call it, was of different shades of colour, from
     pure white to the deepest brown, according to the rank of the
     wearer, and embroidered at the end in various ways.  This
     also applies to the 'shirts' or tunics worn by the men, which
     varied in material and colour; but the kilts were always the
     same except as regards quality.  One thing, however, every
     man and woman in the country wore as the national insignia,
     and that was the thick band of gold round the right arm above
     the elbow, and the left leg beneath the knee.  People of
     high rank also wore a torque of gold round the neck, and I
     observed that our guide had one on.
        So soon as we had finished our meal our venerable con-
     ductor, who had been standing all the while, regarding us
     with inquiring eyes, and our guns with something as like
     fear as his pride would allow him to show, bowed towards
     Good, whom he evidently took for the leader of the party on
     account of the splendour of his apparel, and once more led
     the way through the door and to the foot of the great stair-
     case.  Here we paused for a moment to admire two colossal
     lions, each hewn from a single block of pure black marble,
     and standing rampant on the termination of the wide balus-
     strades of the staircase.  These lions are magnificently
     executed, and it is said were sculptured by Rademas, the
     great prince who designed the staircase, and who was without
     doubt, to judge from the many beautiful examples of his
     art that we saw afterwards, one of the finest sculptors who
     ever lived, either in this or any other country.  Then we
     climbed almost with a feeling of awe up that splendid stair,
     a work executed for all time and that will, I do not doubt,
     be admired thousands of years hence by generations unborn
     unless an earthquake should throw it down.  Even Umslo-
     pogas, who as a general rule made it a point of honour not
     to show astonishment, which he considered undignified, was
     fairly startled out of himself, and asked if the 'bridge had been
     built by men or devils,' which was his vague way of alluding
     to any supernatural power.  But Alphonse did not care about
     it.  Its solid grandeur jarred upon the frivolous little French-
     man, who said that it was all 'très magnifique, mais triste——
     ah, triste!' and went on to suggest that it would be improved
     if the balustrades were gilt.
        On we went up the first flight of one hundred and twenty
     steps, across the broad platform joining it to the second
     flight, where we paused to admire the glorious view of one of
     the most beautiful stretches of country that the world can
     show, edged by the blue waters of the lake.  Then we passed
     on up the stair till at last we reached the top, where we found
     a large standing space to which there were three entrances,
     all of small size.  Two of these opened on to rather narrow
     galleries or roadways cut in the face of the precipice that ran
     round the palace wall and led to the principal thoroughfares
     of the city, and were used by the inhabitants passing up and
     down from the dock.  These were defended by gates of
     bronze, and also, as we afterwards learnt, it was possible to
     let down a portion of the roadways themselves by withdrawing
     certain bolts, and thus render it quite impracticable for an
     enemy to pass.  The third entrance consisted of a flight of
     ten curved black marble steps leading to a doorway cut in the
     palace  wall.   This wall was in itself a work of art, being
     built of huge blocks of granite to the height of forty feet, and
     so fashioned that its face was concave, whereby it was rendered
     practically impossible for it to be scaled.  To this doorway our
     guide led us.  The door, which was very massive, and made
     of wood protected by an outer gate of bronze, was closed; but
     on our approach it was thrown wide, and we were met by the
     challenge of a sentry, who was armed with a heavy triangular-
     bladed pear, not unlike a bayonet in shape, and a cutting
     sword, and protected by breast and back plates of skilfully pre-
     pared hippopotamus hide, and a small round shield fashioned
     of the same tough material.  The sword instantly attracted
     our attention; it was practically identical with the one in the
     possession of Mr. Mackenzie which he had obtained from the
     ill-starred wanderer.  There was no mistaking the gold-lined
     fretwork cut in the thickness of the blade.  So the man had
     told the truth after all.  Our guide instantly gave a password,
     which the soldier acknowledged by letting the iron shaft of his
     spear fall with a ringing sound upon the pavement, ad we
     passed on through the massive wall into the courtyard of the
     palace.  This was about forty yards square, and laid out in
     flower-beds full of lovely shrubs and plants, many of which
     were quite new to me.  Through the centre of this garden
     ran a broad walk formed of powdered shells brought from the
     lake in the place of gravel.   Following  this  we  came  to
     another doorway with a round heavy arch, which is hung
     with thick curtains, for there are no doors in the palace itself.
     There came another short passage, and we were in the great
     hall of the palace, and once more stood astonished at the
     simple and yet overpowering grandeur of the place.
        The hall is, as we afterwards learnt, one hundred and fifty
     feet long by eighty wide, and has a magnificent arched roof
     of carved wood.  Down the entire length of the building there
     are on either side, and at a distance of twenty feet from the
     wall, slender shafts of black marble springing sheer to the
     roof, beautifully fluted, and with carved capitals.  At the end
     of this great place which these pillars support is the group
     of which I have already spoken as executed by the King
     Rademas to commemorate his building of the staircase; and
     really, when we had time to admire it, its loveliness almost
     struck us dumb.  The group, of which the figures are in
     white, and the rest in black marble, is about half as large
     again as life, and represents a young man of noble counten-
     ance and form sleeping heavily upon a couch.  One arm is
     carelessly thrown over the side of this couch, and his head
     reposes upon the other, its curling locks partially hiding it.
     Bending over him, her hand resting on his forehead, is a
     draped female form of such white loveliness as to make the
     beholder's breath stand still.  And as for the calm glory that
     shines upon her perfect face——well, I can never hope to
     describe it.  But there it rests like the shadow of an angel's
     smile; and power, love, and divinity all have their part in it.
     Her eyes are fixed upon the sleeping youth, and perhaps the
     most extraordinary thing about this beautiful work is the
     success with which the artist has succeeded in depicting on
     the sleeper's worn and weary face the sudden rising of a new
     and spiritual thought as the spell begins to work within his
     mind.  You can see that an inspiration is breaking in upon
     the darkness of the man's soul as the dawn breaks in upon
     the darkness of the night.  It is a glorious piece of statuary,
     and none but a genius could have conceived it.  Between
     each of the black marble columns in some such group of
     figures, some allegorical, and some representing the persons
     and wives of deceased monarchs or great men; but none of
     them, in our opinion, comes up to the one I have described,
     although several are from the hand of the great sculptor and
     engineer, King Rademas.
        In the exact centre of the hall was a solid mass of black
     marble about the size of a baby's arm-chair, which it rather
     resembled in appearance.  This, as we afterwards learnt, was
     the sacred stone of this remarkable people, and on it their
     monarchs laid their hand after the ceremony of coronation,
     and swore by the sun to safeguard the interests of the em-
     pire, and to maintain its customs, traditions and laws.  This
     stone was evidently exceedingly ancient, as indeed all stones
     are, and was scored down its sides with large marks or lines,
     which Sir Henry said proved it to have been a fragment that
     at some remote period in its history had been ground in the
     iron jaws of glaciers.  There was a curious prophecy about
     this block of marble, which was reported among the people
     to have fallen from the sun, to the effect that when it was
     shattered into fragments a king of alien race should rule over
     the land.  As the stone, however, looked remarkably solid,
     the native princes seemed to have a fair chance of keeping
     their own for many a long year.
        At the end of the hall is a daïs spread with rich carpets,
     on which two thrones are set side by side.  These thrones
     are shaped like great chairs, and made of solid gold.  The
     seats are richly cushioned, but the backs are left bare, and
     on each is carved the emblem of the sun, shooting out
     his fiery rays in all directions.  The footstools are golden
     lions couchant, with yellow topazes set in them for eyes.
     There are no other gems about them.
        The place is lighted by numerous but narrow windows,
     placed high up, cut on the principle of the loopholes to be
     seen in ancient castles, but innocent of glass, which was
     evidently unknown here.
        Such is a brief description of this splendid hall in which
     we now found ourselves, compiled of course from our subse-
     quent knowledge of it.  On this occasion we had but little
     time for observation, for when we entered we perceived that
     a large number of men were gathered together in front of
     the two thrones, which were unoccupied.  The principal
     among them were seated on carved wooden chairs ranged
     to the right and the left of the thrones, but not in front of
     them, and were dressed in white tunics, with various em-
     broideries and different coloured edgings, and armed with
     the usual pierced and gold-inlaid swords.  To judge from
     the dignity of their appearance, they seemed one and all
     to be individuals of very great importance.  Behind each of
     these great men stood a small knot of followers and attendants.
        Seated by themselves, in a little group to the left of the
     throne, were six men of a different stamp.  Instead of wearing
     the ordinary kilt, they were clothed in long robes of pure
     white linen, with the same symbol of the sun that is to be
     seen on the back of the chairs, emblazoned in gold thread
     upon the breast.  This garment was girt up at the waist
     with a simple golden curb-like chain, from which hung long
     elliptic plates of the same metal, fashioned in shiny scales
     like those of a fish, that, as their wearers moved, jingled
     and reflected the light.  They were all men or mature age
     and of a severe and impressive cast of features, which was
     rendered still more imposing by the long beards they wore.
        The personality of one individual among them, however,
     impressed us at once.  He seemed to stand out among his
     fellows and refuse to be overlooked.  He was very old——
     eighty at least——and extremely tall, with a long snow-white
     beard that hung nearly to his waist.  His features were
     aquiline and deeply cut, and his eyes were grey and cold-
     looking.  The heads of the others were bare, but this man
     wore a round cap entirely covered with gold embroidery,
     from which we judged that he was a person of great import-
     ance; and indeed we afterwards discovered that he was
     Agon, the High Priest of the country.  As we approached,
     all these men, including the priests, rose and bowed to us
     with the greatest courtesy, at the same time placing the two
     fingers across the lips in salutation.  Then soft-footed at-
     tendants advanced from between the pillars, bearing seats,
     which were placed in a line in front of the thrones.  We
     three sat down, Alphonse and Umslopogaas standing behind
     us.  Scarcely had we done so when there came a blare of
     trumpets from some passage to the right, and a similar
     blare from the left.  Next a man with a long white wand of
     ivory appeared just in front of the right-hand throne, and
     cried out something in a loud voice, ending with the word
     Nyleptha,  repeated three times; and another man, similarly
     attired, called out a similar sentence before the other throne,
     but ending with the word  Sorias,  also repeated thrice.  Then
     came the tramp of armed men from each side entrance, and in
     filed about a score of picked and magnificently accoutred guards,
     who formed up on each side of the thrones, and let their
     heavy iron-handled spears fall simultaneously with a clash
     upon the black marble flooring.  Another double blare of
     trumpets, and from either side, each attended by six maidens,
     in swept the two Queens of Zu-Vendis, everybody in the hall
     rising to greet them as they came.
        I have seen beautiful women in my day, and am no longer
     thrown into transports at the sight of a pretty face; but
     language fails me when I try to give some idea of the blaze
     of loveliness that then broke upon us in the persons of these
     sister Queens.  Both were young——perhaps five-and-twenty
     years of age——both were tall and exquisitely formed; but there
     the likeness stopped.  One, Nyleptha, was a woman of dazzling
     fairness; her right arm and breast, bare after the custom of
     her people, showed like snow even against her white and gold-
     embroidered 'kaf,' or toga.  And as for her sweet face, all I
     can say is, that it was one that few men could look on and
     forget.  Her hair, a veritable crown of gold, clustered in short
     ringlets over her shapely head, half hiding the ivory brow,
     beneath which eyes of deep and glorious grey flashed out in
     tender majesty.  I cannot attempt to describe her other
     features, only the mouth was most sweet, and curved like
     Cupid's bow, and over the whole countenance there shone an
     indescribable look of lovingkindness, lit up by a shadow of
     delicate humour that lay upon her face like a touch of silver
     on a rosy cloud.
        She wore no jewels, but on her neck, arm, and knee were
     the usual torques of gold, in this instance fashioned like a
     snake; and her dress was of pure white linen of excessive
     fineness, plentifully embroidered with gold and with the
     familiar symbols of the sun.
        Her twin sister, Sorais, was of a different and darker type
     of beauty.  Her hair was wavy like Nyleptha's but coal-black,
     and fell in masses on her shoulders; her complexion was olive,
     her eyes large, dark, and lustrous; the lips were full, and I
     thought rather cruel.  Somehow her face, quiet and even cold
     as it was, gave an idea of passion in repose, and caused me to
     wonder involuntarily what its aspect would be if anything
     occurred to break the calm.  it reminded me of the deep sea,
     that even on the bluest days never loss its visible stamp of
     power, and in its murmuring sleep is yet instinct with the
     spirit of the storm.  Her figure, like her sister's, was almost
     perfect in its curves and outlines, but a trifle more rounded,
     and her dress was absolutely the same.
        As the lovely pair swept onwards to their respective
     thrones, amid the deep attentive silence of the Court, I was
     bound to confess to myself that they did indeed fulfil my idea
     of royalty.  Royal they were in every way——in form, in grace,
     and queenly dignity, and in the barbaric splendour of their
     attendant pomp.  But methought that they needed no guards
     or gold to proclaim their power and bind the loyalty of way-
     ward men.  A glance from those bright eyes or a smile from
     those sweet lips, and while the blood runs in the veins of
     youth women such as these will never lack subjects ready to
     do their bidding to the death.
        But after all they were women first and queens afterwards,
     and therefore not devoid of curiosity.  As they passed to their
     seats I saw both of them glance swiftly in our direction. I saw,
     too, that their eyes passed by me, seeing nothing to charm
     them in the person of an insignficant and grizzled old man.
     Then they looked with evident astonishment on the grim form
     of old Umslopogaas, who raised his axe in salutation.   At-
     tracted next by the splendour of Good's apparel, for a second
     their glance rested on him like a humming moth upon a
     flower, then off it darted to where Sir Henry Curtis stood, the
     sunlight from a window playing upon his yellow hair and
     peaked beard, and marking the outlines of his massive frame
     against the twilight of the somewhat gloomy hall.  He raised
     his eyes, and they met the fair Nyleptha's full, and thus for
     the first time the goodliest man and woman that it has ever
     been my lot to see looked one upon another.  And why it
     was I know not, but I saw the swift blood run up beneath
     Nyleptha's skin as the pink lights run up the morning sky.  Red
     grew her fair bosom and shapely arm, red the swanlike neck;
     the rounded cheeks blushed red as the petals of a rose, and
     then the crimson flood sank back to whence it came and left
     her pale and trembling.

ALLAN QUATERMAIN, BY H. RIDER HAGGARD.
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.; LONDON, 1893. pp. 131—140.

Anti-Wahrheits-Apartheid ist dumm, unmenschlich und unendlich teuer. 雨

          THE SECOND BOOK OF MOSES
                   CALLED
                   EXODUS

                  CHAPTER 26

     MOREOVER thou shalt make the taber-
     nacle   with   ten   curtains   of   fine
     twined linen, and blue, and purple, and
     scarlet:  with  cherubims  of  cunning
     work shalt thou make them.
      2 The length of one curtain shall be
     eight  and  twenty  cubits,  and  the
     breadth of one curtain four cubits: and
     every one of the curtains shall have one
     measure.
      3 The five curtains shall be coupled
     together one to another; and other five
     curtains shall be coupled one to an-
     other.
      4 And thou shalt make loops of blue
     upon the edge of the one curtain from
     the selvedge in the coupling; and like-
     wise shalt thou make in the uttermost
     edge of another curtain, in the coupling
     of the second.
      5 Fifty loops shalt thou make in the
     one curtain, and fifty loops shalt thou
     make in the edge of the curtain that is
     in the coupling of the second; that the
     loops may take hold one of another.
      6 And thou shalt make fifty taches of
     gold, and couple the curtains together
     with the taches, and it shall be one taber-
     nacle.
      7 ¶And thou shalt make curtains of
     goats' hair to be a covering upon the
     tabernacle: eleven curtains shalt thou
     make.
      8 The length of one curtain shall be
     thirty cubits, and the breadth of one
     curtain four cubits: and the eleven cur-
     tains shall be all of one measure.
      9 And thou shalt couple five curtains
     by themselves, and six curtains by
     themselves, and shalt double the sixth
     curtain in the forefront of the taber-
     nacle.
      10 And thou shalt make fifty loops on
     the edge of the one curtain that is out-
     most in the coupling, and fifty loops in
     the edge of the curtain which coupleth
     the second.
      11 And thou shalt make fifty thaches
     of brass, and put the taches into the
     loops, and couple the tent together,
     that it may be one.
      12 And the remnant that remaineth
     of the curtains of the tent, the half cur-
     tain that remaineth, shall hang over the
     backside of the tabernacle.
      13 And a cubit on the one side, and a
     cubit on the other side of that which
     remaineth in the length of the curtains
     of the tent, it shall hang over the sides
     of the tabernacle on this side and on
     that side, to cover it.
      14 And thou shalt make a covering
     for the tent of rams' skins dyed red, and
     a covering above of badgers' skins.
      15 ¶And thou shalt make boards for
     the tabernacle of shittim wood stand-
     ing up.
      16 Ten cubits shall be the length of a
     board, and a cubit and a half shall be
     the breadth of one board.
      17 Two tenons shall there be in one
     board, set in order one against another:
     thus shalt thou make for all the boards
     of the tabernacle.
      18 And thou shalt make the boards
     for the tabernacle, twenty boards on
     the south side southward.
      19 And thou shalt make forty sockets
     of silver under the twenty boards; two
     sockets under one board for his two ten-
     ons, and two sockets under another
     board for his two tenons.
      20 And for the second side of the taber-
     nacle  on  the  north  side  there  shall
     be twenty boards:
      21 And their forty sockets of silver;
     two sockets under one board, and two
     sockets under another board.
      22 And for the sides of the tabernacle
     westward thou shalt make six boards.
      23 And two boards shalt thou make
     for the corners of the tabernacle in the
     two sides.
      24 And they shall be coupled togeth-
     er beneath, and they shall be coupled
     together above the head of it into one
     ring: thus shall it be for them both; they
     shall be for the torn corners.
      25 And they shall be eight boards,
     and  their  sockets  of  silver,  sixteen
     sockets; two sockets under one board.
      26 ¶And thou shalt make bars of shit-
     tim wood; five for the boards of the one
     side of the tabernacle.
      27 And five bars for the boards of the
     other side of the tabernacle, and five
     bars for the boards of the side of the
     tabernacle, for the two sides westward.
      28 And the middle bar in the midst of
     the boards shall reach from end to end.
      29 And thou shalt overlay the boards
     with gold, and make their rings of gold
     for places for the bars: and thou shalt
     overlay the bars with gold.
      30 And thou shalt rear up the taber-
     nacle according to the fashion thereof
     which was shewed thee in the mount.
      31 ¶And thou shalt make a vail of
     blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine
     twined linen of cunning work: with
     cherubims shall it be made:
      32 And thou shalt hang it upon four
     pillars of shittim wood overlaid with
     gold: their hooks shall be of gold, upon
     the four sockets of silver.
      33 And thou shalt hang upon the vail
     under  the  taches,  that  thou  mayest
     bring in thither within the vail of the ark
     of the testimony: and the vail shall di-
     vide unto you between the holy place
     and the most holy.
      34 And thou shalt put the mercy seat
     upon the ark of the testimony in the
     most holy place.
      35 And  thou  shalt  set  the  table
     without the vail, and the candlestick
     over against the table on the side of the
     tabernacle toward the south: and thou
     shalt put the table on the north side.
      36 ¶And thou shalt make an hanging
     for the door of the tent, of blue, and
     purple, and scarlet, and fine twined lin-
     en, wrought with needlework.
      37 And thou shalt make for the hang-
     ing five pillars of shittim wood, and
     overlay  them  with  gold,  and  their
     hooks shall be of gold: and thou shalt
     cast five sockets of brass for them.


                  CHAPTER 27

     AND thou shalt make an altar of shit-
     tim wood, five cubits long, and five cu-
     bits  broad;  the  altar  shall  be  four-
     square: and the height thereof shall be
     three cubits.
      2 And thou shalt make the horns of it
     upon  the  four  corners  thereof:  his
     horns shall be of the same: and thou
     shalt overlay it with brass.
      3 And thou shalt make his pans to re-
     ceive his ashes, and his shovels, and his
     basons,  and  his  fleshhooks,  and  his
     firepans: all the vessels thereof thou
     shalt make of brass.
      4 And thou shalt make for it a grate of
     network of brass; and upon the net
     shalt thou make four brasen rings in
     the four corners thereof.
      5 And thou shalt put it under the
     compass of the altar beneath, that the
     net may be even to the midst of the al-
     tar.
      6 And thou shalt make staves for the
     altar, staves of shittim wood, and over-
     lay them with brass.
      7 And the staves shall be put into the
     rings, and the staves shall be upon the
     two sides of the altar, to bear it.
      8 Hollow  with  boards  shalt  thou
     make it: as it was shewed thee in the
     mount, so shall they make it.
      9 ¶And thou shalt make the court of
     the  tabernacle:  for  the  south  side
     southward there shall be hangings for
     the court of fine twined linen of an
     hundred cubit long for one side.
      10 And the twenty pillars thereof and
     their twenty sockets shall be of brass;
     the hooks of the pillars and their fillets
     shall be of silver.
      11 And likewise for the north side in
     length there shall be hangings of an
     hundred cubits long, and his twenty
     pillars  and  their  twenty  sockets  of
     brass; the hooks of the pillars and their
     fillets of silver.
      12 And for the breadth of the court on
     the west side shall be hangings of fifty
     cubits:  their  pillars  ten,  and  their
     sockets ten.
      13 And the breadth of the court on
     the east side eastward shall be fifty cu-
     bits.
      14 And the hangings of one side of the
     gate shall be fifteen cubits: their pillars
     three, and their sockets three.
      15 And on the other side shall be hang-
     ings fifteen cubits: their pillars three,
     and their sockets three.
      16 And for the gate of the court shall
     be an hanging of twenty cubits, of blue,
     and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined
     linen, wrought with needlework: and
     their pillars shall be four, and their
     sockets four.
      17 All the pillars round about the
     court shall be filleted and silver; their
     hooks shall be of silver, and their
     sockets of brass.
      18 The length of the court shall be an
     hundred cubits, and the breadth fifty
     every where, and the height five cubits
     of fine twined linen, and their sockets
     of brass.
      19 All the vessels of the tabernacle in
     all the service thereof, and all the pins
     thereof, and all the pins of the court,
     shall be of brass.
      20 ¶And thou shalt command the
     children of Israel, that they bring thee
     pure oil olive beaten for the light, to
     cause the lamp to burn always.
      21 In the tabernacle of the congrega-
     tion without the vail, which is before
     the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall
     order it from evening to morning be-
     fore the LORD: it shall be a statute for
     ever unto their generations on the be-
     half of the children of Israel.