The Purple Fern by Fergus Hume — Read

The Shah's Rooms were the latest sensation of frivolous London, and had lasted for six months with undiminished success. The building contained a number of rooms, and entertainments to suit all classes. There was a variety theatre with three performances daily, bars without number, billiard tables, lawn-tennis courts, a sawdust football ground, a motor and bicycle track, and a large hall for wrestling and boxing. But the glory of the Shah's Rooms was The Desert, as the conception was original and excellently carried out by clever workmen and designers.

This was a vast expanse of real sand, covering several acres, and bounded on all sides by painted scenery of tropical sky and arid rocks, and occasional cities, and one or two pyramids. Here and there was an oasis of palms with real grass and real trees and real water, and with spotlessly white supper tents erected for the accommodation of gay parties. Caravans of camels and horses and donkeys took bands of pleasure-seekers from oasis to oasis, or into the desert itself, to dine at one of the Bedouin encampments. For entertainment, there were mirages, skilfully managed with magic-lanterns, and forays of wild Arabs. Story-tellers relating the "Arabian Nights" could be hired, singers could be obtained, dancing girls could be engaged, and eastern fortune-tellers were frequently employed to read the future by means of sand diagrams. It was all very new and very amusing, and very fantastical, so it was little wonder that the Shah's Rooms were crowded nightly.