JULY 3. -- After continuing our explorations of Sirinugger, we
repaired, about seven o'clock, to the Maharajah's palace, where we
were received by a guard of honour of sixty men and four officers.,
the latter in gold embroidered dresses, and hung all over with
ear-rings and finery of divers sorts and kinds.
Ascending the stairs, we were met by the DEEWAN, or prime minister,
who conducted us into an open sort of terrace over the river, where
we found the Maharajah with the few English officers already arrived
seated on either side of him, and the nach-girls, about twenty in
number, squatted in a semicircle opposite them. Standing behind his
Highness were colonels of regiments and native dignitaries of all
sorts, dressed in cloth of gold and jewels, and in every variety
and hue of turban and appointments. A number of these were Sikhs;
and magnificent-looking men they were, with their flowing dress and
fiercely-twisted whiskers and mustachios. The nach-girls, too --
a motley group -- were attired in all the hues of the rainbow, and
with the white-robed musicians behind them, awaited in patience the
signal to commence.
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