In The Centre Of The Battle-Field, Between The Two
"Sides," The Pipes And Tabors Forming THE BAND Took Their Station,
And Each Time The Wooden Ball Of Contention Was Struck Off, Set Up A
Flourish To Animate The Players.
The Thibetians, however, required no
such artificial excitement, but set to work with an energy and spirit,
quite refreshing to behold, and the scene soon became most animated and
amusing.
The Thibetians, unlike Englishmen under similar circumstances,
appeared to think the more clothes they had on the better, and in
their long woollen coats and trowsers, and their huge sheepskin boots,
they quite overshadowed the wiry little horses they bestrode. Besides
having to carry all this weight, the ponies, most unfairly, came
in also for all the SHINNING; but in spite of these disadvantages,
they performed their parts to admiration, dashing about in the most
reckless manner, at the instigation of their riders, and jostling
and knocking against one another in a way that would have disgusted
any other pony in the world. Conspicuous among the crowd of riders,
was the thirty-rupee Prime Minister, who on a most diminutive little
animal, charged about in a way he never could have condescended to
do, had he had the misfortune to have still remained a Rajah. Each
time that the ball was sent into the goal, the striker, picking it
up dexterously, without dismounting, came again at full speed down
the course, the band struck up, and throwing the ball into the air,
he endeavoured to strike it as far as possible in the direction
of the adverse party.
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