Here We Found A Noted Shawl
Fancier Inspecting The Stock, And Were Inducted To The Mysteries Of
The Different Fabrics.
Some that we saw were of beautiful workmanship,
but dangerous to an uninitiated purchaser.
They ranged from 300 to
1,000 rupees generally, but could be ordered to an almost unlimited
extent of price. After inspecting a quantity of Pushmeena and other
local manufactures, Mr. Saifula Baba handed us tea and sweetmeats,
after the fashion of his country; and we adjourned to the abode of a
worker in papier mache, where we underwent a second edition of tea
and sweetmeats, and inspected a number of curiosities. The chief
and only beauty of the work was in the strangeness of the design;
and some of the shawl patterns, reproduced on boxes, &c., were
pretty in their way, but as manufacturers of papier mache simply,
the Cashmeeries were a long way behind the age.
On reaching home, we found that the Maharajah had sent his salaam,
together with the information that he was going to give a nach and
dinner, to which we were invited.
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. In singular contrast to this glittering throng,
which formed the court, were the guests whom the Maharajah, on this
occasion, delighted to honour. The British officer appeared generally
in the national but uncourtly costume of a shooting jacket! and
though some few had donned their uniform, and one rejoiced in the
traditional swallow-tail of unmistakeable civilization, neither the
one nor the other contrasted favourably in point of grace with the
Cashmerian rank and fashion.
After shaking hands with his Highness, who prides himself upon his
English way of accomplishing that ceremony, and does it by slipping
into one's hand what might be taken for a dying flat fish, we took
our seats, and the dancing began shortly afterwards. Though on a
more magnificent scale than anything I had seen of the kind before,
the programme was flat and insipid enough.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 35 of 158
Words from 17689 to 18204
of 82277
