_Kindness of the Mahila Sahib--His motive--Drawing-room ornaments--Visit
to the palace of Jung Bahadoor--A trophy of the London season--Grand
Durbar at the reading of the Queen of England's letter--Dress of the
officers--Review of troops--Dancing boys_.
The Mahila Sahib, the younger brother of his Majesty, was a very pleasant-
looking young man, with a much more amiable expression of countenance
than his royal brother, and professed to be one of Jung's greatest
friends and allies. As a compliment to the minister, he politely
requested us to pay him a visit, an invitation of which we were glad to
avail ourselves, since it proved his kindly feeling towards our host,
whilst it gave us an opportunity of inspecting the menage of a Nepaulese
Prince Royal.
It is worth while to make a trip to Nepaul, not only for the delight of
viewing the romantic beauty of its scenery, of wondering at the
stupendous height of its mountains, of roaming amidst its ancient cities,
ruined palaces, and glittering pagodas, but in order to take a lesson in
human nature, for we are not at liberty to suppose that the princes and
nobles of this country are a more depraved class than any other body of
men, the fact being that a Nepaulese follows his natural impulses,
unfettered by the restraints of our standard of civilization and
morality, and the results are apparent. Is not the more civilized
inhabitant of western lands actuated by the same feelings, and would he
not behave in the same manner as his swarthy brother in the East, had he
been brought up in the same code of morality, and were he as fearless of
the consequences of his following the bent of his own inclination? But
if so, then the visitor to Nepaul simply sees the game of human life
played openly and unconstrainedly, and in no way hampered by the rules
which prevail in more civilized countries; and the unsophisticated tyro
has only to come here and learn in a month what would cost him a lifetime
of anxious study in a country enjoying the blessings of civilization.
The palace of the Mahila Sahib is situated in a court-yard, and is
entered by a small doorway, by no means in keeping with the handsome
staircase, lined with muskets, up which we followed the prince, who had
come to the entrance to meet us. We were ushered into a long narrow
room, similar in shape to the reception-room in all other Nepaulese
palaces, and adorned in like manner with a profusion of pictures,
occidental as well as oriental, while in the midst, upon a round table,
and displayed as drawing-room ornaments, was an incongruous collection of
articles, amongst which I remarked three leaden spoons, an old
cruet-stand, a Bohemian glass scent-bottle, an old hair-brush and tooth-
brush on some hot-water plates, a pair of brass candlesticks, and other
wares usually found in kitchens, pantries, and bedrooms. Some English
prints and pictures of a particularly pothouse appearance attracted me
into a little side room, where a handsome telescope stood pointed out of
the open window, from which there was a lovely and extensive view, and
while my friend and the prince were chatting in the next room I took
advantage of the means thus afforded me of enjoying the prospect.
On looking through the telescope the first object which met my eye was
the roof of a handsome house, on which figures were moving briskly to and
fro. All the windows of this mansion were commanded by the glass, and I
almost imagined I could see the female figures flitting about in the more
gloomy and secluded part, which seemed to be the harem. The house thus
under observation struck me as being known to me, and upon looking at the
neighbouring objects I perceived that it was the palace of the Minister
Sahib.
The fact of the glass being thus pointed to his house was in itself a
suspicious circumstance, but I little thought that the bland owner of the
leaden spoons and pothouse pictures was then deliberately contemplating
the vile plot he so soon afterwards nearly succeeded in executing. Within
a week after this visit I heard that our polite entertainer was in
confinement for an attempt to assassinate the minister, towards whom he
had so recently professed the profoundest sentiments of regard.
We descended into the well laid-out garden attached to the palace and
devoured the delicious mandarin oranges, with which hundreds of trees
were loaded, until our attention was diverted from them by a luscious
fruit, in appearance something like a medlar: this fruit is rare in
Nepaul, the tree being a native of Thibet.
It cost us an effort to bid adieu to the polite prince and his attractive
garden; but at length we remounted our elephants and proceeded on our way
to the Minister's house. Passing through the handsome gateway, guarded
by a magnificent tiger, that prowled restlessly up and down his cage, a
vigilant-looking sentinel, we entered a yard filled with the soldiers and
retainers of the illustrious man whom we had come to visit.
We were greeted cordially by the Minister Sahib, who was surrounded by a
crowd of brothers, only three of whom I knew, viz. the two fat travellers
and the future would-be assassin.
Jung's house was a large white building, which looked as if a Chinaman
had mixed together a Birmingham factory and an Italian villa, every now
and then throwing in a strong dash of the style of his own country by way
of improvement. It is three stories high, and one wing is devoted to the
six "beautiful missises" who compose the female part of his
establishment.
The state-room was very similar in shape and appearance to that in the
palace of the Mahila Sahib, but was, if possible, still more
fantastically ornamented. A picture of her Majesty's Coronation was
supported on the one side by a lady's bonnet, on the other by a carpet-
bag, while a lady's riding-habit, an officer's red jacket, and various
other articles of attire were hung round the walls upon pegs; here and
there, perhaps partly hidden by the folds of a lady's dress, was to be
seen the portrait of some sedate old Nepaulese noble.
Jung called our attention to one of these; it was the portrait of a
strikingly handsome man, whose keen eye and lofty brow seemed almost to
entitle him to the position he held between the Duke of Wellington and
the Queen. "See," said Jung, enthusiastically, "here is the Queen of
England; and she has not got a more loyal subject than I am." Then
turning to the picture of the man with the keen eyes and high forehead,
he remarked, "That is my poor uncle Mahtiber Singh, whom I shot; it is
very like him." After which he launched into a discussion upon the
comparative merits of the Duke of Wellington and Napoleon, and, skipping
two cocked hats and a bonnet, went on to some Purdy's rifles, of which he
spoke in glowing terms and with all the enthusiasm of a true sportsman.
My friend Colonel Dhere Shum Shere now came up, whistling the Sturm
Marsch, and challenged me to a game of billiards: he was in his manner
more thoroughly English than any native I ever knew, and both in
appearance and disposition looked as if he was an Anglo-Saxon who had
been dyed by mistake. When in Europe he used to dress like an
Englishman, and in company with his brother, the Minister Sahib, in
similar attire, patronized Vauxhall, Cremorne, and other places of
fashionable resort usually frequented by such fast men as they showed
themselves to be. Like Jung, he used to say he could not bear the
abominable screeching at the Opera, and consequently never made his
appearance until the commencement of the ballet, which was much more in
their line.
Having profited by his visits to European houses, Jung intends to show
his enlightenment by substituting pictures for the articles of vertu with
which the walls of his room are at present adorned, and to exchange
kitchen ware for albums, in order to prove that he has travelled to some
purpose. While examining these table ornaments, I observed a civilized
looking little square piece of satin, and on taking it up found I was
inspecting the first invitation to Her Majesty's Opera that had ever
reached Nepaul.
In one apartment 700 pounds worth of ladies' dresses, purchased in
England, were spread upon the floor, destined, I presume, to adorn some
sable beauties on whom the fashionable flounces of Madame Devy would be
anything but becoming.
Jung informed us that a grand ceremony was to take place on the following
day. The Queen of England's letter, of which he was the bearer, was to
be read in full Durbar under a salute of twenty-one guns--a greater
honour than is shown even to a communication from his Imperial Majesty of
the celestial empire.
We accordingly repaired at the appointed hour next morning to the palace
of the King, in the great square of Katmandu, and were ushered into the
narrow room appropriated to the Durbar. It was hung round with pictures
that a tavern would be ashamed of, and altogether looked so dirty that,
had it been a tavern, it would have had but little custom.
Seated on a throne were the two Kings gorgeously apparelled and bedizened
with jewels, while the Minister Sahib wore nothing but the simple bukkoo,
or fur-robe, of great value but unassuming appearance.
There was to be a review of the troops after Durbar, and, as nearly all
the nobility of Nepaul hold rank in the army, the whole assemblage was in
uniform, certainly one of the most dazzling that I ever saw collected
together. Each man had twice as many feathers as he was entitled to
wear, and, while their cocked hats were always completely hid, the bodies
of the more diminutive officers almost shared the same fate. The English
dragoon and the French hussar might here recognize portions of their
uniform, adorned with gold and silver lace to an extent which
field-marshals alone have, with us, a right to indulge in, and often
mixed up with some Oriental finery--a pair of glittering slippers that
consorted but ill with the tightly strapped-down gold lace trowsers, or a
handsome shawl that clumsily supported the jewelled sabre.
The ceremony of presentation having been gone through, a select party,
consisting of the two Kings, the English Resident and one or two officers
of the Embassy, and the Prime Minister, adjourned to an upper room. This
seemed to me a curious proceeding, and one which the remaining portion of
the legislators must have thought particularly unsatisfactory: however
they looked as if they did not care, or could not help it; and while the
coterie above were solemnly perusing Her Majesty's epistle, and the guns
were booming in honour of it, we below were chatting upon indifferent
matters, until the Royal party returned, when, in addition to the pawn
usually given on such occasions, we were presented by their Majesties
with some Nepaulese weapons, and amidst more firing of cannon left the
palace in the Minister's phaeton to witness a grand review.
The parade-ground was situated immediately under the city walls, and upon
it 6000 men were drawn up: the uniforms differed in some instances; the
"rifles" were in a pea-green suit which hung about them loosely, while
the regiments of the line wore red coats, with trowsers ample enough to
please a Turk. Upon their turbans or caps were the distinguishing badges
of their respective corps--a half-moon, a lion, the sun, and various
other devices. The regiments were not numbered as with us, but adopted
some magniloquent high-sounding title suggestive of their valour in war,
fearlessness of danger, and other martial qualities.
There was no cavalry, the country not being adapted to that arm of the
service, but the artillery seemed very fairly handled; there was an
immense deal of firing, both of small arms and great guns, which I
believe was very good; and there were a great number of evolutions
performed, which, as I am not a soldier, did not seem to me more
incomprehensible than such manoeuvring usually is, but I was informed by
those who were capable of judging that in this instance they really were
altogether without meaning. Regiment after regiment marched past, the
men swinging their arms regularly as they moved, and trying to persuade
themselves they were British grenadiers. At all events the band was
playing that tune. Suddenly the music changed; they struck up a lively
polka, and a number of little boys in a sort of penwiper costume,
clasping one another like civilized ladies and gentlemen, began to caper
about, after which they went through various antics that surpassed even
the wildest notions of our highly civilized community: all this while the
troops were manoeuvring as vehemently as ever, and the boys were dancing
as fantastically; and the whole thing was so eminently ridiculous and
looked so very like a farce, that it was difficult to maintain that
dignified and sedate appearance which was expected from the spectators of
a scene so imposing.
Jung alone looked for no expressions of surprise or admiration from us,
but was evidently disappointed and chagrined at the inferiority of his
own soldiers to those he had seen in Europe and amongst our Indian
troops. He could indeed point with pride to the stalwart bearing and
soldier-like appearance of his men, but he had seen "the Guards"
reviewed, he had been present at an inspection of 15,000 of the French
army at Versailles, and he seemed half ashamed of the display we were
witnessing, notwithstanding our efforts to comfort him by telling him
that we had little thought the art of war was so far advanced in the wild
valleys and rocky mountains of Nepaul.