THE DELHI DURBAR
on the camp. He also took his place in all the great State functions, riding an extremely fine elephant lent for the occasion by the Betiah Raj, in the Chiefs’ Procession, beside the Maharaja of Cooch Behar, and presenting his address to the King-Emperor through the Viceroy at the great Durbar. The speech was very characteristic and may interest my readers: “May His Majesty King Edward VII., from the time of occupation of this Golden Throne, exercise power over all these worlds; may he live for thousands of cycles and ever sustain all living creatures in joy and happiness.”
It was the Kumar’s first attempt at playing host to a number of European guests, and he did it very nicely with Mrs. White’s help, looking carefully after the comfort of the eight or ten guests staying in the camp and always delighted to welcome people to lunch or dinner. He was most appreciative of any assistance we could give him, and constantly said he would have been quite unable to carry out any of his arrangements alone.
We spent most afternoons on the polo ground, where the polo was magnificent and where all the Delhi world congregated, but so much has already been written about the great Durbar, I only mention it as an episode connected with Sikhim which cannot be passed over in silence.
To me, personally, the most striking features of the Durbar were, not the great State functions, magnificent though they were, but the wonderful kaleidoscopic pictures that presented themselves at every turn. Huge modern camps springing up in a night on the empty plain, fitted with every European luxury, mixed up with gorgeously caparisoned elephants, strings of transport camels, smart carriages, retainers in chain armour carrying antiquated weapons, performing horses, transport carts, ekkas, soldiers, brilliant uniforms native and European, camel carriages, elephant carriages, wild escorts belonging to native princes on prancing horses with drums and fifes, dwarfs, giants,
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