which added to their
singular and characteristic appearance.

We visited the young Rajah in Durbar, and the difference between the
Mahratta and Nepaulese Courts was most striking. The waving plumes,
hussar jackets, and gold-laced pantaloons of the latter were exchanged
for the simple white turban and flowing robe of the Indian senator; but
though the character of their costume may have been more in accordance
with our ideas of Oriental habits, there was a lamentable deficiency of
intellect in their faces, and the fire and intelligence which flashed
from the eye of the Highland noble were wanting in that of the Mahratta
chief. After two days' agreeable sojourn at the Residency we proceeded
for two or three consecutive nights over flat dreary country, spending
the days in the miserable little resthouses provided for the
accommodation of the traveller, and generally picking up a few partridges
for breakfast.

At Goonah we had a prospect of more important game. We here fell in with
a most ardent sportsman: the numerous trophies of bears and tigers with
which his bungalow was adorned proved his success as well as his skill.

With him we sallied forth at about 10 A.M., some on horseback and some on
an elephant, all equally indifferent to the sun, fiercely blazing in an
unclouded sky, and reached a dell, the sides of which were covered with a
low scrubby jungle, where sport was to be expected.

As tiger-shooting on foot is almost unheard of in the northern part of
India, and is practised in the southern only, because the tiger there is
a much less formidable animal than his majesty of Bengal, we were told to
proceed with considerable caution by the veteran, who posted us in the
most likely places, saying to one of our party, as he stationed him in
the most _favourable_ locality, "I put you here because the tiger is
nearly sure to charge down this hill; and if he does, there will be very
little chance of escape for you, as you see he has so much the advantage
of you, that if you do not kill him with either barrel--and the skull of
a tiger is so narrow that it is exceedingly improbable you will be able
to do so--he must kill you, but I would not for the world that you should
miss the sport."

Thus did this self-denying Nimrod debar himself the pleasure of being
charged by a tiger, reserving it, in the kindest manner, for his guests,
who but half appreciated the sacrifice he was making on their account,
from their dread