awful executions of
pretenders to supreme power by the reigning Caliph, the true
head of the faithful. On the first day of the Mohurrum the
vast population of Lucknow appears to be suddenly snatched
away from all interests and employments in the affairs of
this world; the streets are deserted; every one is shut up
in his house, mourning with his family. On the second day
the streets are crowded, but with people in mourning attire,
parading the thoroughfares in funeral procession to the
tomb-models set up here and there as tributes of respect to
the memory of Hussun and Hoosein. These models, called
_tazias_, are representations of the mausoleum at Kerbela
where the two chiefs are buried. The _tazias_ are placed in
an _imambara_ belonging to a chief, or in the house of some
wealthy Mussulman. The _tazia_ belonging to the king of Oude
was made for his Majesty's father, and was composed of
panels of green glass fixed in gold mouldings, and was
regarded as peculiarly holy. [I only take extracts from the
chapter on the Mohurrum from the work I have named. The
_tazia_ belonging to the king accompanied him from Lucknow
on the annexation of Oude.] It is on record at Lucknow that
the celebration of the Mohurrum often cost a reigning Nawab
upwards of L300,000 or Rs. 3,000,000. In Lucknow, before the
Mutiny, it was believed that they had the true metal crest
of the banner of Hoosein, a relic regarded as peculiarly
sacred, and enshrined in a building called the Doorgah. The
name of the charger which Hoosein rode when he was killed
was Dhulldhull, represented in the procession of the
Mohurrum by a spotless white Arab of elegant proportions.
The trappings of Dhulldhull are all of solid gold, and a
golden bow and quiver of arrows are fixed on the saddle.

These extracts from a history of Lucknow before the Mutiny will enable
my readers to form some idea of the splendour of the Mohurrum of 1857,
and the value of the _tazia_ and paraphernalia found, as I said, by a
company of the Ninety-Third. I learned from native troopers that the
golden _tazia_ belonging to the crown jewels of Lucknow having
accompanied the king to Calcutta, a new one was made, for which the
Mahommedan population of Lucknow subscribed _lakhs_ of rupees. In the
eleventh chapter of his _Def