ortance in an Oriental
pageant. He was mounted alone on a huge elephant, magnificently caparisoned
and adorned with the royal standard, a flag of cloth-of-gold, on a long
staff.

In front of the elephant marched a band of eighteen or twenty native
musicians, playing upon all sorts of Indian instruments, including
tom-toms, lutes, like flageolets, cymbals, and horns. Surrounding the great
beast that had the honor to bear the flag of the Mahratta States were
numerous horsemen, all clothed in the richest Oriental costumes, armed with
spears and curved sabres, with shining shields, and steel gauntlets on
their hands. All these, and all the others, wore white turbans,
picturesquely folded.

Behind the standard-bearer were two more elephants, each decked in all the
splendor of the East; and mounted upon them were some of the great
dignitaries of the court, over whom servants held highly fringed and
ornamented umbrellas. In the procession was a troop of camels, all dressed
out in the style of the horses and elephants. To say that the Americans
were dazzled by the splendor of the scene would be to state it very mildly,
for they were literally confounded and overwhelmed; and yet they had not
seen the great feature of the spectacle, the Guicowar himself. Sir Modava
had to talk very fast to describe the scene as it passed before them.

A dozen men, handsomely dressed like all the others, presently appeared,
each bearing on a long pole something that looked like a crown. This was a
sort of incense-censor, in which perfumes were burned, and from which a
column of blue vapor proceeded. They were immediately before one of the
king's elephants, which now came in front of the veranda. He was a gigantic
creature, bearing on his back a howdah of solid gold. He was robed like the
others, and the portions of his skin in sight were fantastically painted in
various designs.

The howdah was surmounted by two pyramidal roofs, one in front of the
other, supported by small columns. At the end of the elephant's tusks,
which were sawed off square, were attached bouquets of rich feathers. On
each side of the huge beast was a platform, suspended at the outside by
golden cords, on which stood four men very richly dressed. One of them
bears the hook, or pipe, presented to the Guicowar by the viceroy, another
waves a banner, and the others flourish fans of peacock feathers. In front
of the mahout is planted an ornament reaching nearly to the top of t