e entrance, and the little
khaki clad native soldiers, mounted orderlies, and Red Chuprassis in
groups about the grounds.

Mrs Fraser, wife of the Resident, was at home, and wore a very pretty
dress of soft grey and black muslin(?) with touches of dull rose
bows--but how can you describe a dress of the present period, they are
such subtle things; a Romney or a Reynolds dress would be easy
enough--something white hitched up here or there would be near enough,
but nowadays the colours of various materials tell through each other so
delicately and the shapes suggest faintly so many periods that I
question if it is in the power of words to describe a modern frock.

Our hostess, I gathered, is deeply engrossed in making the bundabast[15]
for the entertainment of the Prince and his retainers--If twenty valets
require so many napkins, for so many days, how many cups and saucers
will be needed for a Royal Procession for a week, and so on?

[15] I think the context explains the meaning of Bundabast--an
invaluable word. I take it, it is used correctly as above. You can make
"bundabast" for a campaign, I believe, or for a picnic; _i.e._, order
the carriages, food, and things, and the right people, and generally
take all responsibilities therefor.

15th. Dec.--This ought to be a date to remember in our lives. My neice
and I went to jail to-day, both for the first time, and I am not anxious
to go again. It is immediately across the road from Locksley Hall. We
passed through a double archway, guarded inside by native soldiers.
Facing us as we entered, the walls were decorated with trophies of
chains and fetters, which the man in the street might see as he passed.

The Governor very kindly went round with us, and we saw a distinctly
stronger type of man than those outside; here and there a trifle too
much cheek bone and queer eyes, mostly murderers, many with faces one
would pick for choice as manly men. Famine times account for some of the
murders, and overstocking I should say; it's done everywhere, in trout
ponds, deer forests, and sheep runs. India, I expect, is over preserved;
a bad season comes, and famine, and one starving fellow chips in with
another, and knocks a third party on the head because he has a meal on
him, and the first parties' children are crying for food--and by the
prophets, we'd each try to do the same under similar circumstances, and
the result would be the survival of the fittest. Government now catches