1 THB COURT OF THS 8IKH SOVEREIGNS. 105
2 back, some on camels, to rendezvous at the Dur-
3 bar tent, and witness the imposing ceremony of
4 the visit ; and it is no exaggeration to say, that
5 this congregation of the gay and gallant was in
6 itself a sight worth travelling a great distance to
7 behold. There were some two or three hundred
8 officers of different regiments off duty, and these,
9 with a great number of staff and general officers,
10 many of whom wore the orders of the Bath, of
11 Hanover, of the Lion and the Sun, and of the
12 Bright Star of the East, presented a picture of
13 military splendour rarely exhibited in India. At
14 about half.past eight o'clock Lord Auckland
15 came into the area, and was received by the flank
16 companies of the European regiment who did
17 duty at the tents with presented arms. About
18 half-past nine the distant clangor of a band of
19 indescribable musicians announced the approach
20 of the Maharajah. Now was mounting in hot
21 haste — down went the assembled elephants to
22 receive the Governor-General, Sir H. Fane, and
23 their cortege— off went horsemen and chobdars,
24 a goodly troop, to precede the procession, and in
25 three minutes the whole body, forming two lines
26 of elephants, marched up the street of regiments
27 to meet the Maharajah. — And now the guns of the
28 camel battery spat forth their salutation, and
29 horses reared, and troops presented arms, and
30 bands struck up our national anthem ; Sikhs gal-
31 F 5