1 106 ^HE COURT OF THE SIKH SOVEREIGNS.
2 loped in and out in wild disorder, and dust arose
3 even to the point of enveloping the proud pro-
4 cession. At the end of the street (so happily was
5 the whole thing timed and arranged) the Maha-
6 rajah appeared in the centre of a line of elephants,
7 and met the Governor-General and his gorgeous
8 suite just as his lordship had reached its termina-
9 tion. The Maharajah, simply clothed in a red
10 tunic and trousers, and a turban of the same de-
11 scription, without one single trinket to adorn a
12 person, which, not to speak profanely, would be
13 very little the better or the worse of such adorn-
14 ing : the Maharajah, be it known, was now re-
15 ceived into Lord Auckland's howdah, and the
16 whole pageant wheeled about to proceed to the
17 Durbar. To describe the rush that was made to
18 reach the audience tent, and secure a good posi-
19 tion while the formal interview took place, is
20 utterly beyond the compass of the feeble histo-
21 rian. As the time advanced, Sikh chieftains, all
22 clinquant, all in gold, or clothed in every diver-
23 sity of colour, and every imaginable variety of
24 picturesque costume, armed to the teeth , with
25 spear, sabre, shield, and lighted matchlock, —
26 scrambled onwards, competing with the British
27 red coats for a peep at the tumasha. Arrived at
28 the tents, which were already nearly crammed to
29 suffocation, the Maharajah (giving precedence to
30 Lord Auckland) alighted, and leaning upon the