1 THE COURT OF THE SIKH SOVERBIGKS. Ill
2 taut ensemble of the pageant was so extremely
3 unlike anything that one sees anywhere else ;
4 there was such a pleasant dash of poetry and
5 romance in the congregation of daring horsemen,
6 bearing lance, targe, and matchlock, and floating
7 in all varieties of colours, and diversities of uni-
8 forms, that criticism was entirely disarmed.
9 "On reaching the bridge of boats, the party
10 proceeded across the Sutlege singly, as there
11 was no room for two elephants abreast. At the
12 opposite side, the Governor-General was met by
13 Sir Henry Fane, Generals Torrens and Churchill,
14 and the rest of the staff and visitors from his
15 Excellency's camp. These joined the first body
16 of elephants, and the whole then moved forward
17 up a spacious street, formed by her Majesty's
18 16th lancers, and the 2nd light cavalry. The
19 appearance of the lancers under arms, was be-
20 yond all praise : they presented a spectacle
21 which no Englishman could contemplate without
22 some degree of pride. At the extremity of the
23 street in question, the Governor-General and his
24 cortege came up on a small winding stream,
25 over which a sort of road had been constructed
26 of rushes, earth, and planks ; and beyond this,
27 his Lordship entered upon an avenue formed by
28 some thousands of the picked troops of the
29 Maharajah. Proceeding up the avenue, two
30 lines of camel artillery (Zumboors), stretching to