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2 in Europe), and we directed our steps towards the large yard,
3 which we had to cross, in order to get betimes to a convenient
4 place close to the funeral pile. This was erected between the
5 walls and the fortress, in a small garden, the conflux of the
6 people having been so enormous in the fortress. In the large
7 yard, we observed one of the four ranees (queens) coming out of
8 the harem on foot and unveiled, for the first time in her life.
9 She was slowly proceeding towards the place where the royal
10 body was lying, and she was surrounded by about one hun-
11 dred persons, who kept themselves at some distance, while accom-
12 panying her. Close to her side there was a man carrying a
13 small box, containing the remainder of her jewels (as she had
14 already distributed some), which she made presents of, handing
15 them one by one to the people on her right and left. Two or
16 three steps in front of her, there was a man moving in a back-
17 ward direction, his face turned towards her, and holding a look-
18 ing-glass, that she might convince herself that her features were
19 unaltered, and no fear visible on them. At the distribution of
20 the jewels, Col. Steinbach made the observation that, had we
21 stretched out our hands to receive a present, it certainly would
22 not have been denied ; but we thought proper to leave it to
23 the poorer people, because we occupied lucrative posts. It is
24 curious, indeed, that this was the very ranee whom Runjeet Sing
25 married in the first year of my residence in that country, ten
26 years having passed since I witnessed the nuptials at Nadoun.
27 She was, as I mentioned before, a daughter of Sunsarchund, and
28 she had a younger sister, whom the maharajah at the same time
29 took also for a wife, and conveyed them both to Lahore; the
30 latter, I am told, had died of consumption during my absence.
31 As for the former, although I was present at her wedding, I
32 nevertheless had never seen her before, and it was only on her
33 last fatal walk, which she took to her funeral pile, that 1 could
34 behold her. The funeral train, accompanied by many thousands
35 of spectators, was now proceeding; all were on foot, their
36 abode in the fortress not being far distant from the place of
37 the ceremony. The four ranees only were carried, in open