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Amber Palace<\/p><\/div>\n

Delhi<\/u> Thursday Feb\u2019y 17\/98.<\/p>\n

Maidans [sic] Metropolitan Hotel, 6:30 p.m.<\/u><\/p>\n

I arrived here this morning at 8:45. Yesterday, at Jeypore<\/u>, I posted what I had previously written so that I might catch the outgoing mail from Bombay\u00a0on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Well, I left<\/u> Ahmedabad at 10:30 on Tuesday morning, the city or native part of which is an abominable place, & beyond the few spots of interest, not worth spending more than one day in it.\u00a0The journey to Jeypore<\/u>\u00a0was long, arriving the following morning Wed. 5:30. I was disappointed with the country: a dry, parched land, but many patches had been under irrigation & these were green & beautiful to look on. Such a great contrast to the bulk. Wheat, barley, & other crops, (native) were the principal growth where irrigated. Trees everywhere & some very beautiful. Foliage green & large, much brushwood & very rough grass, but quite dry & colourless. Monkeys everywhere & funny fellows they were, very playful. Plenty birds, peacocks, beautiful, but saw no game. Inhabitants here & there scattered, peasantry at work ploughing &c., with [2:26] oxen, numerous herds of goats, sheep, cattle, & native buffalo, different from the oxen: dark hairless skin, horns fall back along the neck & by no means neat or fine. There were herdsmen attending all wherever we saw them, also droves of donkeys, & I suppose all were marketable. Horses are not used either for agriculture or waggon work, all oxen, & these vary in size. Only few have I seen to equal our English. As we came higher up we entered a range of very rugged<\/u> hills: huge ridges, peculiar shapes, one identical with the Salisbury Crag[1]<\/a> at Edinbro\u2019\u00a0& the \u201cLion\u201d couchant.[2]<\/a> It impressed me much & changed its form similarly as we rounded it, but for wierdness [sic], I\u2019ve seen nothing in hills that approaches these. Consult your map & you will see the range between Ahmedabad\u00a0& Ajmere.[3]<\/a> It soon after this got dark, & I turned in & awoke fairly fresh at my journey\u2019s end. Got to the Rustomji\u00a0Hotel (Jeypore), the Consul\u00a0& his wife\u00a0too, & after a little rest had a drive to the Public Gardens. Very lively, a zoo too & a most magnificent building, ill to describe, \u201cThe Museum\u201d. I went in & saw many curios but my impression of museums are that they duplicate each other. After breakfast the Consul, wife, & I joined & drove about, viewing much that we had seen previously\u00a0& in the afternoon we went to view the ancient city & palace of Amber, see encyclopaedia.<\/p>\n

[2:27]<\/p>\n

The drive to it was very uninteresting & dusty but the palace is beyond description. Cain\u00a0says truly it is a sight worth going to India alone to see.[4]<\/a> The architecture, adornments, carvings, masonary [sic], inlaid work & its magnitude surpasses conception: marble polished, marble carved, marble pillars, marble floors, steps & roofs, in fact marble, gold, silver everywhere, & the zenana [5]<\/a> part exquisite in every detail. Its position is on a hill & a big climb it is. We got back at 6, had dinner & left at 7:28 p.m. for Delhi<\/u>. Had to change into another train at 10:30. Mean time I rested. After changing trains at 10:30, went to bed & had a fair rest, arriving here 8:45 a.m. This is a charming city, apart from the native site, & it is as the previous places, dilapidated & filthy, & the natives in swarms: wretched, very. The fort\u00a0is a sight never to be forgotten, the remains of former glory unimpaired & the magnificence of the work elaborate with gold & inlaid art, has to be seen to be understood, & every where is so interesting as scenes connected with the Mutiny that one feels thrilled when wonder strikes you, & the thought of the horrors & sufferings enacted. See if the ency. refers to the \u201cFort\u201d & Divan-i-ahan, most lovely & wonderful, then we visited some fine mosques, gardens, the monument, cemetery, the ridge, the celebrated \u201cSoka\u201d Pillar, & we looked down on the plain where the celebrated Durbar[6]<\/a> assembled to proclaim Her Majesty Empress of India.<\/p>\n

[2:28]<\/p>\n

We had a drive through the native city after 3. The people, habits, & mode of doing business is exactly as in places previously visited. These native parts are so decayed, & restoration doesn\u2019t appear to engage its inhabitants, the wonder is what [7]<\/a> will a century, aye less, produce. Referring to Jeypore,\u00a0we got through the Grand Palace of the Marajah,[8]<\/a> teeming with life & an enormous area, stables & 300 horses therein, such stables, all open in front straw for bedding, each horse tethered by the hind legs, long ropes tied to a stake far behind their heels. This is the native custom. In the Great Yard of the stables is a grand dais, tape covered, where His Highness sits to see the horses exercise. Then we met in the gardens (larger by far than our park) several native servants exercising the dogs. All sorts, but of the smaller breeds. Then we saw the enormous al[l]igator tank & the huge monsters basking in the sun. The keeper got some tripe & induced them to come to the steps where we stood, & by his calling they came sailing along & great fun to see him feeding them.[9]<\/a> He tied pieces on to a long string & threw it into the water & as they grabbed he withdrew. Some times he let one get it into the mouth (enormous capacity) [2:29] & as they didn\u2019t chew but simply gulped it down, as soon as it attempted the gulping, out he drew it to the great annoyance of the brute, & a roar followed. Turtle in great numbers & big in size were also there, & plenty fish & long legged big birds [10]<\/a> around the edge. I dare say the area of the tank will be fully the circumference of our park, fully so. Peacocks, monkeys and lots of fowl in the gardens, pomegranates, oranges, cocoa nuts growing. Then the Grand Durbar Hall & other magnificent reception rooms were really amazing, & every now & again messengers going to & fro here & there, & these all carried sword in hand. I got 2 or 3 views of this enormous palace. Jeypore [11]<\/a> streets\u00a0are very wide. These in the vicinity of the palace, & the front wall of the palace runs the length of one side of a street, & a very high minerate [sic] tower in the middle. The palace front is washed pink & white scrolls & every street the same, every house coloured pink. There\u2019s a great fort called Tiger\u00a0Fort on a very big hill top & great letters on the hillside \u201cWelcome\u201d (Caine\u00a0notes this).[12]<\/a> All these cities are walled. Delhi\u00a0is in much better repair than some & the breeches [sic] our army made in Delhi walls [2:30] remain the same today. I got a few good views. The suburbs of Delhi are very pretty & luckily for us rain has fallen during the past few days, & everything looks fresh. Lovely pansies, scarlet runners just like yours, wall flowers, stocks &c. &c. & sweet is the perfume. This of course outside. The perfume? in the native city is the very opposite<\/u>. This hotel\u00a0is good & is full tonight. About 30 sat at dinner. One family of 5 (mother, son & 3 daughters, Americans) left after dinner & had been 5 days here. They won\u2019t go on to Bombay\u00a0on account of the plague, & are going to Agra\u00a0tonight, thence Calcutta,\u00a0where they had started from. Lots of monkeys around this hotel, which is on the city wall. I just walk out of my room on to the wall & look down into the vast forest of trees. Tomorrow we go at 9:30, a drive of 12 miles to Old Deli & a celebrated old palace & tower called \u201cThe Kutab\u201d, but more of this in my next. We are supposed to return at 4 & leave on Saturday morning about 9 for Agra, 6 \u00bd hours\u2019 journey. Now it is 10:30 so I am off to bed. Good night!!<\/p>\n

I might here add in case I forget: while in the palace at Jeypore we also saw the Maharajas fighting elephants. Caine\u2018s illustration of the ground & viewing points is perfect. The elephants were all chained up in separate built squares, & the keeper enraged them for our benefit. I got a snap & hope it will be a picture as the brute\u2019s position was exciting & good.[13]<\/a><\/p>\n

[2:31]<\/p>\n

Also, in case I forget, while at Ahmedabad\u00a0I was in a very beautiful Jain temple & visited the mosques & other places Caine\u00a0mentions in his book. We can refer after I get home to his \u201cPicturesque India\u201d.<\/p>\n

I feel my diary\u00a0won\u2019t be very intelligible to you. I straggle the incidents & this I can\u2019t very well avoid. I ought to jot down as I go along but there\u2019s so much to see I find it impossible to divide my thoughts into noting down & observing, & I can get more interest out of the latter because I can stow it away & call upon it after, tho\u2019 not with the satisfaction I should like, so excuse the disjointedness throughout.[14]<\/a><\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Inserted on facing page: \u201cArthur\u2019s Seat\u201d.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> A heraldic lion.\u00a0 (Couchant: adjective. <\/em>Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French, from present participle of coucher<\/em>; lying down especially with the head up.)<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> A city of British India in Rajputana.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Inserted on facing page: \u201cPalace at Amber (W.S. Caine): human sacrifice was offered daily before the British Governed India, & since an animal is sacrificed daily. The alter [sic] we were shewn & the ground wet with the blood.\u201d<\/p>\n