Page:Imperial India — An Artist's Journals.djvu/85

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CHAPTER V.

GWALIOR AND DHOLEPORE.

26th January.

GWALIOR is the capital of Maharajah Sindia. It may be said to consist of three parts—modern Gwalior, which is called by the natives Luskar, or The Camp; the old fort and town ; and the cantonments, or Morar. Coming in by dak, we stopped at Old Gwalior, on the north of the fort. Here there is nothing but a dak bungalow and a few houses. South rises the long line of sandstone on which is built the fort, and which is a mile and three-quarters in length. We quickly perceived that this would not do, had our things re-packed in the gharries, and drove to the cantonments, six miles off. Of Luskar, or Gwalior town, we saw nothing, except the glitter of Sindia's new palace in the distance. We stopped and breakfasted with Sir Henry Daly, who is Governor-General's Agent in Central India, and then drove to the dak bungalow, in the cantonments. Sindia ought to have put me up at his own dak bungalow, but he excused himself by saying that he had lately enclosed it with a wall, and that it was now in his women's garden. Altogether, the Maharajah has behaved very badly to me. The policy of the Government appears to humour him in all things, and I have been partly sacrificed, as the sequel shows.

Morar, where the Europeans live, is a pleasant place enough; the roads are broad and good, the trees shady, and the bungalows pleasant. Sir Henry, too, was personally most kind, and invited us to dinner. He said that Mohurrum was being celebrated (it took place yesterday and to-day), and that he had great difficulty in getting the Maharajah to give a sitting for the 25th, but that