IN THE OLD PALACE. 



139 



ally they are favourite resorts. As we pass through the 

 rooms, from each deep window-bay two or three laugh- 

 ing or chattering girls or women flutter out. I did 

 not like to inquire too closely about the relationship 

 of these ladies to the late Maharaja. Their ages appar- 

 ently varied from over eighty to under eighteen. But 



THE OLD PALACE, CHAMBA. 



if they were all his wives, the youngest could only have 

 been a few years old at the time of his death. 



This old palace is delightful — so evidently the typical 

 untouched residence of the old-world Indian prince — but 

 there is an absence of repair, and a presence of rubbish 

 and weeds in the outer courts, which also characterised 



