CHAPTER XIII. 



At a nautch dance— The Nonconformist Conscience— An embarrassing 

 native custom— The bag of rupees— Indian railway accommodation — 

 Arrival at Rajghur— Groundbait for tigers— In an elephant camp- 

 Decorated elephants— A tiger drive— Hermiron Singh— The little 

 Raja and his playfellows— Snake-charming and hypnotism— Charming 

 the foxes — News of a panther — An amusing adventure— A sounder of 

 wild boars— To Deoli in a dakghari— The Raja of Boondi's horoscope 

 —His political economy theories— A fossil State —Arrival at Kotah 

 — The town, the Residency, and the Maharaja's palace— Bagging 

 an alligator — Oriental poetry and a contrast— A tragic story— A 

 sambhur drive— Colonel Wyllie's camp— The Maharaja of Kotah. 



In the evening we went to Zafir's house to see a 

 nautch. The inner court, covered over and carpeted, was 

 brilliantly lit up by 

 lamps and candles. We 

 were conducted to an al- 

 cove at one end, where 

 several well-dressed 

 natives were already 

 seated. Zafir and the 

 men of his family sat 

 by us, the women look- 

 ing on from behind a 



A NATIVE MUSICIAN. 



screen in the gallery above. The dancing-girls squatted 



T 



