300 RIFLE AND SPEAR WITH THE RAJPOOTS. 



in case we wished to visit the palace. He himself is living. 

 as usual, in tents outside the walls. 



The situation of the palace and town of Boondi is very 

 fine — built at the foot of a steep hill, on the top of which 

 stands the old castle. In the centre of the town is a large 

 piece of water, on the edge of which are built numerous 

 houses of nobles and other rich natives. Temples abound 

 on every side, and bougainvillias and scarlet chillies, on the 

 flat-topped houses, lend considerable colour to the scene. 

 The palace is on the side of the hill, and the road too steep 

 for a carriage, so we were carried up in dandies. 



The view from the palace windows is interesting, but 

 there is little else to see. The walls of several rooms are 

 decorated in fresco with the usual battle and hunting scenes, 

 and what furniture there is seems of early Victorian make 

 and taste. The Eaja's own particular room was arranged 

 something like the parlour of an English farmhouse, and, 

 like it, looked as if it were seldom or never entered. A 

 table, covered with a Manchester-printed tablecloth, has four 

 books arranged at the corners, and scattered about are 

 several of those "present from Brighton" paper-weights 

 which display a miniature snow-storm when they are 

 reversed. In the centre of the wall is one of those fearful 

 German trick pictures. You look at it from one side and 

 see the Queen, from the other side the portrait changes to 

 the Prince of Wales. 



