332 RIFLE AFD SPEAR WITH THE RAJPOOTS. 



a verandah is covered with a huge tesselated picture of 

 some sacred story, where plain stone would have been 

 of sufficient importance. The subject also is rather 

 queerly treated. Black angels, even if they have white 

 wings, are not generally associated with blessings, and 

 a couple of swarthy-looking cherubim hover above, 

 bestowing their benediction on the mortals below. The 

 mosaic is well enough executed, and it is supposed that 

 the Italian artist, as a delicate compliment to his 

 employer, purposely darkened the angels' complexion to 

 an Indian tint. He has succeeded in producing an 

 effect which is simply ludicrous. 



Tuesday. — We have settled to return to England by 

 the Messageries Maritimes line, and Lord Harris has very 

 kindly asked us to stay at Bombay until the boat sails. 

 Yesterday evening we left Baroda by the mail train, 

 and awoke at six o'clock this morning to find ourselves 

 in the Liverpool of the East, and one of His Excellency's 

 carriages waiting to take us to Government House. The 

 Governor has two residences at Bombay. One in the town 

 is not used, and he lives at Malabar Point, in the ideal 

 of what a house agent would call a " Marine Villa." 

 Malabar Point is a long, narrow peninsula jutting far 

 into the sea, and covered with palms and tropical 

 vegetation. At the extremity of the Point, and 

 surrounded on three sides by the sea, is Government House, 



