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ance, so absurdly loaded with jewels llial he could scarcely stagger 

 under ihe precious weight. The bridegroom was about thirteen 

 years of age, the bride ten ; they were both of a dark complexion, 

 and not handsome. 



"From the shumeeana we proceeded on elephants to an exten- 

 sive and beautiful garden, about a mile distant. The procession 

 was grand beyond conception : it consisted of above twelve hun- 

 dred elephants, richly caparisoned, drawn up in a regular line like 

 a regiment of soldiers. About a hundred elephants in the centre 

 had houdas, or castles, covered with silver ; in the midst of these 

 appeared the nabob, mounted on an uncommonly large elephant, 

 within a houdah covered with gold, richly set with precious stones. 

 The elephant was caparisoned with cloth of gold. On his right 

 hand was Mr. George Johnstone, the British resident at the court 

 of Lucknow ; on his left the young bridegroom ; the English gen- 

 tlemen and ladies and the native nobility were intermixed on the 

 right and left. On both sides of the road, from the tents to the 

 garden, were raised artificial scenery of bamboo-work, very high, 

 representing bastions, arches, minarets, and towers, covered with 

 lights in glass lamps, which made a grand display. On each side 

 of the procession, in front of the line of elephants, were dancing- 

 girls superbly dressed, (on platforms supported and carried by 

 bearers) who danced as we went along. These platforms consisted 

 of a hundred on each side of the procession, all covered with o-old 

 and silver cloths, with two girls and two musicians at each plat- 

 form. 



" The ground from the tents to the garden, forming the road 

 on which we moved, was inlaid with fire-works ; at every step of 



