144 
SCENES IN INDIA, 
CHAPTER XIII. 
THE RAJPOOTNI BRIDE. 
Scarcely a day passed, during our stay at this 
splendid city, without something or other of novelty 
occurring to afford us entertainment. The Newaub’s 
menagerie was a scene of frequent resort, but espe- 
cially the palace gardens, which are laid out with 
great magnificence, and contain several very elegant 
buildings. 
The Newaub had in his service a troop of Rajpoot 
cavalry, in which there was one of the finest men I 
ever beheld. He was in the prime of life, in the 
full vigour of his strength, remarkably expert in all 
the manly exercises peculiar to his tribe, and as 
powerful as he was active. He was pointed out to 
all strangers at Lucknow as a person of extraor- 
dinary qualities both of mind and body. He stood 
about six feet and an inch high, as erect as a column, 
with a frame, though not heavily muscular, yet knit 
with a compactness that combined elegance and 
strength in an unusual degree. The development 
was not prominent, and though rather of a spare 
habit, yet the contour of his frame displayed the most 
graceful anatomical outline, while the firm texture of 
the muscles showed that they were capable of more, 
