296 
DO'LTINGS ON THE ROADSIDE. [Chap. XVIII.—B. P. 
he himself announced our arrival to the ladies within. 
They did not, however, after the manner of their sex, 
keep us a long time in waiting while they adorned, but 
speedily made their appearance. 
The Queen Dowager and both her daughters were 
tall and thin, not to say bony,—the tallest Indian 
women indeed I have ever seen. They were attired in 
common print dresses, such as are used by servants in 
this country in the morning ; without collar, cufls, or 
ornament of any sort whatever. Their luxuriant black 
hair was braided in two heavy plaits, which hung down 
their backs, and the simplicity of their attire was not 
even marred by the addition of shoes and stockings. 
Indeed I shrewdly suspected that the gown was the 
sole and only garment the ladies possessed; and this 
suspicion was verified before I left the presence, for 
struck by their extreme straightness, their up-and- 
downness, so to speak, my thoughts reverted to our 
dear charmers at home (who at that time were striv¬ 
ing to out-rival each other in the amplitude of their 
skirts), and I could not resist speaking through the 
medium of the King, who acted as interpreter for his 
mother, of the utility and elegance of a certain article 
of dress much in request in my own country. The 
younger princess interposed, however, with charming 
naivete , remarking that one garment was quite enough 
in Mosquito, and that the addition of another would 
be a burden grievous to be borne. This remark was 
accompanied by a playful shake of her only robe, 
putting me forcibly in mind of a somewhat similar 
display of unsophisticated nature on the part of Queen 
