ere he
will have a steam-foundry established in Katmandu time alone can show.

CHAPTER XII.

_Kindness of the Mahila Sahib--His motive--Drawing-room ornaments--Visit
to the palace of Jung Bahadoor--A trophy of the London season--Grand
Durbar at the reading of the Queen of England's letter--Dress of the
officers--Review of troops--Dancing boys_.

The Mahila Sahib, the younger brother of his Majesty, was a very pleasant-
looking young man, with a much more amiable expression of countenance
than his royal brother, and professed to be one of Jung's greatest
friends and allies. As a compliment to the minister, he politely
requested us to pay him a visit, an invitation of which we were glad to
avail ourselves, since it proved his kindly feeling towards our host,
whilst it gave us an opportunity of inspecting the menage of a Nepaulese
Prince Royal.

It is worth while to make a trip to Nepaul, not only for the delight of
viewing the romantic beauty of its scenery, of wondering at the
stupendous height of its mountains, of roaming amidst its ancient cities,
ruined palaces, and glittering pagodas, but in order to take a lesson in
human nature, for we are not at liberty to suppose that the princes and
nobles of this country are a more depraved class than any other body of
men, the fact being that a Nepaulese follows his natural impulses,
unfettered by the restraints of our standard of civilization and
morality, and the results are apparent. Is not the more civilized
inhabitant of western lands actuated by the same feelings, and would he
not behave in the same manner as his swarthy brother in the East, had he
been brought up in the same code of morality, and were he as fearless of
the consequences of his following the bent of his own inclination? But
if so, then the visitor to Nepaul simply sees the game of human life
played openly and unconstrainedly, and in no way hampered by the rules
which prevail in more civilized countries; and the unsophisticated tyro
has only to come here and learn in a month what would cost him a lifetime
of anxious study in a country enjoying the blessings of civilization.

The palace of the Mahila Sahib is situated in a court-yard, and is
entered by a small doorway, by no means in keeping with the handsome
staircase, lined with muskets, up which we followed the prince, who had
come to the entrance to meet us. We were ushered into a long narrow
room, similar in shape to the reception-room