paul, bearing the letter of the Queen of England to the Rajah of
that country.

The accounts which had preceded him of the magnificence of the jewels
with which his person was generally adorned, had raised expectations
amongst the natives which were doomed to disappointment: intelligence had
been received by Jung of the death of the Queen of Nepaul, and the whole
Embassy was in deep mourning, so that their appearance on landing created
no little astonishment, clad, as they all were, in spotless white,
excepting their shoes, which were of black cloth--leather not being
allowed to form part of the Nepaulese mourning costume.

His Excellency had a careworn expression of countenance, which might have
been caused either by the dissipation attendant upon the gaieties of his
visit to London, by grief for his deceased Queen, or by sea-sickness
during his recent stormy passage across the Gulf of Manaar. He had been
visiting sundry Hindoo shrines, and it was for the purpose of worshipping
at the temple of Ramiseram, which is situate on the island of that name,
in the Gulf of Manaar, forming part of Adam's Bridge, that he touched at
Colombo. Here I was fortunate enough to make his acquaintance, and,
attracted by his glowing description of sport in Nepaul, accepted an
invitation to accompany him to that country, in order to judge of it for
myself.

So good an opportunity is indeed rarely afforded to a European of
visiting Nepaul, and of inspecting the internal economy of its
semi-barbarous Court. I soon found that Jung Bahadoor excelled no less
as a travelling companion than he had done as Premier and Ambassador.

As doubts had arisen and some misapprehension had prevailed in England as
to his position in his own country, I was anxious to ascertain what was
his real rank and how he would be received there. It was reported that
he had risked his temporal welfare by quitting his country, while, in
order that his eternal welfare should in no way be compromised by this
bold and novel proceeding, he had obtained an express reservation to be
made in his favour at Benares, overcoming, by means of considerable
presents, the scruples of a rapacious and not very conscientious
priesthood.

The ostensible object of the mission had reference, as far as I could
learn, to a portion of the Terai (a district lying upon the northern
frontier of British India) which formerly belonged to Nepaul, and which
was annexed by the Indian Government