phant, already trudging to the base of the Ambir hills to await your
coming, cannot be countermanded or headed off. In this charming manner
the great Maharajah entertains daily the handful of strangers within his
gates--it is India's remaining relic of the hospitality of long ago. A
distinction inordinately prized by native princes is the number of guns
prescribed by the Indian government as their salutes. The Gaekwar of
Baroda and two other feudatory rulers are entitled to twenty-one guns,
while the hereditary right of the Maharajah of Jeypore is only
seventeen. But the present Maharajah, as a reward for his enlightened
administration, is made happy by having four additional guns--and no
king or emperor can have higher acclaim from the cannon's mouth.

[Illustration: STREET SCENE, JEYPORE, SHOWING PALACE OF THE WINDS]

One cannot tarry a day in Jeypore without hearing redundant testimony
that His Highness Sir Sewai Madho Singh is a fine man, devoted to his
people and unswervingly loyal to his religion. His visitors are often
lords and ladies of England, who find his hospitality as interesting as
it is boundless. To the tips of his fingers he is a Hindu devotee with
all that the term can mean. When he attended the coronation of Edward
VII, in London, the preparations for his sea-voyage were unprecedented
in orthodoxy. An ocean liner was specially chartered for him and his
suite; in all one hundred and twenty-five people formed the escort. Six
special kitchens were fitted up on the ship, including one to prepare
food exclusively for His Highness. There was, as well, a special temple,
paved with marble, for the family idol, before which the Maharajah
prostrated himself many times daily. Drinking water from the sacred
Ganges, and every article of food--enough to sustain the entire party
for six months--were carried from India. So rigidly was the orthodoxy
observed that even the sand for cleaning cooking utensils was placed on
board at Bombay; and washermen, carpenters, blacksmiths, and others
accompanied the party, that there be no necessity for purchasing
anything in England, or having work done by persons not of the Hindu
faith. That the august traveler's caste be untainted, extra tanks of
water from Benares were subsequently sent to England by frequent
steamers.

The Maharajah maintains a military force of nearly 4,000 cavalry and
16,000 infantrymen. Besides these soldiers, his retainers number
thousands, and their ri