ted their parts well. Lord Ampthill is exceptionally tall,
he wore a blue Court coat, well set-off by the white knee-breeches and
stockings; and Lady Ampthill is taller than other ladies and is very
gracious. Perhaps you can make out in my sketch Lord Ampthill on the
dais talking to some of the house party, and the tall lady on the right,
talking to some of our party may stand for Lady Ampthill, escorted by
Major Campbell.

The fireworks after the reception were, in my humble opinion, very fine
indeed, but I confess my experience of these displays is extremely
limited. The effect was enhanced by the soft colourfulness of the
Eastern night, framed by great white arches round the verandah, and the
groups beneath these, of ladies, fair, and dark, in soft raiment.

As we came away the wide steps were covered with groups of ladies,
officers, and natives, standing and sitting, with arms and jewels, white
gloves, silks and laces glittering in moonlight or lost in shadow; above
on the terrace the glow of lamps from the hall shone on the last
departing guests, and the tall moonlit pillars led the eye up to the
blue night sky. I daresay five men out of six would have found the whole
show a bore, possibly even more tiresome than this account of it, but
our friend and his wife enjoyed it all, for they paint, and see things,
which makes all the difference.

2nd January.--Drove to Binney's for last time, and secured tickets to
Rangoon. The berths are not allocated till you get on board, a cheerful
arrangement: and they _are_ dear! Loafed about harbour watching many
cargoes and many people; tried in Blacktown to get women's draperies
such as I'd seen in Bangalore and Dharwar, but all we saw were more
crude in colour and overdone with patterns--couldn't get the simple
blues or reds with yellow or blue margins. Not an eventful day, but in
the afternoon we drove again to the sands at the mouth of the Adyar to
collect shells and we saw more than we could carry away in memory,
watched the crabs scuttling over the sands like mice, and into regular
burrows in the sand, collected seeds from various trailing plants, and
saw a glorious sunset--someone told me Indian sunsets were poor things!
and made a jotting or two, too hasty to be of use to the world in
general.

3rd.--Painted, and wrote these notes in spite of mosquitoes and these
three times cursed crows.

CHAPTER XXIII

4th.--Half-an-hour's drive across the town brought us