s chandeliers, led into the centre room of a fine suite of
apartments, where the Nizam shortly afterwards joined us. At breakfast
I sat between his Highness and his chief aide-de-camp, neither of whom
touched anything, except a glass of iced water and a cup of tea,
during the whole of a very long meal. Subsequently the Nizam kindly
caused all his best horses and ponies to be brought to the foot of the
marble steps for us to see. There were Arabs of high degree,
thoroughbred English horses, and very good-looking Walers among them,
besides some tiny ponies, four of which, when harnessed together, drew
a real Cinderella coach of solid silver. Although I delighted in
looking at these beautiful animals, I became so tired that I had to
make my escape. Some of the party stayed and went through the
stables, harness-rooms, and coach-houses, which must, from their
account, have been well worth seeing. They were especially struck by
the perfect training of the horses, who seemed as docile as kittens,
and would jump in and out of their stalls, take a straw out of their
groom's mouth, and when told to 'go' would dash off wildly round the
garden (to the great detriment of the flowers and plants), returning
instantly to their stables at the word of command.

From the Nizam's palace I drove to see the wife of the Finance
Minister, Mehdi Ali--an intelligent lady, who speaks English
wonderfully well; in fact, she expressed herself so perfectly that it
was difficult to believe she had scarcely spoken a word of our
language for more than a year and a half. It seemed sad to hear that
she never went out, because she did not care to go 'covered up,' and
that such had been the seclusion of her existence, that she scarcely
knew any animals by sight, except from pictures, and had no pets,
except, as she said, 'pet books.' She showed me the books gained as
prizes at college by her two nephews, with evident appreciation of
their contents, one being Prescott's 'History of America,' and the
other a translation of Homer's 'Iliad.' I parted with her after
receiving the usual garland of honour on leaving, feeling grateful
that Providence had not placed _me_ behind a purdah, but had allowed
me to go about and see the world for myself instead of having to look
at it through other people's eyes.

The midday heat was so great that we gladly rested at the Residency
until it became time to go to tea with Khurseed Jah, whose house is
only a little distance