For a Durbar a long line of red carpet was laid
from the throne-room, through the Marble Hall and the White Hall
beyond it, right down the great flight of exterior steps, at the
foot of which a white Guard of Honour of one hundred men from a
British regiment was drawn up, Aligned through the outer hall, the
Marble Hall and the throne-room were one hundred men of the
Viceroy's Bodyguard, splendid fellows chosen for their height and
appearance, and all from Northern India. They wore the white
leather breeches and jack-boots of our own Life Guards, with
scarlet tunics and huge turbans of blue and gold, standing with
their lances as motionless as so many bronze statues. For a
Durbar, many precious things were unearthed from the "Tosha-
Khana," or Treasury: the Viceroy's silver-gilt throne; an arm-
chair of solid silver for the visiting Rajah; great silver-gilt
maces bearing & crown and "V.R.I."; and, above all, the beautiful
Durbar carpets of woven gold wire. The making of these carpets is,
I believe, an hereditary trade in a Benares family; they are woven
of real gold wire, heavily embroidered in gold afterwards, and are
immensely expensive.
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