Page:Lord Amherst and the British Advance Eastwards to Burma.djvu/209

 by the approach of his regiment of heroines in full dress. About three full companies entered the court armed with bows and arrows... Ranjít welcomed them and nodded to his favourites to approach. They seemed in no wise abashed at his presence, for their honours were well due. But he is a ghastly figure, and when mounted upon his high-bred steed his phantom face and bird-like limbs, his long hoary beard and withered form, pictured death on a pale horse.'

Here is the account of one of their visitors, the Rání of Saice:—

'She is considered a very clever woman, and has that appearance. She was dressed quite plainly in a white garment, and her hair, parted in front and tight to the forehead, was fastened in front — the dress of a widow.' [A lifelike portrait in water colours is inserted between the pages of the diary.] 'She thought herself aggrieved by Colonel Ross, Superintendent of the Sikhs, and went down to Calcutta and represented her case to the Supreme Government. The grievance having occurred sixty years ago, when her country was conquered by the Gurkhas, the Governor-General could do no more than allow her a small pension on which she lives very comfortably, but is not satisfied that the country is not restored to her. She is a handsome, oldish woman of about forty years. She told me I must be her mother, father, and everything to her, to which I assented. She then said she wished to marry Captain Kennedy, the Assistant Superintendent here: it made us all smile except herself; she said it was for protection.' It was not only the glorious scenery and the cool air of Simla that refreshed the spirits of the party. In the last days of May Lord Amherst received an intimation that the king had been pleased to create him