Page:Wanderings of a Pilgrim Vol 1.djvu/266

 which is a fish: the standards are supported by leopards: beneath the crown is the double-handled dagger, a most formidable weapon; and at the base of the whole are two large fish.

Ghazee-ood-Deen Hydur had no son, and one only daughter, who married her cousin, and had issue Mossem-ood-Dowla, the true heir to the throne; a man whom you may see constantly at the present king's table.

Ghazee-ood-Deen, instead of leaving the throne to his true heir and grandson Mossem-ood-Dowla, left it to Nuseer-ood-Deen Hydur, a boy whom the king declared to be his own son by a slave girl; but who, they say, is in reality the son of a dhobee (washerman) belonging to the palace. This man is the present king of Lucnow. The English are aware of these facts. On the decease of the present king, the succession will be disputed, as he wishes to place a boy, named Khema-jah, on the masnud, instead of his own son, Feredooa Buckht Moona-jah: but for the history of these two boys, I refer you to the lives of the wives of the king.

The Muhammadan law allows an adopted son to take the place of a legitimate son at the pleasure of the parent, by which law Nuseer-ood-Deen Hydur claimed the throne, and put aside Mossem-ood-Dowla, the grandson of Ghazee-ood-Deen Hydur.

29th.—We drove to Barouda, a palace built in the French style; I saw there nothing worthy of remark, but two marble tables, inlaid in the most delicate and beautiful manner with flowers of the convolvulus.

30th.—The Resident and all his party breakfasted with the King on the anniversary of his coronation, which takes place in any month, and on any day, according to his Majesty's pleasure.

During breakfast my attention was deeply engrossed by the prime minister, the Nawāb Mootuzim-ul-Dowla, Mehndee Ulee Khan Bahadur, commonly called Nawāb Hakīm Mehndi. I conversed with him at times, and eyed him well as he was seated next to me, and opposite the King, telling his beads the whole