Page:Wanderings of a Pilgrim Vol 1.djvu/543

 CHAPTER XXXVIII.

THE CHĀOTREE.

"ONE SNAKE HAS BIT THEM ALL ."

"THE PRINCESS HAS GROWN FOOLISH, SHE PELTS HER OWN RELATIONS WITH SWEETMEATS, OTHERS WITH STONES ."

" (thorn apple) ."

i. e. the people are all gone mad.

The Chāotree—Timūrian Dance—Churees—Finale of the Wedding—Jhanee Khanum—The Zenāna Doll—Jealousy of the Natives—Meals of the Slave Girls—Tara the pretty Slave—Conduct of English Ladies considered extra-*ordinary—Poppy-heads—Devotion of Native Women to their Husbands—Illness of Colonel Gardner—Burial-ground of the Family—My Departure—Death of Colonel Gardner, and of his Begam—Orders of Knighthood—Remarks on the Muhammadān Religion and the Punishments of the Grave.

1835, April 2nd.—The chāotree was to be played this day, it being the finale of the wedding. When the Prince and Shubbeah arrived at Khāsgunge they came into the zenāna, and were seated on the gaddī; a large number of trays, containing fruits and vegetables of every description, fresh from the garden, were placed before them, with sugar, &c. Shubbeah had divested herself of her bridal attire, and wore the peshwāz, the court dress of Delhi, which was made of Benares tissue of gold and silver, and she wore all her jewels. Nine fruits of different sorts were wrapped in a cloth, and suspended round her waist by her attendants; it had a curious effect, because the whole