Next followed the English coach, newly covered and richly trimmed, which he had given to his favourite queen, Nourmahal, who sat in the inside.  After this came a coach, made after the fashion of the country, which I thought seemed out of countenance, in which were his younger sons.  This was followed by about twenty spare royal elephants, all for the king’s own use, all so splendidly adorned with precious stones and rich furniture, that they outshone the sun.  Each elephant had several flags and streamers of cloth of silver, gilded sattin, or rich silk.  His noblemen accompanied him on foot, which I did likewise to the gate, and then left him.  His women, who accompanied him on elephants, as before mentioned, seemed like so many parroquitos in cages, and followed about half a mile in the rear of his coach.  On coming to the door of the house in which his eldest son was kept prisoner, he caused the coach to stop, and sent for prince Cuserou; who immediately came and made reverence, having a sword and buckler in his hands, and his beard grown to his middle, in sign of disfavour.  The king now commanded his son to mount one of the spare elephants in the royal train, so that he rode next his father, to the great joy and applause of the multitude, who were now filled with new hopes; and on this occasion, the king gave him 1000 rupees to throw among the people; his gaoler, Asaph Khan, and all the ministers, being still attendant on foot.

To avoid the press and other inconveniences, I took horse and crossed out of the leskar, getting before the king, and then waited for him till he came near his tents, to which he passed all the way from the town between a guard of turreted elephants, having each on the four corners of their howdars a banner of yellow taffety, and a sling[208] mounted in front, carrying a bullet as big as a tennis-ball.  There were about three hundred elephants armed in this manner, each having a gunner; besides about six hundred other elephants of honour, that preceded or followed the king, all covered with velvet or cloth of gold, and all carrying two or three gilded banners.  Many men afoot ran before the king, carrying skins of water with which to sprinkle the road to prevent dust from annoying him; and no one was allowed to approach the coach on horseback by two furlongs.

[Footnote 208:  The sling in the text appears to have been a slung musquetoon, or small cannon, mounted in that manner to avoid recoil.—­E.]

Having gone before a-horseback, as before mentioned, I hastened to the tents, to await the king’s arrival.  The royal encampment was walled round, half a mile in circuit, in form of a fortress, with high screens or curtains of coarse stuff; somewhat like Arras hangings, red on the outside, the inside being divided into panes or compartments, with a variety of figures.  This inclosure had a handsome gateway, and the circuit was formed into various coins and bulwarks, as it were; the posts which supported the curtains being all surmounted with brass tops.  The throng was very great, and I wished to have gone into the enclosure, but no one was allowed, even the greatest of the land having to sit down at the gate.  At length I was admitted, but the Persian ambassador and all the nobles were refused.  At this gate, and for the first time, I was saluted by the Persian ambassador as I passed, by a silent salam.