"This is the famous throne which Tamerlane began and Shah Jahan finished, which is really reported to have cost a hundred and sixty million five hundred thousand livres of our money [thirty-two million one hundred thousand dollars]."
The famous and beautiful Cashmere shawls are made in the province north of here, and are mostly sold in this city, where there are many storehouses filled with them. It is said that it takes the labor of two men a year to make one of these shawls of moderate size.
Wishing to purchase, I went to one of the largest establishments accompanied by three friends. The merchant showed me a book in which were written recommendations of his goods by Gen. U. S. Grant and Col. Fred. Grant, and among them was one written in German, which was translated by my friend from Vienna as follows: "I have bought shawls of this man, and think I got them cheap, but do not offer him a third of what he asks." We spent much time looking at a great variety of the shawls, and finally, aided by the excellent taste of my friends, Mr. Norris of Baltimore, Mr. Kolish of Vienna, and Mr. Jackson of Manchester, I selected two, which I thought very beautiful, and asked the price. The merchant consulted two or three of his sharp, bright-eyed clerks in their own language and said: "I have not sold a shawl to your party; I sell you very, very cheap; you may have those beautiful shawls for 1,400 rupees." Having in mind the German gentleman's remarks, I said, "No; the price is absurd; let us go," and we started out. Then the merchant followed saying, "Don't go; make me an offer," and I said, "I will give you 400 rupees for both shawls." Greatly to my astonishment he replied, "Take them; I will send to your hotel." Fearing a substitution or some other trick I said: "No; hand them to me, if you please. Here are 100 rupees, and you may come to the hotel and get the balance." To this he agreed and the purchase was made.
[CHAPTER XXIII.]
JEYPORE.
Jeypore, January 25, 1890.
OUR party arrived here on the 23d instant, and permission was obtained from the Rajah, who has the reputation of being the most enlightened ruler in India, to visit his palaces and grounds; and very magnificent we found them. The palace was very large, and fitted up in a costly manner. We were admitted everywhere, except to a big building occupied by his three hundred wives. We then went to see fifty elephants in different places, each tied by the legs; and then we visited the tiger cages, a dozen of them, each containing a savage fellow. We then went to the stables and saw four hundred blooded horses from all parts of the world. The custodian in charge of the stable said that if I wanted to hunt tigers the Rajah would be pleased to loan me a horse, and I would be sure to find a tiger from two to six miles from the city wall. The Rajah was good enough to loan us four of his biggest elephants, and in the afternoon we sent them outside the city wall with a photographer. We followed in a carriage and had photographs taken, and afterwards mounted the elephants, four on each, and rode two miles farther to a country palace of the Rajah, and to the ruins of an ancient city, where were formerly great castles, reminding one of Germany and the Rhine. We spent an hour looking over the castle, which is very costly and splendid. On the road and around the palace we were amused by the antics of numerous monkeys and the beauty of flocks of peacocks running wild all over, the screaming of parrots, etc. We then mounted our elephants to return. The one I was on looked as large as Jumbo. Meanwhile my friend, Mr. Jackson of Manchester, who is a great walker and dislikes the motion of the elephant, had ten minutes before started to walk to the carriages, a distance of two miles. He had nearly reached them, when he met a lady and gentleman, who proved to be an English doctor and his wife. They bowed and said "Good-day," but had not passed on ten paces before they came running back. The doctor took hold of Jackson and said, "Look on top of the wall!" (a stone wall laid in cement five feet high). "And so you went within two yards of yonder tiger!" Jackson looked and saw the big head and paws of a large tiger resting on top of the wall, and then he ran away toward the carriages. Meanwhile, Mr. Kolish, who was on the elephant ahead, had seen the tiger in the field, and shouted to me to look at him, but he went away very quickly, and I saw nothing but a movement in the brush. All this took place before we knew Mr. Jackson had seen the beast. There were six natives with each elephant, and they were much excited and said the tiger must be very hungry, as one seldom came so near the city, and he would most likely get a kid or a man before morning.
