I considered it a rare privilege to pass a night in a place of such holiness, and availing myself of the opportunity I spent the best part of the night in lighting up the butter-lamp and holding a service in memory of my father and friends, who had died at home during my absence. The next morning I saw the sun rising from the snows and felt the emotions which are embodied in the following uta.
In Japan was I born, my native land
Of cherry flowers fair, the cheerful home
Of birds e’er singing their melodious songs.
It is for this am I inspired to sing
Of that bright light reflected from the snows?
That afternoon at one o’ clock, accompanied by my friend, I called on His Excellency Bheem Shamsher, the Commander-in-Chief of Nepāl. We were shown into the reception hall in the second floor of the building, in which I found fourteen or fifteen chairs of Western style, while the upper half of the floor was covered over with a rectangular piece of thick Nepālese carpet, with a layer of white cloth over it. On the walls of the room I noticed a number of pictures in occidental frames. Trifling as these details may appear, I mention them here, because the use side by side of native and western articles indicates the general features of the national policy of Nepāl.
THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF NEPAL, H. E. BHIM SHAMSIR.