taste, as well as of the architectural powers still existing in this
remarkable race.

The town proper of Bhopal is enclosed by a much--decayed wall of
masonry some two miles in circuit, within which is a fort, similar
both in its condition and material to the wall. Outside these limits
is a large commercial quarter (_gunge_). The beautiful lake running
off past the town to the south is said to be artificial in its origin,
and to have been produced at the instance of Bho Pal, the minister
of King Bohoje, as long ago as the sixth century, by damming up the
waters of the Bess (or Besali) River, for the purpose of converting an
arid section into fertile land. It is still called the Bhopal Tal.

[Illustration: A NAUTCH-GIRL (OR BAYADÈRE) OF ULWUR.]

If this were a ponderous folio of travels, one could detail the
pleasures and polite attentions of one's Bhopalese host; of the social
_utter-pán_; of the sprinklings with rose-water; of the dreamy talks
over fragrant hookahs; of the wanderings among bazaars filled with
moving crowds of people hailing from all the ports that lie between
Persia and the Góndwana; of the _fêtes_ where the nautch-girl of
Baroda contended in graceful emulation with the nautch-girl of Ulwur,
and the cathacks (or male dancers) with both; of elegantly-perfumed
Bhopalese young men; of the palaces of nobles guarded by soldiers
whose accoutrements ranged from the musket to the morion; of the
Moharum, when the Mohammedan celebrates the New Year. But what would
you have? A sketch is a sketch. We have got only to the heart of
India: the head and the whole prodigious eastern side are not yet
reached. It is time one were off for Jhansi.