THIS DURBAR.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 76412, 13 January 1903, Page 4

THIS DURBAR.

A FORECAST BY SIB EDWIN ARNOLD.

In a recent Daily Telegraph Sir Edwin Arnold thus outlined a foreoast of the proceedings referred to in the cables :—: —

Entering on the ■ southern side, and proceeding by the Queen's road and Lothian road, the Viceroy will pass into the large open- space in front of the great mosque, the J.umma Musjid, the. name of which , may best be translated. ..by our -woxjd— cathedral. It is a huge, square building of stone and., marble, with a light, open wall of carved., arches an<f arcades, and with a wide approach of -stone stairway sweeping up' to the main ' entrance. It will" be high noon when Lord ' Curzon, with his brilliant staff and glittering escort of < horse, foot, and ar'^ijlery, comes, in front** of this famous mosque, the, troops, the regimentar bands, and field guns leading the line, and behind him a body of Imperial cadets, wherein almost- every private r trooper . riding is a- royal prince, and heir, tp .some more or less important throne of ■ some Hindu or Mohammedan dynasty. Under ' the glowing sunshine i which is sure' to, illuminate ' the* mighty ' inarch^-for . at Christmas-time in India there is no, need to be anxious about th 4 weathers-it will diverge into . the Ohadni-Chowk (or Silver street), a,nd down this thorougJifare-rthe -biggest and brightest in Delhi— past the Boyal Palace, where Akbar and Aurungzebe ruled and feasted ; past the little Hindu temple, whence Timur the Tartar ordained and witnessed the massacre of the citizens of Deljhi, to the Mori Gate and Dalhousie Bridge, up to the Ridge, add the vast city of canvas which has; been erected there.

Along all this route, and amid all its Imperial glories, the stateliest item, of pomp will be the two leading elephants which "in a blaze of superb housings and ricthly-decorated . jiowdahs carry the Viceroy and the Dulce and Duchess of Connaught. " These majestic members jof the Vice-regal Staff, old and steady four-footed servants, no doubt, of the Sirdar, will furnish the finest -and most suitable mount which an Eastern potentate could have. With golden trappings hanging down to the (ground, with tusks fitted in golden caps, jewelled frontlets, and loin cloths, jewelled girths and embroidered belly-bands, and grey, wrinkled, aagacious isaei,and picked, out with_ colors by. (each Mahout; aa. as ever jany Court beauty was rouged and finished off by her lady-in-waiting, these huge living thrones will roll along> fully aware of their dignity, and proud of it.

SOME DELHI PLACES, . The Jumma Musjid, from the steps 1 of which the Yiteeroy's 'guests wit-j nessed the pageant, is the ■ great Mo&quo . of Delhi, .built .of:red-.sand-stone and white marble— the : snowy domes marble, thjß needle-like minarets red sandstone. It iB perched, high upon a rock, and is approached by forty steps on three of its sides. Itis the one object -that meets the eye everywhere about Delhi, and is the finest mosque in India, and the chief ; 'shrine- of Twrjifyn Mohammedanism.. I 'Like all great mosques, it is named Jumma .flttiisjid, i.e., the Friday Mosque; Friday be ng the Mohammedan Sabbath. A "huge quadrangle open to,: the sky 45.0 feet Square, a fountain in the middle, for the ablujtipna of the .faithful, a colonnade on three sides, north, south, and east; oi red/ sandstone, with 'open aroihes. jOn -the . west side, towards Mecc*, a .building .open in front, of .white marble, covered with three graceful white marble, domes, surmounted by spires of copper, richly gilt^lts front — with, a majestic opening in the centre and - smaller arches -on either ■side— is all of- white marble , with Arabic inscriptions. The interior.. is ■. paved throughout with' nine hundred immense oblong slabs oi white marble f bordered, with black,^ and in the wall, a* the. centre, is the niche, or JdbWa, towards sacred • 'Mecca, -- where- -prayers are directed. 'At either corner is & minaret one hundred and, forty ieet high, of, white marble ; and red, sand? stone, placed vertically ' ; m alternite' stidpes. Up these the* Muezzifir'goes'tQ /call to prayers, and thcf stimiiut com* Viands a magnificent': viewuV* " '■?-■ . : The Chandni Chav* fort , Chowk), the "Street of Silver," is the; main thoroughfaro of - the more nibclefn portion oi Delhi. " It is" .74: feet '"wide, with a raised shaded footpath running down the' centre," and planted with trees; , _ - .> Of the ru|ing. chiefs. , of India> one; and one only,, who was distinguished as a ruler in 1877, Has survived to be piejßent at' the Durbar* in' 1902, -the Baja i Rajagan Baja ' Hira Singh* G.&O.L, of the Nabha State, iiTthe Punjab. The chiefs of llaidarabad and Baroda were minors then, and the chief of Travanoor^. had just attained \ his majority ; ©very" ,othep SftoUhM&mmg -the*? leading* dftes 'fljfr India wjli be -represented on this occasion by some successor pf the chief

present in 1877. Of the - principal official personages then present, the Viceroy, Lord Lytton, the Governors of Bombay and Madras, and the Commander|B-i_rChief of those presidencies are all gone — Field-Marshal Sir Neville Chamberlain, so intimately connected with the events of 1857, but lately— but the then Com-mander-in-Chief in India, Field-Mar-shal Sir F. P. Haines, still survives, and with him Lord. Hobhouse, Sir John Stracjbey, and Sir A. Arbjuthnot, members of the Viceroy's Council, and Sir -George Couper,. Sir H. Davies, and Sir John Morris 'among the Lieutenant-Governors' and (Chief Commissioners of the day. Earl Roberts was present at the Delhi Imperial Assemblage as QuartermasterGeneral of ..the army .in India ; and Lord Kitchener will be present at the Coronation durbar- as Commander-dn-Chief in India. " "