We make the following extracts from a private letter dated No. 1 Visitors' Cump, Coronation Durbar, Delhi, 3rd January, 190% sitting down to write you one Tine about the Durbar. It is really almost too much to describe. The organisation of the whole thing is perfectly wonderful. The procession of the first day was a mar-vell.-us sight, and the effect of the elephants with their elaborate howdahs and trappings was perfectly gorgeous. The scene, too, in the amphitheatre at the proclamation was marvellous. About forty thousand troops, I believe, took part, and there was not a hitch from beginning to end.
Lord Curzon made an excellent speech. The crowd of people from home in their smartest Paris dresses looked perfectly dowdy by the side of all the native Rajahs, who were simply smothered in jewellery and gorgeous apparel. A massed band of one thousand men supplied the music, and they also play nearly every-day on che Polo ground, where there isa match every day, and where all the world meets in the afternoon.
"The only drawback is the appalling ro wd of carriages going and coming from very function," One wonders if one will ver g oh away again of the whole show.
wonder what will happen when the bill comes in! The expense of laying down all the roads, and lighting the whole place with electric light, must alone be perfectly terrific The " China Mail " prints the following extract describing the Delhi Durbar Re-! view The march past of the Infantry Brigades was admirably executed, massed band relieving massed band with marvellous precision, and the distances were preserved he throughout and the twenty-three thousand men got by in less than an hour. As the last Regiment passed down the field an army of bhistis were seen watering the great space in front of the assemblage, and whan a minute later the Artillery and the Cavalry came past at a trot, regiment following regiment in close succession, the need of this precaution became evident. As it was, the view was partially obscured by dust, and the accuracy und smartness with which the subsequent dramatic movements were performed could be witnessed The first was a charge of a column of the Division, the whole cavalry force advancing at a gallop in three surging lines from the front and wheeling to the Fight and left. the saluting point was reached. A thunderous charge similarly executed by the Royal Horse Artillery Batteries fall and meanwhile the six thousand Cavalry swept round into the darkness of the dust cloud raised by the guns. Five minutes later the Mounted Force was thrown in close formation in one magnificent effort together at full gallop toward the saluting point. Regiment beside regiment, there came spears flashii through the dust in one vast. onset, to be checked by the trumpet blast as they neared the point where the Viceroy, the Dake, and Lord Kitchener sat on their horses awaiting them. The spectacle was stupendous and awe-inspiring, and it will be long before the memory of it will fade from the minds of the Chiefs and Englishmen who saw it. It appears that it was designed and arranged personally by Lord Kitchener, who has entered into the spirit of this great demonstration with an energy less only than that which he displayed inthe Soudan and in South Africa. As a sight the charge has never been equalled in India is a physical demonstration of mi of paramount Riser, it was overwhelmingly convincing, With its completion the review terminated, the Viceroy and the Duke riding off the field to the sound of God save the King" and the thunder of the saluting guns, the blue and white clad Imperial Cadets, wheeling in behind the scarlet of the Viceregal bodyguard, bringing up the rear.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.