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474 ADVENTURES IN TIBET.
In Lahore I said good-bye to my old rags, and got a com-
pletely new rig-out from top to toe. Delhi, Agra, Lucknow,
Benares ! Wonderful cities that ye are, how gladly
would I not see you again, for all too short was the
stay I made on your historic scenes ! At Benares I went
on the river, and witnessed the thousands of pilgrims
crowding on the quays and terraced steps, and bathing
in the holy water at sunrise, in the hope to recover health
and strength. Shagdur was amazed at everything he
saw. One day in Lucknow, I obtained permission to stop
an elephant, that I might feed him with sugar-cane,
because my honest Cossack would persist in believing
that elephants were machines, somehow or other related
to the locomotive and the steamboat.
I reached Calcutta on the morning of the 25th January,
and was met at the station by a vice-regal carriage, with
four servants in scarlet and gold liv^eries, and tall white
turbans. Another vehicle took charge of Shagdur and
the luggage. We drove direct to Government House,
where I was assigned rooms on the second floor. My
bedroom had a separate balcony, shaded by an immense
awning and perfumed by the palms in the park. From
it I enjoyed a magnificent view of Calcutta, and beyond it
right away to the jungles of the Hughli Delta. At night
the vice-regal palace was simply a blaze of electric light.
Two carriages were placed at my absolute disposal. Then
a steam-launch carried me up the river to Barrackpur,
where Lord Curzon generally spends the week-end with
his family. The vice-regal dwelling at Barrackpur is
beautifully smothered in greenery. Lord Curzon greeted
me with all the warmth and cordiality of an old friend,
and he introduced me to his charming wife. For ten days
I enjoyed the delights of their hospitality, days which flew
past all too rapidly, and which I count amongst my hap-
piest and most valued recollections. At Government
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