A town, or rather a fortress in a
fortress, as it is surrounded by immense fortified walls, which
command the town as well as the country round it; many large and
small buildings are enclosed within these walls, but do not present
anything remarkable beyond their handsome halls. Had the resident
been in Kottah I should have been presented to the king, but as it
was not etiquette in his absence, I was compelled to put up with my
disappointment.
From the town we proceeded to Armornevas, one of the neighbouring
palaces of the king's. The road to it was indescribably bad, full
of rocks and large stones. I was astonished to see with what
dexterity our elephant set his plump feet between them, and
travelled on as quickly as if he was going over the levellest road.
When I expressed my surprise to Dr. Rolland that the king should not
have a good road made to his residence, which he so often visited,
he informed me that it was a maxim with all Indian monarchs not to
make roads, for, according to their opinion, in case of a war, they
offered too great facilities to the invasion of the enemy.
The castle is small and unimportant. It lies on the river Chumbal,
which has here hollowed out for itself a remarkably deep bed in the
rock. Picturesque ravines and groups of rock form its shores.
The garden of the castle is so thickly planted with orange, citron,
and other trees, that there is not room for even the smallest
flowering plant or shrub.
The few flowers which the Indian gardens contain, are placed at the
entrances. The paths are raised two feet, as the ground is always
muddy and damp in consequence of the frequent watering. Most of the
Indian gardens which I afterwards saw resembled these.
The king frequently amuses himself here with tiger-hunting.
Somewhat higher up the river small towers are erected upon slight
eminences; the tigers are driven gradually towards the water, and
always more and more hemmed in, until they are within shot of the
towers; the king and his friends sit securely upon the tops of the
towers, and fire bravely upon the wild beasts.
Near the castle was a small wooden temple, which had just been
built; the principal part, however, the amiable idols, was awanting.
It was owing to this fortunate circumstance that we were allowed to
enter the sanctuary, which consisted of a small marble kiosk
standing in the centre of the hall. The temple and the columns were
covered with bad paintings in the most brilliant colours. It is
strange that neither the Hindoos nor the Mahometans should have
applied themselves to painting, for there are neither good pictures
nor drawings to be seen among any of these people, although they
have displayed such proficiency in architecture, carving in relief,
and in mosaic work.
