He said to my wife: 'Lady Roberts, when are the Russians coming?
I wish they would make haste.

We have 40,000 soldiers in Nepal ready for war, and there is no one to fight!' The next day a grand durbar was held, at which the King (the Maharaja Dhiraj, as he is called) presided; he was an unusually handsome lad of about eighteen years of age, fairer than most Nepalese, and very refined looking.

As on all previous occasions, everyone wore uniform except the King, who had on a perfectly plain dress of spotless white.
Great deference is outwardly paid to the Dhiraj, but he has no power, and is never consulted in matters of State, being considered too sacred to be troubled with mundane affairs.

Although a mere boy, he had four wives, two of them daughters of the Maharaja Bir Shamsher Jung.
After the durbar, I was shown over the principal school and hospital; both appeared to be well conducted, and evidently no expense was spared upon them.

I was then taken to a magazine, in which were a number of guns of various calibre and any amount of ammunition.