Ajmere is the headquarters of one of the greatest railways in India, with extensive shops, employing several thousand natives and Europeans.  The chief machinists, master mechanics and engineers are almost exclusively Scotchmen.

In this province may be found an excellent illustration of the effect of the policy of the British government toward the native princes.  It had good material to work with, because the twenty independent Rajput princes are a fine set of men, all of whom trace their descent to the sun or the moon or to one of the planets, and whose ancestors have ruled for ages.  Each family has a genealogical tree, with roots firmly implanted in mythology, and from the day when the ears of their infants begin to distinguish the difference in sounds, and their tongues begin to frame thoughts in words, every Rajput prince is taught the tables of his descent, which read like those in the Old Testament, and the names of his illustrious ancestors.  Attached to each noble household is a chronicler or bard, whose business is to keep the family record straight, and to chant the epics that relate the achievements of the clan.  As I have said, all the Rajput families are related and belong to the same caste, which has prevented them from diluting their blood by marriage with inferior families.  It is his blood, and not the amount of his wealth or the extent of his lands, that ennobles a Rajput.  Many of the noblest families are very poor, but the poorest retains the knowledge and the pride of his ancestors, which are often his only inheritance.

These characteristics and other social and religious customs make Rajputana one of the most romantic and fascinating spots in India, and perhaps there is no more interesting place to study the social, political and economical development of a people who once held that only two professions could be followed by a gentleman—­war and government.  But their ancient traditions have been thoroughly revised and modified to meet modern ideas.  They have advanced in prosperity and civilization more rapidly than any other of the native states.  Infanticide of girl babies was formerly considered lawful and generally practiced among them, and widows were always burned alive upon the funeral pyres of their husbands, but now the Rajput princes are building hospitals and asylums for women instead, bringing women doctors from Europe to look after the wives and daughters in their harems, and are founding schools for the education of girls.

[Illustration:  Tomb of Etmah-Dowlah—­Agra]

About three miles from the center of Ajmere is Mayo College, for the exclusive education of Rajput princes, and erected by them.  The center building, of white marble, is surrounded by villas and cottages erected for the accommodation of the members of the princely families who are sent there.  The villas are all of pure Hindu architecture, and there has been considerable rivalry among the different families