An account of the procession on these occasions may be interesting to my readers, though no description can give an adequate idea of its imposing appearance.  I have witnessed the Buckrah Eade celebrations at Lucknow, where expense and good taste are neither wanted nor spared, to do honour to the great occasion.

The several persons forming the King’s suite, whether nobles or menials, together with the military, both horse and foot, are all dressed in their best apparel.  The elephants have undergone a thorough cleansing in the river, their hides have been well oiled, which gives a jetty hue to the surface, and their heads painted with bright colours, according to the fancy of their keepers; their housings and trappings are the most costly and brilliant the possessors can procure, some with gold, others with silver howdahs (seats), and draperies of velvet or fine cloth embroidered and fringed with gold.

The horses of individuals, and those of the irregular troops, are, on this occasion, caparisoned with embroidered horsecloths and silver ornaments, necklaces of silver or gold; or in the absence of these costly adornings, the less affluent substitute large coloured beads and tufts of variegated silk on their horses’ necks.  Many of the horses have stars and crescents painted upon the chest and haunches:  the tail and mane are dyed red with mayndhie.[3]

The procession is formed in the following order:  Fifty camels, in pairs, carrying swivels, and each attended by two gunners and a camel-driver; the men dressed in clean white dresses, with turbans and sashes of red and green:  the trappings of the camel are composed of broadcloth of the same colours.  Next to these is a park of artillery, the men in new regimentals of blue, faced with red and yellow lace.  Two troops of horse soldiers, in new regimentals, scarlet cloth unrurkas[4] (coats) and white trousers, with high-crowned caps of lambskin, similar to the Persian caps:  these horsemen have black belts, and are armed with pistols in the holsters, a sabre and lance.

Then follows a regiment of nujeebs[5] (foot soldiers), their jackets red, with small cap turban of black leather ornamented with the kirrich[6] or dirk (part of the armorial bearings of the House of Oude):  their trousers reach no lower than the hams, where they are ornamented with black points turning upwards on the white, leaving the thighs and legs perfectly bare.  The dunkah[7] (kettle drums) on a horse, richly ornamented with scarlet cloth drapery, embroidered and fringed with gold, the rider dressed in scarlet and gold, with a turban to correspond, both being ornamented with the royal insignia,—­a fish.[8]