THE PRINCE'S VISIT TO INDIA.

Evening Star, Issue 4107, 26 April 1876, Page 4

THE PRINCE'S VISIT TO INDIA.

Feats of Horsemanship.

On the 28th of December there was a levee at Government House that was terribly crowded. On the 29th the prince visited Scandia, who did the honors royally, and as the prince took his seat made a salaam with his hands clasped to- § ether before he sat down on his left, f the famous Maharajah Dr Russell says : “He can handle a division of the three arms better than most, and as well as any division general named in ‘Hast.’ As a horseman he is not to be excelled lightness of hand and firmness of seat. He could not, perhaps, go across the country in the first flight at the - very onset, but he can lift a horse to stand on its hind legs so bolt upright that a hair trigger touch on the bit would throw it over on its back; and sitting so balanced to a hair, make it walk on its hind legs iii attitude the maddest equestrian of the circus would not venture to urge his steed to emuiate. He is rough, they say, in speech, but . that his sentiments are noble enough may be inferred from his answer when the Bombay Government desired to buy from him a site for the palace at Gunesh Khind, near Poonah. The land belonged to his father, and Seindia was a native of the place. ‘A man,’ said . he, ‘ does not sell his patrimony ; but he can give it to his friend.’ ” The 30th was a blank day. On the 31st, besides some minor visits, the Prince “assisted at” a grand exhibition of horsemanship by the troopers of the Tenth Native Cavalry. Indian tent-pegs are larger, longer, and stick deeper than those used in tent- " pegging in England. The troopers dashed full gallop and plucked out the pegs, which were replaced a l * fast as they were drawn. Then rupees were put on the tent pegs to be 5,, knocked off by the lance-point without - ‘‘touching the peg. This was done better and • bfteher than the succeeding exercise of cut- . ting or spearing oranges on tent-peg tops. Handkerchiefs were laid on the ground, and the .troopers, riding hard, made swoops at them and missed or caught them up. One ~ to take three in succession in ' the same gallop. There were exhibitions of horsemanship which might be described as of a circus character but for this difference—...the horses were not ridden at a regulation stride, at a skilfully adjusted angle, but • Were ridden boldly about on the hard plain, and.everything .was done by hand, bit, and balance.—‘Times.’