Indian pictures and problems . of Ganga Singh founded five cen-turies ago, with countless miles of trackless wastebetween their enemies and themselves. In itsfortress palace twenty Maharajahs have subse-quently reigned, and my friend is the twenty-firstin descent from Rao Bika, the King of theDesert. His portrait is, I think, his best introductionanywhere. Tall, soldierly, athletic; keen as alance in work and play; talking English like aBriton, and writing it still better; a good host anda staunch friend—you would at once take GangaSingh for the best type of an English public-school man, and i
Indian pictures and problems . of Ganga Singh founded five cen-turies ago, with countless miles of trackless wastebetween their enemies and themselves. In itsfortress palace twenty Maharajahs have subse-quently reigned, and my friend is the twenty-firstin descent from Rao Bika, the King of theDesert. His portrait is, I think, his best introductionanywhere. Tall, soldierly, athletic; keen as alance in work and play; talking English like aBriton, and writing it still better; a good host anda staunch friend—you would at once take GangaSingh for the best type of an English public-school man, and in ten minutes you would stamphim with the highest seal of your approbation byclassing him as a prince of good fellows. It is now eight years since the Maharajah gothis full powers, at the early age of eighteen. Hehas been splendidly trained for his heavy responsi-bilities, and was peculiarly lucky in the Englishmenwho surrounded him as a boy. He always speaks with especial affection of Mr. Bay ley (now British 34 ^-^ s. \ ^h. *P^^- THE MAHARAJAH OF BIKANIR THE KING OF THE DESERT Representative at Hyderabad), who looked afterhim as a small lad and laid the foundations of hisWestern education; and of Mr, Brian Egerton,who was with him as guardian from the time heleft Mayo College until he became a ruler de need only quote a couple of lines from hismaiden speech in 1896, delivered in proposingthe health of His Excellency the V^iceroy, to showthe spirit in which he intended to approach hisresponsibilities: I stand before you as a boy with all mywork and my trials before me; and it is my mostearnest wish that I should prove myself worthyof the position in which I have been placed. No sooner had Ganga Singh ascended the gadi than his full powers of concentration and initiative as a statesman were put to the test and brilliantly vindicated. In 1899-1900 the rains completely failed, and Bikanir suffered with the rest of India from that terrible famine which is now histor
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