Evening star., 1899-03-11
NAVVAB OF BAHAWALPUR
He is One Of the Native Princes of the
Indian Empire.
An Absolute Monarch, Who Has Many
Lacs of Rupees at His
Disposal.
From the Century.

The enormous extent of the empire over
which Lord Curzon, viceroy of India, rules
is Illustrated by an account of one of its
petty divisions, for his highness Sir Zadick
Mohammed Khan Abassie, G. c., S. L.,
Nawab of Bahawalpur, is the great man
OF strip of territory only about 800 by 1eD
miles in size, which forms one of the minor
states of Rajputana. Yet his wealth is
enormous and his surroundings magnifi-
cent
The nawab is a man about thirty-sfx years
old, six feet tall and well proportioned; he
has dark and prominent features, long black
curly hair, beard cut close and very long
dropping mustaches curling into ring at
the ends. He is extremely sensitive has
strong will and constitution of iron and is
intensely suspicious and jealous, the natural
result of his position.
Except on special occasions the nawab
dresses in white muslin trousers, very wide
and baggy, silk or cloth coat and waistcoat
and silk and gold turban. His pockets are
numerous and their contents surprising.
1t is common thing for him to wear two
| or three watches, and very beautiful ones
they are. This does not astOniSh one
much as the fact that he possesses no
less than LOO watches of all descriptions
ana Is constantly purchasing others. He
has also some remarkably fine jewels. His
crown weighs nine pounds and is mass of
diamonds set in silver, with of very
large pear-shaped pearls as pendants
around the base. He has sword the jew
eied scabbard and hilt of which are valued
at s5O0o00. He wears some extraordinary
lubIes and uncut emeralds attached to
chains of rubies and pearls that he wears
as necklace. He has also a set of fifteen
Uncut rubies as large as the largest of the
emeralds. They are historic gems with the
names of the mogul emperors engraved
upon them. They are very irregular in
shape and measure fully one and one-half
inches in diameter.
He is never without a pocketful of gold
mohurs and rupees. gold mohur is
coin that is not in circulation as money.
but 1t is custom among native princes to
present these coins to friends and to re-
ce1Ve them as presents on certain ceremo-
NAL occasions. 1t is of pure gold and varies
IN size ana value from twenty to fifty ru-
pees A rupee is a silver coin about the
size of a 5O-cent piece, but according to the
present rate of exchange is worth only
about 25 cents.
The nowab leads very active but whim-
s!cal life His greatest passion is hunting
consisting OF shooting. pig sticking and
hawking. He is an excellent shot, especial
ly II the game is moving rapidly and
should be afraid to say how MANY wild
boars he has killed, pig sticking being
sport not generally INDUCED in by Mo
hamnedans. He, like most Indian princes
has killed his tiger. He is equally skilled
| In telling a story, and his English, though
slow and measured, is very good From
the time he was five years old he was un-
der an English tutor, appointed by the
At the death of his father. the former
naWab, the whole state passed into the
hands of the British government until the
young nawab, coming of age, was placed
ON the throne and given full powers to
govern his 100000 subjects, together with
several crores of rupees. which had ac-
cumulated in the treasury under the ai-
ministration of the English "a crore is
lo,o0o,oGo rupees, or 100 lacs, a lac being
100000 rupees)
1t is only natural that the young prince
once in possession of his great wealth
should desire to spend it, and the result was
that tour new palaces were built at the
capital of the state, Bahawalpur, and at
an Old town, about thirty miles distant
called Ahmedpur, the former residence of
the nawabs of Bahawalpur since 1927
The nawab has a bodyguard of 400
mounted men, nearly all from Baluchistan
wild, dirty, and most picturesque set and
the best and the most reckless riders have
ever seen He maintains only one squad
ron of cavalry and half a regiment of in
fantry but has 1000 domestic servants
and 300 shikarees. or hunters distributed
over the whole state, whose duty it is to
send news to the nawab when game is
found in their locality, and to keep poach-
| ers from trespassing. He has also sta BILE
| OF $50 Arab, English and Australian horses
and two large river steamers are held in
readiness for six months at time on the
Sutlej, which forms the northern boundary
OF his state for a distance of about 200
miles.
The nawab's present income is about ff-
teen lacs of rupees year. He is an abso-
lutte monarch, holding the power of sign
ing lie or death sentences on criminals
The administration of state affairs is in
the hands of his prime minister and other
officials but no measures can be enacted
without the naWab'S written signature.