The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1904-11-11

come from these metal-shod horns of
the artillery cattle.
While the Maharajah has the Eastern
tendency for gorgeous coloring and for
war. morally he Is beyond reproach from
even he most puritan of Western peo-
pie. He has no harem. although British
prejudice has always yielded to the fan
cies of Indian monarchs in the matter
OF wives. few or many. Consequently,
tne mystery of the steel gratings over
the narem Is lacking In Baroda, and the
prince mas but one wife, and is credited
as loyal husband and affectionate
father to the two children who occupy
the woman's section of the Baroda royal
residence.
However. the Rajah comes from an
eccentric family His predecessor on
the Baroda throne was his uncle Canda
Hao. who went mad with the lust of
power and extravaganza. Two millions
or dollars were spent by this mad poten-
tate on the wedding of his two favorite
pigeons. To celebrate The nuptials of
these two birds Canda Rao spent this
fabulous sum in elephant hunts, COM
bats between tigers and rhinoeeroses and
dancing contests between famous nautch
girls. During the week of festivities the
two pigeons were attached to the I'm
menss turban of Canda Rao by heavy
gold chains and spent their aerial honey
moon nesting In the folds of the royal
turban. He collected a hundred thou
sand pigeons and finally had a royal
battle between these birds and turned
the survivors loose. Then he collected
the most loathsome beggars in India,
but, firing of them one day, he drove
thousands of these falkirS out of his
Kingdom. At last Canda Rao commit
ted the objectionable sin in his part of
the world-he conspired against the Brit
ish resident Colonel Thayer. and tried
to poison him with diamond dust and
strychnine. Then Canda Rao disap-
peared and the present rajah turned up
over night as the imperishable ruler of
Baroda, where he will remain so long
as he keeps his royal head away from
the paws of the British Lion.
THE RAJAH WAS EDUCATED IN
ENGLAND.
But Sayaji Roo is an enlightened man,
as Indian princes go. He was educated
in England and spent several years at
Oxford University, where he made fair
progress in his studies. Baroda has
ssres %o tes nbg pgPc
the subjects of this maharajah of Ba-
roda are as well ruled as half the people
on. the face of the globe. He CATS his
edifiee of granite and marble is not ex-
celled by half dozen palaces in Europe.
His bedroom is simple and he has
huge lavatory with a swimming tank
leading off from his chamber But the
remainder of the palace is fitted up with
marvellous .splendor The long corridors
and onyx of incalculable value The
palace is steam-heated and electric ele-
vators are placed at frequent intervals.
ported from Europe and worth hundreds
of millions of dollars. are scattered
throughout the royal dwelling.
Thu 70 T11flU IF tha Vol a 10
of his son and heir. lad of 10 years OF
age. who rides an American bicycle
through these ,onyx-lined corridors, and
splendidly educated and for whose hand
every indian prince is anxiously seek
ing: The wife OF the. prince is modest
collection of Jewels in the world. beside
which those gems owned by the New
port colonists are trtfing matters.
chamber. guarded night and day BY
household troops of the Rajah.. The
most, famous d. d!a M md necklace in the
nut nut. Is there. 4 collaret consisting
OF 800 diamonds Of the purest water and
by the Maharanee. In this collaret no
stone less than 20 karats is shown; EN-
eralds equally oS large sna set t., on each
famous "Star of the South" diamond
the fourth in size in the world hangs
from this DlaZlnE collar or pure wbfta
stones Several >hundred pearls form
another collaret second only In value to
the diamond collar. Rubies. emeralds.
sapphires are made into bracelets or
for the toes. which were worn by the
predecessors of the Maharanee. Even
nose rings OF, diamonds were there. In
fact. this collection Of Jewels is worth
as much as those OF all the reignin9
monarchs of Europe. although the Or1off
diamond belonging to the Russian En-
ay11 70 Of DATA 1T.
crown. are larger in size.
In this palace Is the most wonderful
carpet in the. world. IT is four square
wards in surface. and Is made up en-
tirely of ropes of fine diamonds. pearls
and rubies woven into a regular warp
and wool. 1t required s4.0o0.oo0 worth OF
precious stones and three years labor to
produce. and 1t once adorned the sleeping
apaI tment OF a favorite slave of Canda
Rao.
palace of the Raiah of Baroda is thrust
away one Of the worlds real marvels.
something that today could not he du-
nlicated for $1,000. 000-five millions tied
up I'm four paltry square yards of the
most wonderful web that human hands
have ever woven. No other such accu-
mutation of riches in the history of the
world could possibly have equaled this
absolute barbaric congestion of bulk
gold and silver. diamonds, rubies and
sapphires and every other known pre-
cious stone which mas gradually ac-
hers of this raiah. Protected of neces-
sitv nv the British from outside rob-
herv and prevented by popular super
stition and traditional affection for
these treasures on the part Of the popu-
lace from ever disposng or this I'M
eona,ed treasure, the Maharajah re-
semhles in more ways than one the
fehied Midas within whose grasp each
article of life changed into gittering
but useless gold.
It would not be too much to say that
the future of this tremendous treasure
m9y yet affect the fnan mnad m nn s,1 o.
d dem into the available gold supply. its
;r,f,nancs would extend into the very
furthest recesses Of modern finance and
,,tterlv unappreciated by the Maharajah.
venerated BY the millions of his sub
ieots and no doubt carefully watched by
!s~,-..-i af~na 4if.srr f48sf eerfrt und
stringsnf order from the British East
TrIfor 0dica-