Perhaps some of the most successful entertainments at Belvedere of late years have been the garden-parties held in the afternoon, to which the native nobility and the most influential and wealthy among the Hindoos, Mahomedans, Parsees, Moguls, Burmese, and every other Eastern nationality are invited, in common with all the English ladies and gentlemen of Calcutta. The mixture of Oriental and European costume produces the happiest effect, and exhibits a picturesque scene which could hardly be matched elsewhere. Native gentlemen are rather shy and sensitive, and are always more or less afraid, especially inside a house, of compromising themselves or being somehow compromised, owing to the machinations of the native servants, by contact with some European arrangements of cooking, or other things which are objectionable according to their ideas. But in an open-air garden-party they can wander about without any fear of meeting anything that may be offensive to their caste prejudices. It is much to be regretted that, however well-acquainted he may think himself to be with native habits and feelings, it is almost impossible for an English gentleman to be quite sure that there may not be something in his entertainment for the gratification of native gentlemen which, thanks probably to his own servants, may not be misinterpreted or misunderstood by some of them. But, be this as it may, it is rather difficult for the most fastidious native gentleman to take offence when walking up and down the smooth lawns at Belvedere; and if he diverts his course to seek the tea-tables or the other refreshment tents, he can hardly have anyone but himself to blame. It is very seldom that a Hindoo gentleman takes any refreshment, but some of the Mahomedans occasionally indulge in an ice or a cup of tea. It is very unusual for any native ladies to appear at these garden-parties. There are a few Christian convert ladies who come to them, wearing a sort of English costume, which is, unfortunately, not very becoming to them. Some of the native gentlemen bring their pretty grand-children with them, as has been mentioned in the previous chapter. But the time has not yet come for a native gentleman to bring his wife out on such occasions, although it is noticeable that a native gentleman is usually very willing to be introduced to the English ladies and to shake hands with them. The native gentlemen attach much importance to the shaking of hands, though it is a custom not originally recognised under their own native codes of etiquette. The time is by no means remote when more than one native nobleman of high caste used promptly to wash his hands after shaking hands with an English gentleman, one of his retinue carrying a gold basin and a supply of water to enable his master to get rid of the pollution of the touch of the white man’s hand. But we have been informed that one of the last native noblemen who adopted this