Page 211 - The Pirate Coast (By Sir Charles Belgrave)

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which was ‘created' by Lord Wellesley for ‘rural privacy’, as ‘a
specimen of architecture that has scarcely any claims to excellence’.
Soon after Loch's arrival, he and his cousin were invited to
Barrackporc by the Governor-General, the Marquis of Hastings,
who has been described as ‘tall, upstanding, strong and athletic,
with thick, black whiskers’. He was said to be ‘the ugliest man
in England, but this was balanced by his genial, affable manner’.
‘It is impossible’, said Loch, ‘to give an adequate description of
how much the park at Barrackporc struck me.’ He describes ‘the
magnificent grandeur of the enormous, stately trees, the neatness
with which the grounds were kept, the smooth roads and the sight
of the great river sweeping past the grounds’. The house was
not very large and Loch compared it, in size, to Lord Sidmouth’s
house in Richmond Park, ‘though different in appearance and
architecture’. Surrounding the main house were a number of
bungalows for the accommodation of visitors, ‘giving somewhat
the appearance of a beautiful little village of neat thatched cottages.
There is also a banquetting room, built in the form of a Grecian
temple, which appears to have been done with remarkable taste.
Not far distance from the house, is an extensive Menagerie and
Aviary. It is an interesting sight to observe, each morning, the
tamest of these animals and birds driven out before the sun be­
comes too hot for them.’ The procession of beasts and birds, led
by keepers, used to emerge in pairs. They included cheetahs,
wild asses, storks, pelicans, camcleopards (giraffes), Adjutant birds
and Secretary birds. ‘It brought forcibly to my mind, Raphael’s
representation of the coming out from the Ark.’
On the morning after their arrival at Barrackporc the Governor-
General with Admiral Sir Henry Blackwood the Naval Com-
mander-in-Chicf, drove up in a carriage and four a little before
daylight. ‘We had, the evening before, been informed by the
Marquis of Hastings that he had ordered his elephants to be ready
so that there might be a search for wild boar.’ Loch and Adam
drove in the carriage with Hastings and the Admiral through the
park, and then out into the jungle till they reached the place where
the elephants were drawn up in a line. ‘I had never before in my
life seen so many of these huge sagacious creatures collected to­
gether, caparisoned and ready for a hunt, but I was determined not
to let the natives sec my real feelings of wonder, from the dread
of being ridiculed as “a Johnny Newcome”.’
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