2-981-781 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Reception of the Prince at Kandy, Ceylon, 1876. The future King Edward VII meets locals. '...the great Kandyan chiefs...were marvels to behold, and their costume was at once the most singular and gorgeous I have ever beheld. Upon their heads they wore pincushion-shaped hats of about eighteen inches square...Upon the top were ornaments in a style which, for want of a better name, I should call Chinese...The jackets were made of superbly rich and stiff brocaded silk. These jackets were made to rise and stick sharply out at each shoulder, exactly as I have seen in certain specimens of old armour...the lower garments...consisted of masses of muslin folds...In the bulge in front were stuck two or three daggers...Upon their fingers were rings with an immense amount of jewels'. From "Illustrated London News", 1876.