A regimental feu de joie at a north Indian hill station, c 1900

 A very good, clear photograph, approx 11 x 8 ins, showing a regiment firing a feu de joie, some smoke drifting above the ranks of soldiers who will have fired in quick succession to create a ripple of sound, The photograph is pasted to old card and there are marks on the card where it has once been in a window mount. There is a scratch map on the right edge, just above the end of the line of soldiers. It remains to be decided which hill station this is but it is certainly one with large military barracks, possibly around Dalhousie. The precise occasion for this elaborate celebratory firing by such a large unit must have been something very important – a royal birthday, a durbar, or similar.       jun27/2