GA NOETIC HINDOOSTAN. 175 



only repaired and deanfed that part of the canal between the 

 hills and Sufedon, but continued it by a new cut to Delbi^ over 

 the plains of Paniput*. I refer the reader to p. 42 of my firft 

 volume, for the account of the canal in the province oi Labor. 



Sevexty-two miles below Panipiit, on the weft fide of the Delhi. 

 river, ftands the once famed city of BeWi^ in Lat. 28'' 57'. The 

 fpace between the Jumna and the Ganges, as far as their junc- 

 tion at Allahabad, a length of near five hundred mile?, is called 

 the Dooab, a name common to lin:iilar trails : it anfwers to the The Doae. 

 claffical Inter amna and Intcramnatcs. It is pretended that Delbi 

 was built by one Delu three hundred years before Cbrijl\ we First City. 

 will fpeak with more certainty, when we fay from Feri/Jjta, i. 

 156, that it was firft made a royal refidence in the year 1200, by 

 Cuttub ul d'lei^ abiek, who, from the ftate of a flave, raifcd him- 

 felf to the SultanJIoip ; and in that year conquered the province 

 of Delhi, before that time governed by a Rajah. The Ayeen 

 Akberry fays its more antient name was Inderput. The city be- 

 came the capital of the empire, but it rofe or fell to decay ac- 

 cording as it was honored with the prefence of majefty, or de- 

 ferted by the court. Thus we find thofe travellers mention it 

 as a moft miferable and ruinous place, w'ho have happened to 

 vifit it at the time of its defertion. 



It is faid that the prefent Delhi had been preceded by two 

 other cities of this name, near to each other; the firft, as old as 

 the time of Porus. The Indian tradition is, that it had fifty- 

 two gates. The fecond was built by Mirz-a Baber, a defcendant Second. 



••Confult the Ayeen, ii. p. 107. Dow's Feriihta, i. 366, and Mr. Rennel, p. p. 72, 73. 



of 



