6p HINDOO STAN. 



when its tribute or quit-rent of 24 lacks of rupees was transferred to 

 the Engiish. 



Allahabad, in the province of the same name, is situate at the con- 

 flux of the Ganges and the Jumna, where the waters of the former 

 river, which are every where held sacred, are thought to be peculi- 

 arly sanctified ; whence the city has received the name of Allahabad, 

 or the City of God. It belongs to the nabob of Oude, and contains a 

 spacious fort, and several magnificent structures. At a little distance, 

 to the south-west, are the diamond mines of Penna, in the small de« 

 tached province of Bundelcund. 



Lucknow, which is the present capital of Oude, having superseded 

 Fyzabad, is extensive, but meanly built. The houses are chiefly mud 

 walls, covered with thatch, and many consist entirely of mats and 

 bamboos, and are thatched with leaves of the cocoa-nut, palm-tree, 

 and sometimes with straw. The palace of the nabob stands on a high 

 bank near the river, and commands an extensive view both of the 

 Goomty and the country on the eastern side. Fyzabad is of great ex- 

 tent, and appears to contain a great number of people, but they are 

 chiefly of the lowest class ; for the court being removed to Lucknow, 

 drew after it the great men, and the most eminent of the merchants, 

 bankers, and shroffs, or money-changers. Nearly adjoining to 

 Fyzabad are the remains of the very ancient city of Oude, which is 

 said to have been the first imperial city of Hindoostan, and capital of 

 a great empire twelve hundred years before the Christian aera ; but 

 whatever was its former magnificence, no traces of it now remain. It 

 is considered as a holy place, and the Hindoos frequently come thither 

 on pilgrimage from every part of India. 



Agra, situate on the south side of the river Jumna, was made the 

 capital of the Mogul empire by the emperor Acbar, about the year 

 1566, and named from him Acbarabad. It was then a small fortified 

 town, but soon became one of the largest and most celebrated cities 

 of Hindoostan, being fourteen miles in circumference, regularly for- 

 tified in the Indian manner, with a fine citadel, and containing many 

 magnificent palaces ; but after the removal of the capital of the em- 

 pire to Delhi, by Shah Jehan, the grandson of Acbar, it rapidly declin- 

 ed. To the south-east of the city of Agra is a beautiful monument, 

 raised • by the emperor Sliah Jehan, for his beloved wife Tajemahel, 

 whose name it bears. When this building is viewed from the oppo- 

 site side of the river, it possesses a degree of beauty, from the ex- 

 cellence ol the materials, and the perfection of the workmanship, 

 which is only surpassed by its grandeur, extent, and general mag- 

 nificence. 



Delhi, or Shahjehanabad, the capital of the province of Delhi, is 

 likewise the nominal capital of all Hindoostan, and was the real 

 one, from 1647, when Shah Jehan made it his residence to avoid the 

 heats of Agra, till the present dissolution of the empire. It is said to 

 be a city of great antiquity, and that its ancient name was Inderput. 

 It is situate on the Jumna, 117 miles to the north-west of Agra. It is 

 about seven miles in circumference, and is surrounded on three sides 

 by a wail of brick and stone, and has seven gates built of free-stone. 

 Though this city may be said to be now in ruins, it contains above 

 forty mosques, the principal of which is very magnificent, and the re- 

 mains of many noble and splendid palaces, with baths of marble. The 

 gardens of Shalimar, laid out by order of the emperor Shah Jehan, 

 though not more than a mile in circumference, are said to have cost 



