OLD DELHI. 
13 
CHAPTER II. 
About a hundred and fifty miles further up the 
river, and near its banks, are the ruins of old Delhi, 
covering an area of nearly twenty miles. Some of 
the buildings yet standing are of remarkable strength 
and beauty, the remains of mausoleums especially. 
Houses still continue entire without, though in 
a state of dilapidation within, which once belonged 
to Patan warriors and princes, and subsequently to 
their Moghul conquerors. Though suffering from the 
effects both of time and accident, they are neverthe- 
less in good preservation, considering the utter neglect 
into which they have fallen for nearly two centuries. 
They have become the temporary abodes of robbers, 
who make them their occasional haunts until their de- 
predations render expedient a hasty retreat to places 
more remote from populous neighbourhoods, and there- 
fore of greater security. 
Some of these buildings exhibit a very singular 
style of architecture, presenting a succession of square 
masses with arched windows, resembling the Saxon 
gothic, and rising like so many state-prisons from the 
plain, over which fragments of magnificent edifices are 
c 
