1 20 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
depth from the top of the circular wall to the water per- 
haps between sixty and seventy. In very dry seasons 
the water subsides considerably ; but when the rain 
has been extremely abundant,, this, so it is said, some- 
times reaches nearly to the top. Such a casualty, 
however, rarely occurs, if it ever did occur ; for the fact 
does not appear to be by any means well authenticated, 
and little trust is to be placed in Hindoo statements, 
whether these be of recent events or of such as are 
based upon the still more doubtful authority of tradition. 
The well was built by Akbar for the benefit of his 
Hindoo subjects, to whose comforts, with a liberal and 
wise policy, he was ever careful to administer. Upon 
the summit, several yards from the brink, there is a 
handsome pavilion built in the peculiar style of the 
period. It is a hexagon, composed of two stories, the 
last surmounted by a small dome, from which a grace- 
ful culice rises, forming an elegant finish to the struc- 
ture. There are flights of steps all round the well, 
one side being hewn from the solid rock ; and here the 
stairs are cut at irregular intervals, so that the water 
may be reached with the most perfect convenience 
at all heights. Near the bottom is a terrace, 
under which there appears to be a chamber, two 
small windows looking out upon the water, which 
would seem to show that the spring never rises 
above its ordinary >level. Over the terrace are en- 
trances apparently to two other chambers, hollowed 
out of the living stone, the lower entrance probably 
affording egress to the upper plain. These excavations 
were most likely made by the Hindoos since the well 
was constructed, perhaps for the purpose of performing 
