54 
THE ORIENTAL ANNUAL. 
work, admirably carved into flowers and running pat- 
terns of a purely Eastern character. In one of them 
is a mean marble slab inlaid in the wall, upon which are 
engraved in Persian characters the words, f Izzat alia 
taala Sahadut Ali,’ (To God the Almighty be praise ! 
Sahadut Ali :) without any of the usual string of title 
and attribute. Parts of the structure are freestone 
from Chunar, and other parts are built and ornamented 
with red sandstone which must have been brought from 
Allahabad. The site of the palace is particularly fine 
and commanding ; and from the arcade, the view up 
and down the Ganges is very varied and extensive. Up- 
on a projecting angle of the river bank, it is mounted 
about fifty feet above the stream, upon the top of an 
abrupt precipice, protected by a parapet wall ; below it 
are the remains of other stone buildings and fortifica - 
tions ; but the greater part of the available ground has 
been over run by huts and bazaar hovels, together 
with a few tawdry Hindoo temples painted red and 
white. Many of these which would otherwise prove 
blots in the landscape are rendered highly picturesque 
by overhanging clusters of the feathery bamboo and 
tamarind ; and some of the roofs are thickly covered in 
with a broad-leafed melon -plant, the fruit of which is 
very large and, when ripe, of a deep gold color. All 
that the scene requires is a handsome ghat, or flight 
of steps, leading down to the water-side, in place of the 
obnoxious pits and the burning-places for the dead 
which now occupy the lower part of the bank. 
