PUBLIC WORKS OF THE TARTARS.

353 time, amidst all their conquests, for works of public utility. Of Feroze Shah we read, that among other undertakings for promoting the prosperity and happiness of his people, he constructed 50 dams across rivers, 30 reservoirs for purposes of irrigation, 40 mosques, 30 colleges, 100 caravanserais for travellers, 100 public baths, and 150 bridges. Besides which, he formed a canal of considerable magnitude-the largest, indeed, at that time in existence-stretching from the Chetang Nala, a tributary of the Sub-Himalayas, from which it derived its supply, into the country west of the Jumna.

To the enterprise of the emperor Akbar, India is indebted for a series of canal-works of greater extent and utility than any previously in existence; he appears to have placed these public works under regularly appointed superintendents called "Chiefs of the Waters," in whose hands were the regulation of the supply, the levying of the rates on the districts irrigated, the maintenance of the embankments, the protection and repairs of sluices and bridges, and all police details in connection with them. Nor was the useful only attended to: the pleasure and comfort of the traveller who might wend his weary way along these works were not forgotten, and the careful monarch ordered by special edict, in reference to the great Jumna canal, that on both sides, as far as the city of Hissar, "trees of every description, both for shade and blossom, be planted, so as to make it like the canal under the trees in paradise; and that the sweet flavour of the fruits may reach the mouth of every one; and that from these luxuries a voice may go forth to travellers, calling them to rest in the cities, where their every want will be supplied."

Not less extensive, and of far greater solidity and finish, was the famous Delhi canal constructed by the emperor Shah Jehan, under the superintendence of his architect, Ali Murdan Khan. This truly noble work took its course from the Feroze canal, southerly, until it reached the base of the Aravilli Mountains, through a shoulder of which a channel sixty feet deep was cut; and thence masonry-work carried the great body of waters through the very heart of the capital, Delhi, at that period in the height of its imperial splendour. Here, after having ministered to the necessities of the husbandmen during a course of several hundred miles, this magnificent aqueduct was made subservient to luxury and taste. A thousand streams flowed from its solid bed on either side, and spreading themselves through masonry channels into every quarter of the royal city, disported, in varied shapes, through marble jets, or cooled the fevered limbs in sculptured baths, or trickled over the gorgeous flowers in harems, lawns, and terraces, or

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anon flowed to the humble homes of labourers, and slaked the poor man's thirst, and bathed the poor man's brow.

To this day there remains abundant evidence of the multiplicity, the extent, and the fertilising powers of the water-courses fed by the great Delhi canal; traditionary reports amongst the people in the neighbourhood tell that the revenues derived from the villages skirting its banks sufficed for the maintenance of 12,000 horse-soldiers. Some idea of the magnitude of these works, and of the efficiency of the system by which they were regulated may be formed, when it is stated, that on this one canal there were placed a working and protective force of 1000 armed peons, 500 horsemen, a proper staff of officers, and a large body of excavators and masons.1

The Eastern Jumna or Doab Canal was another work of the same monarch, though not equal in extent or value to those previously described. The lands of the Punjab were not neglected amidst all these vast undertakings; for although we have no records relating to the works of irrigation in the country of the Five Rivers, there are abundant proofs of the public spirit of the Mahomedan rulers of the country.

It might not be altogether uninstructive to compare the noble and enduring works of these Eastern despots with the progress made in a like direction in our own country, or, indeed, in any western kingdom, at that period. The two pictures, it is greatly to be feared, would not bear comparison. In this country, we know, at any rate, that at the epoch alluded to we possessed not a single canal; that our roads were, with few exceptions, mere cattle-tracks; that our largest cities could not boast of the supply of water, or of the police protection accorded to the humblest towns within the empire of Delhi; nor had an English traveller, in journeying from London to Highgate in those early days, so great a certainty of reaching his destination in safety as had any of Shah Jehan's meanest subjects in travelling from the Punjab frontier to Delhi, or from the latter city to Allahabad.

Each of these barbarous sovereigns expended as much money in works of public utility as would have supported any of the standing armies of Europe in those days.

Throughout many other parts of Hindostan, in the peninsula of India, as well as in the western portions of the country, exist the remains of extensive canals, of massive bunds or dams, and artificial tanks. At no time, until the last convulsions of the Tartar empire, ushering in its approaching decadence, were those works lost sight of by the successive emperors of Delhi. Their public spirit would be well 'Calcutta Review, vol. xii. p. 83. 2 Ibid. vol. xii. p. 142.

MODERN EXPENDITURE ON ROADS.

355 imitated by the present rulers of the Indian empire, who, with the narrow views which prompt them to look no further than "to-day," frequently undertake canal work, which furnishes them with a large surplus revenue from water-rates, but dare not venture to copy the liberality of their Tartar teachers, and give back to their subjects some portion of the fees in useful roads or wells. In no instance does the petty shop-keeping genius of Leadenhall-street stand forth in such deformity as in this; that whilst large sums have been disbursed for purposes of irrigation, whence an income is at once derived far more than sufficient to cover the whole of the outlay, and yield a steadilyincreasing annual revenue, the votes for roads and bridges have been on the most paltry scale.

It is by no means an easy task to ascertain the precise sums which have been spent upon public works in India, seeing that in three different official statements, all emanating from the Court of Directors, we find as many different totals of their annual cost during the fourteen years ending 1850-1, varying from 346,0927.3 down to 197,936. Deducting from the largest sum one-third, which is the usual cost of superintendence, we have 230,6671. spent throughout India, about equal to the upkeep of the streets of a large English town.

A reference to official documents shews that in the Bengal and north-west provinces, during the ten years ending 1848-9, the expenditure on roads and bridges was at an average rate of 94,4851. per annum; which, as compared with the taxation of these provinces, amounted to something less than three-quarters per cent of the gross revenue; the works of irrigation, by a like calculation, had cost on the average 51,9221.; being below the rate of one-half per cent on the gross

revenue.

From evidence given recently before the Commons' Committee on Indian affairs, by civil servants of the government, we were told that Bengal, a tract of country far larger than England, possesses but one road worthy of the name; and that road chiefly kept up for military purposes. What its real value is to the community may be gathered from the fact, that during certain seasons of the year this military road is for many miles quite impassable for vehicles. Instances are not

3 Public Works in India, p. 208.

"There is only one metalled road in the Lower Provinces, the grand trunk road, and it is the only road supported at the expense of government. The other roads are made by the landholders on the requisition of the magistrate, or with local funds. It is a striking proof of the little regard paid to the public convenience so far as this