itself out of, the old Aryan city of Indrapastha to the period when Nicholson recaptured it from the mutineers, and inaugurated for it under British protection a new era of peace and prosperity. It is now a busy commercial city and a great railway centre. The lines which start from it in all directions carry into its bazaars the products of many districts. At the date of the last census the city contained, including the suburbs, a population of 184,840, the greater number of whom were Mohammedans, thus reversing the condition of things which existed in former days. At one time Delhi was the principal Mohammedan town, but after the mutiny the entire native population were expelled from it, and though the Hindoos were afterwards admitted, the Moslems were for long rigidly excluded. This edict seems to have frightened many of them away from the city, and doubtless of those who were present within its walls during the fearful days of the mutiny, when it was garrisoned by from 50,000 to 70,000 rebels, there are many still living who know that if their misdeeds were revealed Delhi might of all cities in India be the least safe abiding place for them. But the imperial magnificence of Delhi has not even yet departed. Here in 1876 the Prince of Wales received a royal reception, and in this ancient city of kings and emperors the Queen was, on the 1st of January, 1877, proclaimed Empress of India, in succession to the "Great Mogul."*

Amritsir is the centre of a division and district which consists of a nearly level plain, with a slight slope to the west, and yielding abundant crops of the Punjab products. The city forms the great trading centre of the country, and in addition is a noted seat of Sikh learning and religion. The sacred tank which was constructed in 1581 is a favourite place of pilgrimage with the devotees of the faith. The town itself is populous, the number of inhabitants being over 137,000, but the streets are narrow, and the houses possess little architectural merits over those of any other town of Hindostan, unless, indeed, the great fortress of Govindargh is to be considered an exception. This huge structure was erected by Runjet Singh in 1809, ostensibly to protect the pilgrims visiting the place, but in reality to overawe the vast and tumultuous assemblage.† Shawls in imitation of those of Kashmir, and silks, are among the industries of the place, but Indian banking also concentrates in the town, and in Amritsir a visitor would have no difficulty in obtaining a quaint "hundi," or letter of credit, on almost any town in Asia. To Amritsir also come Manchester goods, and from it grain and its local manufactures are sent to other parts of Hindostan and to Europe.

Lahore, thirty-six miles east from Amritsir, though accounted the most important town of the Punjab, is less populous than its commercial rival, though, owing to the city being frequently the residence of the Governor-General (p. 217) and the seat of a university, it has rapidly advanced in wealth and prosperity. At present its population numbers about 100,000, but under the Moguls it is reported to have been a busy hive of upwards of 1,000,000 souls. Though the streets of the modern town are narrow and

*See Mr. Val. Prinsep's "Imperial India" (1879), and the letters descriptive of the Prince of Wales's tour, published in the Times, Standard, Daily Telegraph, and Daily News (or collected into volumes), by Messrs. W. H. Russell, George Henty, J. Drew Gay, and Archibald Forbes. For Oudh see also Irwin : "The Garden of India " (1880).

Thornton: "Indian Gazetteer" (1862).

The brick walls and

mean, the city bears many evidences of its former splendour. extensive fortifications which surround it tell a tale of covetousness on the part of its turbulent neighbours, troublous times, and long sieges. The numerous wells inside the walls point to the necessity of the city being well provided for resisting an enemy; the fine gardens bespeak ease, wealth, and luxury, and there is scarcely a road of the city but is strewn with the ruins of magnificent buildings dating from the earlier days of Lahore prosperity. Up to 1799 Lahore was still a city of consequence, but in that year Runjet Singh-who is buried here*- transferred his capital to Amritsir, and with this change the place began to decay, and continued its decadence until the British conquest of the Punjab once more gave it the fillip which is at present animating it again.

Mooltan-200 miles south-west of Lahore-is another ancient city of the Punjab, but is a mere shadow of its former self. It is, indeed, only the remnant of four cities, but abounds in mosques, tombs, and shrines, which attest its quondam magnificence. Yet under the British rule Mooltan is again rising rapidly. Its bazaars are thronged, its looms busy, and its merchants and bankers proverbially wealthy. The neighbouring country is fertile, and as the city is now in the circuit of the Punjab railways, and connected with Hyderabad, 570 miles distant, by a line of steamers, a large and increasing traffic is opening up between it, Kurrachee, and other ports and inland towns. It has a population of about 80,000. These are the chief cities of the Punjab, but Goojerat, where was fought the last battle in the Sikh War, Rawul Pindi, Attok, Bhawulpoor, and Peshawur are all towns of some importance. Peshawur is, indeed, a fortress and city of great military value, owing to its proximity to the frontier of Afghanistan. The province of which it is the capital was up to a late period part of the Ameer of Cabul's territory. It was originally built by Akbar, but it afterwards fell into the hands of the Afghans. From their grasp it was wrenched by Runjet Singh, with whose kingdom it descended to us (p. 215). When the city fell into the hands of the Sikhs it possessed 100,000inhabitants, but nowadays its population, though increasing under the British rule, does not number over 65,000. As a trading place for the frontier tribesmen it is of some importance, but as a garrison town and fortress it is chiefly important to the Punjab. Even this distinction will be partially lost to it since the frontier has been pushed further into Afghanistan, though at the same time what it loses in military prestige it will gain in trade with the hillmen, whose capital it will become.

The Punjab has great capabilities, and as the country gets thoroughly settled down to that industrious life which wars and the ever-present fear of depredation precluded, it may before long be one of the wealthiest of the Indian Governments. Within its boundary there is, however, much waste land. The duabs, or doabs-that is, regions between the rivers are not all fertile. The good land is, indeed, mainly confined to a strip on the banks of either river, the intervening territory being a "bâr," or waste, varying from forty or fifty miles at the base to a few miles at the point where it approaches the junction of the two rivers. In early days these duabs were left to the nomadic breeders of cattle, camels, &c., for though remote from the river irrigation, and sparsely populated "Races of Mankind," Vol. IV., p. 89.

owing to the great depth at which water could be found, plenty of fodder in the shape of small trees and prickly shrubs are scattered over them, and in favourable rainy seasons fine crops of grass spring up. But in addition to the camel breeders, the bârs afforded safe refuge for the cattle-stealers, who subsisted by pouncing on the herds belonging to the villagers in the fertile lands of the adjoining duab, and driving their plunder off into the wilderness, where, before the luckless owners were aware of their loss, they were

almost beyond the reach of recovery by force, while the bâr was a land into which the king's writ ran not. For long-even under our administration-no effort was made to check these depredations. But of late years the increase of cultivation and the growth of population are gradually circumscribing these wastes, and in time the bârs will get so limited in extent that the robbers who still haunt them will find it to their profit either to take to a comparatively honest life, or seek a region further removed from jails, policemen, the gallows, and other handmaids of good government. The inhabitants of the bârs lived after a rude and uncouth fashion. The produce of their herds supplied them with the

bulk of their food; wheat or maize flour was a luxury, for their ordinary bread consisted

of the bruised seeds of a jungle grass, which, though not disagreeable to the taste, was only slightly nutritious. A rainy season was looked forward to as a wonderful stroke of luck. Then grass was abundant, and water for themselves and cattle was found in the shallow pools. But in ordinary years the nomads had to dig a well at each encampment, and as the water was not usually found at a less depth than eighty or ninety feet, this was always a laborious and often a dangerous task. Nor were the inhabitants of the bâr free from other anxieties. The law, it is true, did not often lay its hand on the offenders, who found a refuge in these wilds. But the professors of "khôj," or tracking, were always on the alert to follow up the trail of stolen stock. These trackers were professional gentlemen, whose talent was inherited, for like every other calling in India, that of "6 khôj" descended from father to son. One of these adepts was in former times usually attached to each police-station, and when outraged villagers made complaints of their cattle being stolen, the tracker was sent on the trail of the thieves. How keenly they followed this up, and with what skill they would make the most trifling circumstance subserve their purposes, are the theme of many an old Indian's tale. No North American Indian-not even the mythical personage of the novel-could perform this task more adroitly, and, it may be added, no trackers had ever more wily thieves to track. The inhabitants of the bâr were quite familiar with the skill of those who were set to find them out, and when they put their wits in action to elude the trailer, the contest was akin to that in which diamond is set to cut diamond, or Greek to cheat Greek. "Running water leaves no trail," and accordingly the rivers of either side of the duab were freely made use of whenever available. The dry soil of the bâr, however, left the mark of the cattle's hoofs, and to avoid these they were shod with leather bags, tied round the fetlock, which prevented the hoofs from scratching the hard surface. "The law of the khôj," as a writer on the Punjab explains, was, "that on the 'khôji,' or tracker, bringing the train of stolen animals to a village, the headmen of the township are bound to show that the tracks proceed beyond their limits, or, failing to produce the thief, to make good the value of the stolen cattle. This practice bears some analogy to the ordeal by which the Israelites were to free themselves from the charge of blood shed within the limits of their village (Deut. xxi. 1). The system has its drawbacks, the principal being that the right enforcement of it depends on the honesty of the tracker, a somewhat insecure foundation to build upon. It rests with him to declare whether the track has been brought home to a village or not, and it depends on the value and cogency of the arguments adduced by the villagers as to whether he can discover it on the other side, and so liberate them from responsibility.”*

THE CENTRAL PROVINCES.

Prior to 1861 these provinces formed part of the Governments of Madras and the North-Western Provinces; but since the railway running between Bombay and Calcutta has cut through them, these hitherto almost undeveloped-and to most Europeans in India

"The Punjab and the North-West Frontier of India," by An Old Punjabee (1878), pp. 2-5.