The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1804-08-16 00:00:00

(COisciuider3 yrser oar Paper a Saturday
An arched colonnade of red stone surrounds the
whole of the terrace, which is adorned with olagnn
pavilions for sitting in. The mosque h of an oblong
form, two hundred and sixty one feet in length, sue-
rounded at the top by three magnificent domes
of white marble, interseißed with black stripes,
and flanked by two minaret' of black marble and red
stone alternately, siring to the height of an hundred
and thirty feet. Each of the,e minarets has three
projdling galleries of white marble, having their
summits crowned with light o&agon pavilions of the
same. The whole front of the building is faced
with large slabs of beautiful white marble ; and
along the cornice are ten compartments, four feet
long and two and a half broad, %illicit are inlaid
with inscriptions in black marble in the Nishki cha-,
teter, and are said to contain the greater part, if
not the whole, of the Koran.
The inside of the mosque is paved throughout
with large slabs of white marble, decorated with a
black border, and is wonderfully beautiful and de-
licate ; the slabs are abusit three feet in lengi I:, by
one and a half broad. The walls and roof Ate lined
with plain white marble ; and near the kibla • is a
handsome toak, or niches, which is adorned with a
profusion of freize work. Close to this is a mimher,
or pulpit of marble, which has an ascent of four
steps balusttaded.
The ascent to the minarets is by a winding stair-
case of an hundred and thirty steps of red stone;
and at the top the spraator is gratified by a noble
view of the King's palace, the cuttub mine, the
Moran mine, Humaioon's mausoleum, the palace
of Feroze Shah, the fort of Old Delhi, and the fort
of Loni, on the opposite banks of the river Jumna.
The domes are crowned wits: callises of copper
richly gilt, and present a glittering ak,;•earance from
afar off. This mosque was began by toe
Shah Jehan, in the thurth year of his reign, and
completed in the tenth.
The expences of its ereftion amounted to ten lacks
of rupees, and it is in every respell worthy of beiag
the great cathedral of the empire of Hindostan.
Not far from the palace is the mosque Roshun
Al Dowla, rendered memorable to the Delhians for
being the place where Nadir Shah beheld the mas-
sacre of the unfortunate inhabitants. The cause as-
signed by historians for this inhuman aft is, that a
sedition broke out in the great market-place, in
which two thoUsand Pet sians were slain. Nadir, on
hearing of the tumult, marched out of the foi t at
night with a small force to the Musjid of Roshun
Al Dowla, where he was fired upon in the morning
from a neighbouring terrace, and an officer killed
close by his side : he instantly ordered an indiscri-
minate slaughter of the inhabitants, and his squa-
drons of cavalry pouring through the streets, before
the afternoon put to death an hundred thousand per-
sons of all descriptions.
Since this dreadful massacre, this quarter of
Delhi has been but very thinly inhabited. The
mosque of Roshun Al Dom lah is situated at the en-
trance of the chandney choke, or market ; it is of
the common size, built of red stone, and surmounted
by three domes richly gilt.
Zeenut A/ Musajid, or the Ornament of Mosques,
is on the banks of the Jumna, and was ereSed by
daughter of Aurengzeeb, of the name of Zeenut
Al /limit. It is of red stone, with inlayings of
marble, and has a spacious ten ace in front, Is ith a
capacious reservoir taxed with marble. The prin-
cess who built it, having declined entering into tae
marriage state, laid out a large sum of money in
the above mosque, and, on its completion, she built
a sepulchre of white marble, surrounded by a wall of
the same, in the west corner of the terrace ; and she
was buried here in the year 1710. There were
formerly lands allotted for the support and repairs
of this place, amounting to a lack of rupees per
annum, but they have long since been confiscated
during the troubles this city has undergone. Ex-
clusive of the mosques aforementioned, thete are
in Shahjehartabad and its environs above forty others ;
but as most of them are of inferior size and beauty,
and all of them of a similar fashion, it is unneces-
sar) to present any farther detail.
The modern city of Delhi is rebuilt, and contains
many good houses, chiefly of brick : the streets are,
in general, narrow, as is usual in most of the large
cities in Asia; but there were formerly two very
usable streets, the first leading from the palace gate,
through the city, to the- Delhi gate, in a direction
north and south. This street was broad and spa-
cious, having handsome houses on each side of the
way, and merchants' shops well fat nished with a
variety of the richest articles.
,Shah Jeltan caused
an aqueduft of red stone to be made, which convey-
ed the water the whole length of the greet, and
from thence, by a reservoir under ground, into the
Royal gardens. Remains of this aqueduct are still
to be seen, but it is in most parts choaked up with
rubbish. The second grand street entered in the
same manner, from the palace to the Lahore gate,
lying east and west; it was equal in all respefts to
the former ; but in both of them the inhabitants
h.sve spoiled the beauty of their appearance, by run-
ning a line of houses down the centre, and, in other
places, across the street, so that it is with difficulty
a person can discover, without narrowly inspefAing,
their former position.
Modern D:lhi I•su been built principally upon two
rocky eminences, the one, where the Jama Musjid
is situated, named .lujula Pahar, and the other, the
quarter of the oil merchants, called Bejula Pahar ;
from both of three you have a commanding view of
the rest of the Loy. With respect the ruins of
old Delhi, the extent cannot be le, ;Lin a circum-
ference of twenty miles. The curiii i,, to the north
and west are crowded with remains of spacious gar-
dens and country houses of the Nobility, which were
formerly abundantly supplied with water by means of
a noble canal dug by Mercian Khan, and which
formerly entered from above the city of Panniput
quite down to Delhi, where itejoined the Jumiia,
fertilising in its course a track of more than niaczy
miles in length, and bestowing comfort and affluence
on those who lived within its extent. This canal,
as it ran through the suburbs of Mogul Parah,
nearly three miles in length, was twenty-five feet
deep, and as much in breadth, cut from the quarry
of solid stone, from which most of the neighbour-

• Kibla literally implies a compavi, nut here means a
biotin'', or excavation in the wa:li of Mahomeitaii tooeques, to
situated on the covetion of the batiktinp as altwaya to look %t-
-yrants the City at Mecca.