Arkansas true Democrat., 1857-10-27
Description of Delhi.

As the fate of England's Indian Empire is to all appearance involved in the successful resist ance or capture of this city, the ancient capital of the Patan or Mogul dypasties-a description of it may not be unacceptable to our readers- We have therefore compiled from the most re- liable sources the following interesting sketch of it,
 The city of Delhi is situated in the center of sandy long plain, upon rocky ridge, rising to an altitude of 12O feet on the light of the Juma, here deep and broad river at Ill seasons of the year. in north latitude 29 deg fl min, and east longitude v deg. , mn. 956 miles from Calcutta by the Birbhum road, and 88O miles from Bombay by Ahmedabad. According to tradition this city founded 300 years B. C. by Delu. It formerly stood on the left bank of the rvcr, and Is supposed to have covered space oi 20 square miles. Major Rene!l men, tons 100000 the number of inhabitants which Delhi Was supposed to have contained at the end of the 17th century; aud the extent of the ruins seems to justify this estimate. The Emperor, Shah Johal built a new city in 1881 on the right bank of the Juma, and gave 1t the name of Shaijehausbod by which only the Moslem part ol the population continue to call It. This IS the moiern Delhi which is about five miles in circumference, aud is seated on a range of rocky hills and surrounded hy walls constructed ol large blocks of gray granite, and tJruhed with agOp ilOop-holei parapet. Sever al 5ateways anI bastous occur in the walls at intervals, ami the whole has been strengthened and put in repair by the British goverumeut.- The gateways are magnificent buildings, and are named after the provinces and cities to which they point. The city has seven gates, and contains the remains of several fine palaces, the former dwellings of the chief omrabs of the empire.
 These places are each of considerable extent, and surrounded by Li5n walls enclosing baths, sIabliug and numerous out buildings. The modern city contains many good houseS, chiefly brick, and of various styles of architecture- The streets are in general narrow, as iu other eastern cities, but the principal ones, Bishop Huber says, are really Wide, handsome, and for an ASiatic city, remarkably clean, and the ba- zaars have good appearance. There are two fine streets, one called the Chanderry choke, 90 feet broad and loOO yards long; the other l2O feet wide and one mile long. Down the mid dle ol the first of these streets rus an alueduct, which Is shaded by fine trees and suppied with water from Ali Merriam knan's canal. The other streets are narrow, but contain many good brick houses The crowd of all Indian city, at ways picturesque, is here particularly rich in
 
 camels, and horses, sajIy caparisoned, parade through the streets, juggling their silver orua- mentS amt the many cOlored tufts and fringes with which they are adorned. The snloa5ri of great parsonage sweeping along tie highways, lltle scrupu!ous of the damage 1t may effect in It's grosreaS, forms d striking spectacle when 1t can be viewed from safe corner or from the back ot a tall elephant. The corp d'@I s mag nlhcent; but to enter into details m ght destroy the Illustration; for, mlng led With mounted re taiuers, clothed and armed with gljtterng hel- mets, polished spears, and shields knoObed with silvcl-crowds of wild looking haf-clad wretch es on foot are to be seen, increasing the tumuit and the dust but adding nothing to the spleudor of he cavalcade. No great mal--and Delhi Is full of personages of pretension-ever passes along in state without having his titles shouted out by the stentorlan lungs of some of his fol- lowers.
 The cries of the vendors of different articles ot tood--the diScordant songs of itinerant mu- sicians, screamed out to the accompaniment to the tom tom with an occasional bass volunteered by a cheetob, grumbling out in sharp roar his annoyance at being hawked about the streets for sale with the distressful, shril cry of the camel the trumpetings of the elephants, the neighng of horses, and the rumbling of cart wheels, are sounds which assal the ear from sunrise to sun set in the streets of Delhi. The multitude of equpage IS exceedingly great and more diver sifed, perhaps, than those of any other city in the world. English carriages, altered and i'm proved to suit the climate and the particular taste of the possessor, are mingled with the pa lanquins and bullock carts, open covered, the chairs, and the cage-lke and lantern-like con- veyances of native construction.
 There are several fine mosques in Delhi, in good preservation, with high minarets and gil ded domes. The largest of these, the Jumna MuUd was built by Shah Johan. Itis splen- did and enormous edfce, built of white mar be and largest and haudsomest place of Mus Sullnan worship in India Bishop Heber thought the ornamental architecture of this mosque less Horid, and the general effect less picturesque, than the Imambaurah and its ac compartments at Lucknow; but its situation, he says, Is far more commanding, and the size. soldity and materials of the edifce impressed hlm more than anything of that sort he had seen in India