The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1888-11-17
WONDERFUL CITIES.
Once Famous Towns Found In Ruins I
Eastern India.

Eastern India.
Those who found IL difficult TO be.
lieve in the possibility of such deserted
city as that described by Mr.. Rider
Haggard in "She" may, if one may
judge from London Times letter, pre-.
| pare themselves for greater wonders
in the architectural line, even if he
should confne himself to simple de-
| scription of actualities when he takes
Holly and his friend to Asia. Says the
letter:
One OF the strangest things In India
is the multitude of deserted capitals.
There are three old Delhis. three suc-
cessive capitals of the East, all close
to each other, all south of the present
city. One of the three is rugluckabad,
marvellous city on IL hill, roofless and
absolutely deserted. but solid and
gigantic. The second is Ferozebad,
including the fort of Indraput, with a
the old Delhi of Kutub, who was born
a Turkish slave and died Emperor of
India. His name still survives in the
Kutuh Minar, the finest tower in the
world. springing aloft like a living or
ganism, and in the Oldest mosque in
India, the Kutub Mosque.
There is Il Daultabad on the Nizam' s
dominions With "A fort atop of conical
hill of black granite, artifcially
scarped. The fort is five hundred feet
above the plain: the city lies below. with
European Notifications and dry moats;
but almost the whole of the city is II
jungle, tall enough to hide y herd of
elephants. There we ate the best
grapes we found in India, ripened nat
urally in February, square sided, black,
delicious. Thither it was that Tug
luck, the builder of that southernmost
Delhi. that still bears his namc dragged
the whole inhabitants of Delhi eight
hundred miles off. "Twice,' says
Hunter ("The Indian Empire, p. 2S3),
''he allowed the miserable supplicants
to return to Delhi; twice he compelled
them on pain of death to quit it." 1t
was Tugluck who called the city Daul-
tabad instead of Deogiri. He was
scholar and soldier. and very early,
If unscientific, bimetalist. Having
drained his treasury, he issued aforced
currency, by which he tried to make
the Kings brass equal to other mems
silver. Foreign merchants refused the
Kings brass tokens, trade came to
a stand, and the King had to take pay
ment of his taxes in his own depre-
ciated coinage.
There is Golconda, once the capital
of the Dcccan, rarely entered by the
traveller now. 1t is surrounded by a
wall about four miles in circumference.
The fortress is girt by wall of about
one mile. The citadel has an inner
most wall and on the very highest
plateau of rock rests the kings palace.
1t is deserted city, except the small
garrison, with solid masonry of hewn
stone. still firm. A high wall of some
fifty feet runs around the zenana, with
one breach on the southeast side.
Aurungzcbe's soldiers made the
breach, September, 1857. Hyderabad
is half visible amid its trees the Char
Minar and Mecca Musiid conspicuous
above all. One side is the Mir Alan
lake, on the other the Ausan Sagar, "a
dozen small artificial lakes; antelopes
below you. nibbling grass whore busy
streets ran two centuries ago. Grand
tombs lie amid orderly gardens outside
The city, and granite hills bound the
horizon.