DELHI, an extensive province of Hindustan, situated principally between the twenty-eighth and thirty-first degrees of north latitude. To the north it is bounded by Lahore and Northern Hindustan west of the Goggra, to the south by Agra and Ajmeer, on the east it has Oude and Northern Hindustan, and on the west Ajmeer and Lahore. It may be estimated at 240 miles in length by 180 in average breadth.

The principal modern geographical and political subdivisions are,
[table]

The greater part of this province, especially the western portion of it, named the Hurrianah, suffers greatly during the hot season from the want of water, which can only be procured from wells dug in many cases to the depth of from 120 to 150 feet. The country is an extensive plain, free from jungle·; but owing to the depth to which the ground must be penetrated for water, it has no artificial means of irrigation, and farther west this difficulty increases. The best cultivated part of this portion of the province is the country on the banks of the Cauggar or Goggur river, which being overflowed during the rainy season, yields good pasture, and produces wheat, barley, and sugar cane. It unfortunately happens that the Jumna, which runs through the province, and regularly overflows its banks, is in the lower part of its course so impregnated with natron that it confers no fertility on the adjacent country between its high banks, which is covered with a loose and perfectly barren sand like that of the sea-shore. In ancient times a celebrated aqueduct, constructed in the first instance by a Persian nobleman, and further enlarged and improved with branches and water-courses by Ferose III. in 1308, was conducted from the Jumna immediately on its leaving the mountains, and whilst its stream is yet pure and wholesome, for a distance of 120 miles through the country. It was a noble work, which gave fertility to a large district along its banks, and was the sole source of vegetation[7:7:684] in the gardens of Delhi, besides furnishing the inhabitants with the only drinkable water within their reach. This aqueduct, which, from indolence, neglect, and the devastations of intestine war to which this province was long exposed, had been allowed to go entirely into disrepair, was re-opened by the British government in 1820, to the great joy of the inhabitants of Delhi, who went out in jubilee to meet its stream, throwing flowers, ghee, and other things into the water, and calling down all manner of blessings on the British government, “who,” says Heber, “have indeed gone far, by this measure, to redeem themselves from the weight of, I fear, a good deal of impolicy.” The supply of water derived from this aqueduct enables the inhabitants in a large tract of country to have •recourse to irrigation, and thus to render the soil productive. In 1822 Zabeta Khan’s or the Great Doab Canal, which passes through Saharanpore, Rampoor, Shamlce, ancLother towns of note, was surveyed. This canal is connected with the Jumna a few miles below where it issues from the mountains, and after a course of 150 miles again joins that river nearly opposite to Delhi, fertilizing an extensive tract of country formerly rich and populous, but latterly sterile and waste. The eastern parts of Delhi, namely, Rohilcund, including the districts of Moradabad and Bareilly, are better watered and more fertile. The principal rivers are the Ganges and the Ramgunga; the latter traversing Rohilcund in nearly its whole extent, and uniting with the Ganges near Kanoje. The Goggra or Sarjou passes the north-east corner; and there arc, besides, many smaller rivers issuing from the northern mountains, which conduce to the fertility of the soil, being distributed by means of canals and reservoirs: water is also found here by digging a few feet into the ground. Throughout the whole extent of this country the surface is flat, being part of the great plain reaching from the northern hills to the sea, through which flow the Ganges and its innumerable tributary streams. Several of the mountain streams, as the Sarda, the Kurnal, and the Cou-riallah, roll down gold, which is found in their sands, and is collected by a particular caste of people. The Kosilu river, in Bareilly, is navigable during the rains, and serves to float down large timber. Sugar, cotton, and grain are the chief products of the eastern parts of Delhi.' Prior to 1809 these districts were annoyed by formidable bands of gang-robbers, who were in such force that they kept at bay the ordinary police establishments of the country. These depredators had acquired such a perfect knowledge of the intricate jungles and numerous fords of the Ganges, that they were enabled to cross and return as often as they pleased, and so intimidated the inhabitants that the latter could not be brought to act against them. By the great exertions of the British magistrates, however, these bands, with their leaders, have been nearly exterminated. Many of those who formerly subsisted by gang-robbery have been induced to cultivate the ground, and to live peaceably, whilst the force stationed along the frontier prevents the Bhurtpoor marauders from renewing their depredations so often as they formerly used to do. Highway robberies do sometimes still occur, however, and are generally attended with murder; but on the whole the amendment has been great and visible; so that a European under ordinary circumstances may travel in safety through any part of the province.

Many parts of this province have been the scene of civil strife and of foreign war, and have been exposed to general devastation and misery. In 1774 the Rohillas were entirely defeated by the British, and their country given up to waste and plunder. Tracts formerly under cultivation are now converted into extensive wastes covered with Jong grass, which in the hot season is easily inflamed, and abounds with foxes, jackals, hogs, hares, and every sort of game, which ranges over these plains unmolested. The country was afterwards exposed to the exactions of the nabob of Oude’s servants; and from this period may be dated the decline of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures. In 1782 and 1785 it was again plundered by the Sikks, which gave the finishing blow to its prosperity. The country has made advances under the administration of the British, having enjoyed domestic tranquillity, but it has by no means attained to its ancient prosperity; and the policy of the East India Company, which increases the land assessment with the progress of cultivation, tends to repress the spirit of improvement. The staple commercial articles in Rohilcund are cotton cloths and sugar, to which the raw material of cotton has recently been added. In the district of Bareilly a species of rice is cultivated of an excellent flavour, and superior to the finest sort of what is called Patna rice; the sugar produced is reckoned superior to that of any other part of Hindustan; and in remote times the sugar-cane was cultivated to a great extent. The articles of trade brought from the hills consist of borax, bees-wax, musk, gums, drugs of various kinds, cow-tails, copper and iron, and small quantities of unrefined gold. The returns are made in white cloths, tobacco, and sugar. There are extensive forests at the foot of the hills, which abound with the tree which yields the kut, an article of general consumption along with the betel, and which is also used in dying. These hills contain also copper and iron, which the natives collect either on the surface or after very slight excavations. Salt is imported into Rohilcund in great quantities. Many labourers find employment in cutting down the wood of the forests. Bamboos and various other sorts of trees abound; also large pine trees ninety feet in height, which are floated down the rivers for sale. Elephants are caught below the hills, and form an article of trade. The soil here is fertile, and produces grain, sugar, cotton, indigo, and tobacco. In summer, notwithstanding the northern latitude of this province, the beatis intense; whilst in the winter the wind that blows from the northern mountains causes the thermometer to fall during the winter months to thirty degrees, and water freezes in the tents.

The country to the north-west of the Jumna and south of the Suttledge is occupied by a number of petty Sikk chiefs and other native princes in dependence on the British. This country was formerly a scene of constant strife, but is now maintained in tolerable order by a British detachment stationed at Ludecana on the Suttledge.

The principal towns in the province are Delhi, Sirhind, Saharanpoor, Bareilly, Anopshehr, Meerut, Hissar, Seerd-huna, Patealah, and Budayoon. The inhabitants are a handsome and robust race of men, and are a mixture of Hindus, Mahomrnedans, and Sikks, the religion of the latter being very prevalent in the northern districts. The population of the province may be estimated at five millions.

Delhi, a celebrated city, capital of the above province, and for many years the capital of the Patan and Mogul empires, situated on the banks of the Jumna. During the era of its splendour it is said to have occupied a space of twenty miles round; and its great extent is still attested by the ruins, which cover a vast surface. The inhabited part of the town is about seven miles in circuit; it is seated on a range of rocky hills, and is surrounded by an embattled wall, which the English government have put into repair, and have strengthened with bastions, a moat, and a regular glacis. The city has seven gates, namely, the Lahore gate, the Ajmeer gate, Turkoman gate, Delhi gate, Mohur gate, Cabul gate, and Cashmere gate; all built of freestone. The houses within the walls [7:7:685]are many of them large and high. The streets are in general narrow, with the exception of two; the first leading from the palace to the Delhi gate, which had formerly an aqueduct along its whole extent; and the second from the palace to the Lahore gate. These are really wide, handsome, and, for an Asiatic city, remarkably cleanly. The breadth of the first may be about equal to that of Pall-Mall, and is called Chandnee Chokee, or Silversmiths’ Street, though there is no great number of that trade in it. The city is partitioned into thirty-six divisions, each named after a particular nobleman who resides there, or from some local circumstance. It contains a great number of mosques, with high minarets and gilded domes, and the remains of many splendid palaces belonging to the great omrahs of the empire. They are all surrounded with high walls, and occupy a considerable space of ground, as they comprehend gardens, baths, stables for all sorts of animals, and music galleries, besides an extensive seraglio. Above all is seen the imperial palace, a very high and extensive cluster of Gothic towers and battlements. It was built by Shah Jehan, on the west bank of the Jumna, and is surrounded on three sides by an embattled Avail sixty feet high, built of red granite, with small round towers, and two noble gateways, each defended by an outer barbican of the same construction, though of less height, and the whole surrounded by a Avide moat. It is a place of no strength; but, “as a kingly residence,” says Heber, “it is one of the noblest that I have seen. It far surpasses the Kremlin; but I do not think that, except in the durability of its materials, it equals Windsor.” Adjoining to it is the fortress of Selhnghur, now in ruins. The gardens of Shalimar Avere made by the Emperor Shah Jehan, and are said to have cost one million sterling; but, like his other Avorks, they are uoav in ruins. 'They are surrounded by a brick Avail, and Avere about a mile in circumference.

There are many fine mosques in Delhi, still in good repair, the chief of Avhich are the Jumna Musjeed and the Kala Musjeed. The former is advantageously elevated on a small rocky eminence to the full height of the surrounding houses. It was begun by Shah Jehan in the fourth year of his reign, and Avas completed in the tenth. In front it has a large square court, surrounded by a cloister open on both sides. It is paved Avith granite inlaid Avith marble, and commands a vieAv of the whole city. In the centre is a great marble reservoir of Avater, with some small fountains supplied by machinery from the canal. On its Avest side, and rising at another flight of steps, is the mosque itself, which is entered by three noble Gothic arches, surmounted by three domes of white marble. It has at each end a very tall minaret. “The ornaments,” says Heber, “are less florid, and the building less picturesque, than the splendid group of the Imambora and its accompaniments at Lucknow; but the situation is far more commanding and Bishop Heber was more impressed Avith the size, the solidity, and rich materials of this building, than Avith any thing of the sort Avhich he had seen in India. By the liberality of the British rulers, it is kept in excellent repair, a grant having been made for this purpose, which has rendered them exceedingly popular. The Kala Musjeed is small, and is chiefly worthy of notice from its plainness, solidity, and great antiquity, being a Avork of the first Patan conquerors in the times of primitive Mussulman simplicitv∙ Not far from the palace is the pretty little mosque of Roshun ud Dowlah, with its three gilt domes, on the porch of which it is said that, in 1739, Nadir Shah sat to Avitness the massacre of the unfortunate inhabitants by his licentious soldiery; and a gate leading to a bazar near it retains the name of “Coonia Dunvazu,” or the Slaughter Gate. There are, besides, about forty other mosques, but of an inferior size. The tombs of the imperial family at Delhi have several of them the most splendid architectural ornaments. That of Humaioon, the second of the Mogul dynasty who reigned over Hindustan, is a noble building of granite, inlaid with marble, and in a very simple style of Gothic architecture. It is surrounded by a large garden with terraces and fountains; and the garden itself is surrounded by an embattled wall with tOAvers, four gateways, and a cloister within all the way round. In the centre of the square is a platform of about twenty feet high and Lave hundred feet square, supported by cloisters, and ascended by four great flights of granite steps. Above rises the tomb, also a square, with a great dome of Avhite marble in its centre. The apartments within are a circular room, in the centre of which lies, under a small raised slab, the mortal remains of the prince; and in the angles are smaller apartments, Avhere other branches of his family are interred. About a mile westward is another burying-ground, or collection of tombs and small mosques, some of them very beautiful. The most remarkable is a little chapel in honour of a celebrated Mussulman saint Nizam ud Deen; and around his shrine most of the deceased members of the present imperial family lie buried, all in their oavn little enclosures, surrounded by very elegant lattice work of Avhite marble. From the gate of Agra to Humaioon’s tomb is a very aAvful scene of desolation; “ruins after ruins,” says Bishop Heber, “tombs after tombs, fragments of brick-Avork, freestone, granite, and marble, scattered everyAvhere over a soil naturally rocky and barren, without cultivation except in one or two small spots, and without a single tree.” Amongst these ruins is to be seen one mass which is larger than the rest. This is the old Patan palace, Avhich Avas a large and solid fortress, in a plain and unornamented style, and chiefly remarkable for a high black pillar of cast metal, called Firose’s Walking Stick, a Hindu emblem of Siva, as is supposed, concerning which there is a tradition, that, whilst it stood, the children of Brahma were to bear rule in Indraput, the name of the Hindu city Avhich preceded Delhi. The vanity of the prediction appeared Avhen the country Avas conquered. The pillar is covered Avith inscriptions, mostly in Persian and Arabic; but that Avhich probably contains the prophecy is in a character obsolete and unknoAvn, a sure mark of its high antiquity.

Delhi has fallen from its ancient splendour; the fine manufactures of which it Avas formerly the seat are greatly declined, and the commerce, for so large a place, is inconsiderable. Cotton cloths and indigo are still manufactured in the toAvn and neighbourhood; there is also a shawl manufactory carried on by Cashmerian Aveavers with wool brought from the Himalaya. JeAvellery is executed in great perfection. The chief imports are by the northern caravans, Avhich amount to nine annually, and bring from Cashmere and Cabul shawls, fruit, and horses.

The ruins Avhich surround the present toAvn mark the site of old Delhi, which Avas founded on the ruins of the still larger Hindu city of Indraput towards the west. This city was taken in 1193 by the Mahommedans under Cut-tubaddeen Khan, who fixed his residence there, and, upon his succeeding to the throne, made it his capital. It Avas increased and improved, until, under the Afghan monarchs, Agra was made the capital, Avhich continued to be the seat of empire till the return of Humaioon from Persia in 1554. During the reigns of Akbar and Jehangire, Delhi Avas deserted, but Avas restored to its ancient splendour by the Emperor Shah Jehan, av1io founded the present city, and removed to it many of its inhabitants; the others fol-loAved, to be near the palace and the principal markets; and as, during the disorders of the Mahratta government, it Avas unsafe to remain Avithout the Avalls, the old city Avas soon entirely abandoned.
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Delhi is the residence of the Great Mogul, the representative of the house of Timour, now reduced to a very low ebb by the political revolutions which have taken place in India. He has been honourably treated by the English, who assigned him an annual pension of ten, twelve, and ultimately of fifteen lacs of rupees for his subsistence, and who treat him with all the outward homage of royalty, acknowledging him as the sovereign of the country, and themselves as his tributaries. Delhi, when it was formerly under the dominion of the Mahrattas, was frequently the scene of disorder and bloodshed; but since it has come under the dominion of the British, and tranquillity has been maintained in the country, it has been increasing in population, and property of all descriptions has been rising in value, especially houses and lands, which are more than doubled. The travelling distance from Calcutta by Birbhoom is 976 miles.