| TWO STREET SCENES. - LAHORE |
| "Few cities have undegone the vicissitudes to which the capital of the Punjab has been subjected. It is on the high road from Central Asia to the rich plains of India, which have been the desire of every Moslem conqueror, and has seen the tide of conquest sweep backwards and forwards for ages, never itself, but for a brief period, a sovereign city. Its brightest time was, perhaps, that when [Mughal Emperor] Jehanghir made it his winter quarters on returning from Cashmere; and almost the only buildings of importance now remaining date from that period. |
| "But its present aspect was given to it during the sovereignity of Runjeet Singh, who built the walls and ditch (about four miles round), together with the fortified palace; and here he and his sirdars spent the intervals between their campaigns in the grossest debauchery. It is constructed almost entirely of brick, the streets narrow and the houses lofty; the quarter for the shops or bazaars being separate from that inhabited by the rich, whose houses, within gates, resemble French hotels, having inclosures at the top, with latticework made of tiles for the accomodation of women, that they may enjoy the cool breeze in the evening without the danger of being overlooked. |
| "A lmost all lucrative trade is in the hands of Hindoos. There is a very large trade in corn and silk; but it is inferior, both in wealth and population, to Umritsir [Amritsar]. When the whole of the Punjab was annexed, a large military station was formed in the suburb called Anarkalee, from a large tomb which was occupied as the centre of civil administration, and still remains so; but the troops were removed to Meanmee [Mian Mir], four miles off, where magnificent barracks have been built, and a fine military station formed, but not before the great mortality among them [British troops] had rendered it absolutely necessary." |
