Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057345).pdf/366

 358 LUC under the Nawabs of Oudh, with the changes it has subsequently seen, will receive a separate and fuller notice. To the south-east of the city, separated from it by the old canal, lie the cantonnents, which extend to a distance of six miles from the iron bridge, and take up an area of from eleven to twelve square miles. They were marked out and occupied on the re-annexation of the province after the great rebellion of A.D. 1857. LUCKNOW CITY—General Description. The capital of Oudh lies mainly on the west bank of the Gumti in latitude 26°52', longitude 81°. It is 104 miles from Shahjahanpur, 80 from Fyzabad, 42 from Cawnpore, 199 from Benares, 610 from Calcutta, with all which place it is connected by railway. It covers 36 square milea, and has a population of 273,126, of whom ths are Hindus, the rest Musalmans and Christians. It is the capital of Oudh, and the largest city in the Indian empire, except the three Presidency towns--Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay. It is healthily situated, 403 feet above the level of the sea ; and although not the seat of a flourishing commerce or manufacture, it is still a place of considera- ble wealth.' 1111 1877, when the Oudh administration was amalgamated with that of the North-Western Provinces, it contained the central offices, and the principal administrators of an extensive province resided here. Many pensioners of the British Government and former Oudh kings still dwell in the city; it is the centre of modern Indian life, the queen of Indian fashion, and the best existing school of Indian music, grammar, and Moslema theology, at least for the Shias. Lucknow, viewed from a distance, and not too closely scrutinized, is one of the most beautiful and picturesque large cities of the world. There are two noble mosques, one imámbára of imperial dimensions, four tombs of regal splendour—those of Saádat Ali Khan, of Mushid Zádi, of Muham- mad Ali Shah, and Gházi-ud-dín Haidar ; there are two great palaces, or rather collections of palaces, the Chhatar Manzil and the Qaisar Bágh, besides a host of garden houses, pavilions, town mansions, temples, mosques --all erected during the last one hundred years by a number of wealthy, prodigal kings, and their equally lavish courtiera. The interior of the city does not correspond to its brilliant appearance from without. It has broader and finer streets than most oriental towns: this is due to the destruction of very many houses for military purposes after the mutiny. A glacis half a mile broad was cleared for the fort, and three military roads radiating from it were driven right through the heart of the city, often at an elevation of some thirty feet above the level of the neighbouring streets. Three other roads also branch out-one over the bridge, and two laterally along the banks of the Gumti. The picturesque eminence which is crowned by the residency is perhaps the greatest ornament of the city-an old mosque, a magnificent banyan tree, the lofty tower, and the stately walls of the residency, covered with moon creeper's and dense cloaks of dark foliage, rise grandly above the numerous zuins interspersed with shrubbery, and bright with roses and oleanders. Near at hand is an artificial mound, whose sides are gay with parterres of flowers, and behind, half hidden by groups of gigantic bamboos, their lofty beads