Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057345).pdf/387

 LUC 379 Muhammadans belong to two different sects, the Sunnis and the Shias. Their chief difference is that the former believe in all the Caliphs as suc- cessors to the prophet, but the latter only believe in Ali and his successors. The Lucknow Moslems are chiefly Shias, the court religion. All the Nawabs, the Begams, and the Muhammadan pobles of Oudh belong to the Shia creed. Very few of the courtiers were of the Sunni sect, and those few were subject to a good deal of persecution. Thoroughfares, markets, &c.—The chief thoroughfares of the city are, three, that run south and south-west from the river converging on the old canal, and crossing a bridge there become united with the imperial road to Cawnpore. They are the Outram roads, which lead up to Hazratganj, and crossing it is continued by the Abbot road; a vast quantity of traffic from the north, from Fyzabad, and Bahramghat passes along this road; the Ami- nabad road, which passes through the most crowded parts of the city to the south of the Qaisar Bágh palace, and the Canning road which runs south- west from the open ground round the Machchhi Bhawan fort. Three roads from the iron bridge, whence the traffic from Sitapur is conveyed, from the old stone bridge, and from the pargana town of Malihabad, lead up to the fort, and, at their point of conjunction, the Victoria road runs directly south, and crossing the canal joins the aforementioned Cawnpore road lower down. The city communicates with Cantonments by the Strand, which runs along the river side from the Machchhi Bhawan fort, and continued by the Hazratganj road passes by the Civil Lines Church, and crosses the old canal a little to the east of Goverument house by Bank's road, which passing at the back of the Qaisar Bagh and Government house, leads into the road just mentioned, and by the Cantonment road which starts from the Aminabad road, commencing at the same point at the back of Qaisar Bágh as Bank's road last mentioned, and crossing the Abbot road leads into the Sadr Bazár of Cantonments. Cantonments lie to the east of the Canal and extend over an area of from eleven to twelve square miles. The principal markets are the grain markets of Fatehganj and Digbijai- ganj lying to the west of Aminabad, of Rakabganj lying at the south end of the Canning road, of Saádatganj in the west of the city, and of Shánganj near the Victoria road. Most of the imported cotton and salt is set down at Saádatganj. Gur (molasses) is sold chiefly in the Nakh- khás market, which is to the west of the Victoria road. And the great leather market is the Chikmandi in the Wazirganj thána. The valne of goods imported into the city during 1869-70 was Rs. seventy-four and three quarter lakhs. The chief articles on which a muni- cipal tax is levied are wheat and the other grains, ghi, gur, sugar spices, oil-seeds, and tobacco. The following are the food grains and the approximate dates when they ripen, 90 far that considerable parcels are sent into the market.