Page:Wanderings of a Pilgrim Vol 2.djvu/254

 the Jumna, called Shah Burj, or the Royal Tower, which is lined with marble. Through the window of this room Prince Mirza Juwaun Bukht made his escape in 1784, when he fled to Lucnow. The Rohillas, who were introduced by Gholaum Cadir Khan, stripped many of the rooms of their marble ornaments and pavements.

It was my intention to have gone round the walls in the cool of the evening, with my relative, but I was so much disgusted with the ill-natured remarks I had heard, I would not enter the place again.

The gardens of Shalimar are worthy of a visit, from which the prospect to the south, towards Delhi, as far as the eye can reach, is covered with the remains of extensive gardens, pavilions, mosques, and burial-places. The environs of this once magnificent city appear now nothing more than a heap of ruins, and the country around is equally desolate and forlorn:—

"The spider hath woven his web in the royal palace of the Cæsars, The owl standeth sentinel on the watch-towers of Afrasiab!"

Sadi.

"The lonely spider's thin grey pall Waves slowly widening o'er the wall; The bat builds in his harem bower; And, in the fortress of his power, The owl usurps the beacon-tower; The wild dog howls o'er the fountain's brim, With baffled thirst, and famine, grim; For the stream has shrunk from its marble bed, Where the weeds and the desolate dust are spread."

Byron.

"Within the city of New Delhi are the remains of many splendid palaces, belonging to the great omrahs of the empire; among the largest are those of Cummer-o'-deen Cawn, vizier to Mahmud Shah; Ali Merdan Khan, the Persian; the Nawab Gazooddeen Cawn; Seftur Jung's; the garden of Coodseah Begam, mother of Mahmud Shah; the palace of Sadut Khan; and that of Sultan Darah Shekoah."

"The baths of Sadut Khan are a set of beautiful rooms, paved,