A personal narrative of a visit to Ghuzni, Kabul, and Afghanistan, and of a residence at the Court of Dost Mohamed. With notices of Runjit Sing, Khiva, and the Russian expedition ... With illustrations, etc

Front matter

I !©STT MI©! AMI® ! v-!. [iQ-adsop.. PnTili shed by Whi*Hakar and C? &ro -Maria Lane, t Vt/k n" 74, -.' .l/,i7T,-, A PERSONAL NARRATIVE OF A VISIT TO GHUZNI, KABUL, AND AFGHANISTAN, AND OF A RESIDENCE AT THE COURT OF DOST MOHAMED: WITH NOTICES OF RUNJIT SING, KHIVA, AND THE RUSSIAN EXPEDITFON BY G T. VIGNE. Esq. F.G.S. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS, FROM DRAWINGS MADE BY THE AUTHOR ON T H F. SPOT. Tritum viatorum .ompitum calca; et, cum poteris, desere. Gray's Letters. LONDON : WHITTAKER & Co. AVE MARIA LANE. 1840. LONDON: GILBERT AND KIVINUTON, PRINTERS, st. John's square. TO WILLIAM ASTELL, Esquire, OF EVERTON HOUSE, BEDFORDSHIRE, FORTY YEARS AN ACTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE AFFAIRS OF THE HON. EAST INDIA COMPANY, IS INSCRIBED, RESPECTFULLY AND AFFECTIONATELY, THIS PERSONAL NARRATIVE OF TRAVELS INTO COUNTRIES LONG SINCE MORE OR LESS CONNECTED WITH THOSE WHICH ARE SUBJECT TO BRITISH DOMINION IN ASIA, AND NOW MADE PRE-EMINENTLY INTERESTING BY RECENT EVENTS, AND THE SUCCESSES OF HER MAJESTY'S ARMY. A_

Preface

. The important events which have lately taken place in Afghanistan determined me to publish my Travels in that country, in a first and separate volume . and to reserve, for a subsequent work, those parts of my manuscript which relate to Kashmir, Great and Little Tibet, the mountain-banks of the Indus, and Alpine India north of the Punjab. I have made my remarks without the smallest regard to party considerations. VI

PREFACE.

. To Horace Hayman Wilson, Esq., Profes sor of Sanscrit in the University of Oxford, I am greatly indebted, for much liberal and valuable assistance; and I also feel myself much obliged to Mr. Masson, the numis matologist, for information he gave me at Kabul regarding the people and the coun try, which his long residence there, as the Correspondent of the Honourable East- India Company, enabled him to acquire, and which no one was, I believe, more competent to afford than himself. 1 took various bearings in my passage through the Sulimani range, but the intense heat prevented me from making a regular map of the route ; and I have, therefore, in order to render the small one inserted in this work as complete as possible, made use of that published by Dr. Martin Hon ninberger, in the Calcutta Asiatic Society's Journal, for April, 1834, and avail myself

PREFACE.

. VII of this opportunity to thank him for the assistance I have derived from it. I have only to add, that I have generally followed the latest and most approved me thod of spelling Asiatic names and words, by the substitution of Italian for English double vowels. PAGE I 3". CONTENTS.

Chapter I

Prepare to depart for Multan — Guja Sing — Fete Champetre — The Lodiana School — Shah Shuja and Shah Ziman — Cross the Sutlij —Altars of Alexander — Description of the Punjab Country — Gardens of Multan — Shrine of the Fakir Shums-i-Tabriz — Heat of Climate — Description of Multan — Mussulman Tombs — Manufactures of Multan — Saman Mul — The Besak — Ameer Khan — The River Teenmu — Proceed to Karur — Huts of the Villages — Cross the Sinde — Ferries over the Indus — Arrival at Purawur— Tufan . .

Chapter II

The Kayser Mountain — Village of Gundi and Mound — Ruins — Reach the Lohani Camp — Lohani Salutations — High Range of Temperature — Mulberry Bird — Description of the Camp Amusements — Ameer Khan's Stories — Story from Ferishta— Mahmud Khan's Empire — Runjit Sing's Conquests — The Lohanis — Duties levied on the Merchants — Village of Derabund — Earthquake — The Mountaineers — Mineral Fluid and Mumiai — Mountaineer Attacks X CONTENTS. PAGE

Chapter III

The Caravan sets out — High Temperature — Ladies mounted on Camels — Their Dress — The Order maintained — Night Guards — Durkhaneh — Shonkul — Great height of the Thermometer — Gomul River — Medical Practice — Encamp at Monjighurra — Tax levied here — Mountaineer Ferocity — Enter the Territory of the Tak Rajah — Alarm of Attack — Mountain Strata — Nilei — Enter a Defile — The Vuziris — Precaution taken — Lohani Graves — The Serpent-eater — Ursak — The Tukt-i-Suliman — Fresh Alarm — Reach Terapore — Treatment of a Sick Man — Scuffle with a Holy Man — A Lohani Funeral — Predestination 67

Chapter IV

Arrival at Karandur — Sirmagha — Vegetable Soap — Edible Rhubarb — Parting for "Kandahar of some of the Lohanis — Encamp in a Mountain Pass — Scenery and Delicious Breeze — Thermometer and Elevation — Suliman Kyi Tribe — Mode of Robbing — Tribute to Dost Mahomed Khan — Boundaries — Encamp at Katawaz — Dsharah Ridge — Mountain Sheep — Ruins of Zohaka — Sand Grouse — Eyesight Judgment of the Aborigines — Round Forts — Revenue-Officers from Kabul — Ameer Khan's Killah — Illness ofthe Author — Proceed to Ghuzni — Character of the Lohanis — Scenery around Ghuzni 98

Chapter V

Ghuzni — Koh-i-Nigar Khaneh Mountains — The Hazarahs — The Fort of Ghuzni — Find one of Mr. Moorcroft's Servants — Sultan Mahmud's Minars — Good offices ofthe Kuzzelbash — Leave Ghuzni — Bund-i-Sultan — Baber's Account of Ghuzni — Topes — Visit to a Mine — Chahar Deh — The Nawab's Family — Customs of the Country — Ghilzyes and CONTENTS. XI PAGE Dost Mahomed Khan — Military Operations of Dost Mahomed — Attachment of Dost Mahomed to England — Hospitable Reception — Enter Kabul 125

Chapter VI

Character of the Country between Ghuzni and Kabul — A Kabul Dwelling-House — Aspect of the City — Bazaars — Climate — Description of the Bala Hissar — Variety of the Population — Origin of the Afghans — Neighbourhood of Kabul and Productions — Fruits, Flowers — Account of the Gardens — Manners of the People — A Bigoted Mussulman — Conduct of Dost Mahomed and his sons to the Author — Sporting Dogs of Mahomed Akber Khan 154

Chapter VII

Durbar of Dost Mahomed — Allahdad Khan — Repast at the Reception — Give up visiting Bamian — Professor Wilson's Remarks upon Bamian — Conjectures respecting the Route of Alexander the Great — Probability of the Macedonian March by the way of Bamian — Old Coins — Beghram — Babels Tomb — Mosque of Shah Jehan 179

Chapter VIII

Afghan Horses — Fete — Tukt-i-Shah Mountain — Country around described — Mountains of Pughman — The Koh- Daman and Hindu-Kosh — Intriguers at the Tombs — Animal and Mineral Productions of the Hazara-Jat — English Tomb at Kabul — Superstitions in Kabul — Genii — Visit to the Kohistan — Nawab's Barber — Timour Shah's and other Gardens — Relics of the Emperor Baber — Castellated Dwellings — Plain of the Kohistan — Vast Mountains — The Reg-Ruwan — Robbers — Religious Impostor — Return to Kabul. . ». CONTENTS. PAGE

Chapter IX

The Author quits Kabul — Different Routes — Sei Baba — Barik Ab — Jeg Delik — Arrival at Tatung — Jelalabad — The Sufyd Koh — Kaffinstan — Manners of the Kaffir People — Account of a Seor-Posh Kaffir in Kabul — Dwellings of the Kaffir Race — Arrival at Peshawur — Reach Lahore — Khuruk Sing — No Nehal Sing — The Gurus or Priests — The Fakir Azij-ud-Dyn — Other Characters at the Court of Runjit — The Three Rajahs — Runjit Sing's Person — Introduction — Runjit's Notions of Physic — Military Display and Magnificence of Runjit 227

Chapter X

Remarks on Rungit Sing's Conduct and Character — The Girl and Fakir — A Second Anecdote — Mode of Dealing with a Request— Sir H. Fane's Visit to Lahore — His Reception by Runjit — The Bride and Bridegroom — Military Display — Reported Apprehensions of Runjit — Rival Military Practice — Arrival of the Patans — Entertainments — Ladies' Interview with Runjit — Departure of the Commander-in-Chief — The Fakir who buried himself alive — Elephant Fights — The Akalis — Guja Sing and his Invitation 267

Chapter XI

Afghan Music — History of Haji Khan — The ruling Afghan Families — Actions of Dost Mohamed Khan — Rokya Begum — Feuds among the Chiefs — Dost Mohamed becomes Master of Kabul — Wins over Haji Khan — Patan Character — Person of Dost Mohamed — His Durbar— Address — A Mullah's Interruption— The Court of Runjit Sing — Comparison — Officers of the Ameer — Dialects in use at Kabul — Mohamed Akber Khan — Dost Mohamed's Children and CONTENTS. XIII PAGE Family — Simple Food — Dress — Portrait Painting — Dost Mohamed's Horses — Bigotry of the Mullahs — Character of Dost Mohamed — Morals of Kabul — Revenue — Justice — Armed Forces 325

Chapter XII

Eating the Hulym — Shah Shuja's former Expedition and Defeat — Remarks upon the Affairs of Persia, Afghanistan, and the British Policy — Dost Mahomed and his Future Conduct — Khiva — Russian Mission — Remarks on the Kirghiz Kazaks and their Country — Different Routes to Khiva — Horse-Racing — Anecdote — Commerce of the Kirghiz Kazaks— Mode of Attack of the Kirghiz Kazaks, and Object — Conclusion ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Portrait of Dost Mohamed (coloured) Frontispiece. Map of Author's Route ..to face 1 The Tomb of Sultan Mahmud (p. 130) 1 View of Attok 30 Buddhist Topes at Seiab (p. 1 40) 35 View of the Tukt-i-Suliman Mountain 60 Markhur Goat (p. 85) 67 The Lohani's Grave (p. 96) . 98 View of Ghuzni 120 Mahmud's Pillars (p. 128) : 125 Portrait of the Nawab Jabar Khan 145 White Marble Mosque at Baber'sTomb, Kabul, looking north (p. 200) ' 154 View of Kabul 161 Entrance to the Principal Bazaar at Kabul, looking east south-east (p. 1 60) , 179 Bunde-i-SuItan (p. 138) 202 Gate leading into the Fort and Town of Attok, looking west (p 30J - 227 Ornaments on Mahmud's Tomb (p. 133) 267 Emperor Baber's Tomb, at Kabul (p. 200) 325 Portrait of Mohamed Akber Khan (p. 177) 362 Kaffir Slaves at Kabul (p. 236) 384 ERRATUM. For " Border Tower," on Vignette, p. 35, read " Buddhist Topes at Seiab." For " Mahomed Khan," read " Mohamed Khan." J THE TOMB OF SULTAN MAHMUD.

Chapter I

Prepare to depart for Multan — Guja Sing — Fete Champetre — The Lodiana School — Shah Shuja and Shah Ziman — Cross the Sutlij — Altars of Alexander — Description of the Punjab Country — Gardens of Multan — Shrine of the Faquir Shums-i-Tabriz — Heat of Climate — Description of Multan — Mussulman Tombs — Manufactures of Multan — Saman Mul — The Besak — Ameer Khan — The River Teenmu — Proceed K DEPARTURE FOR MULTAN. to Karur — Huts of the Villages — Cross the Sinde — Ferries over the Indus — Arrival at Purawur — Tufan. After returning to Lodiana from my first visit to Kashmir and Little Tibet, in eighteen hundred and thirty-five, I formed a design of visiting Kabul. The direct route would have been through Lahore and Peshawur ; but my principal reason for not taking that road was, that I had beenwan dering in Kashmir, Little Tibet, and the Maharajah Runjit Sing's territories, for the best part of the year.

I had been considered and treated as his guest, and had taken leave of him in his capital but a month or two before. On the twelfth of March, 1836, I quitted the hospitable roof of my friend, Captain (now Sir Claude Martine) Wade, and left Lodiana for Multan, intending to proceed thence through the Sulimani mountains to Kabul, in company with the Lohani kafilas, or caravans, after having delayed my depar- GUJA SING. ture for a few days, in order to be present at the return of the mission which Runjit Sing had sent to Calcutta, with presents for the King and Governor-General. Lallah Govind Jus, a confidential servant of the Maharajah, was its chief. Guja Sing, the second in importance, was a well looking and intelligent young dandy, often wearing the splendid yellow dress of the Sikhs, and sometimes the full uniform of a British general officer.

He had a great turn for mechanics, and exhibited a theodolite of his own making ; and a model of the steam-engine, made for him by Mr. Prinsep, of Calcutta. He affected to say, at least so I was informed, that he had seen little that was new there, excepting the ships of war, which he allowed were wonderful ; but it was too evident that he well-knew he had only to recross the Sutlij to astonish his inquiring countrymen, and when dis coursing on his favourite topic, mechanics, b2 LODIANA FETE. the energy of his manner, and his ani mated conversation were certainly not the offspring of oriental indifference. About two years ago, at Amritsir, he fell from a window into the street when intoxicated, and was killed. It would seem that he was desperately bent upon procuring an English wife. He fell in love with a lady at Cal cutta ; and was, it is said, prevented from marrying her only because it became known that he had already two or three wives in the Punjab.

He wished to have remained there altogether, but Runjit sent down a request that nothing of the kind should be allowed ; and even went so far as to desire that he should be put under arrest, if he persisted in the latter determination. On his return, he commenced, without knowing one syllable of English, a serious flirtation in the language of the eyes (which seems to be the same all over the world) with some lady at Delhi. ENGLISH SCHOOL. Before I started, I was present at a fete champetre given by Captain Wade, upon the occasion of the arrival of the mission. There was native dancing, sing ing, and sword playing. All the beauty and fashion of Lodiana were assembled to see the fireworks and illuminations. Characters from all quarters beyond the Sutlij were also present, magnificent Sikhs, scheming Kashmirians, pensioned Afghans, and supplicant envoys from Great and Little Tibet.

The next morning; there was an examination of the boys of the Lodiana school, conducted by the Rev. Messrs. Wilson and Newton, the American missionaries, who deserve the greatest credit, and something more, for their vo luntary superintendence, and its results. To say nothing of the surprising answers given by the students, particularly to geo graphical questions, the examination was well worth attending, if it were merely to NOBLE SCHOLARS. see the motley assemblage of which the school was composed. The first in rank was the young Nawab Abdul Ghias Khan, nephew of Dost Mahomed Khan of Kabul. Next to him came three or four young Sikhs of an ennobled family — amongst them was Bissen Sing, a nephew of Kosheal Sing, Runjit Sing's chief jemadar, or captain, as he is called, par excellence ; and also a son of Kissenchund, the Sikh Vakeel or envoy resident at Lodiana.

The rest of the school was composed of rising young Munshis and Baboos of great promise. After reading a passage in English, the boys were required to translate it carefully into Hindustani, and this was usually done with great cor rectness, and very little hesitation. Upon my return to Lodiana this year, I found that the school existed no more. The parents of the boys, Mussulmen and Hin dus, had become alarmed at the enforced observance of Christian religious exercises, SHAH SHUJA AND SHAH ZIMAN. 7 and withdrew their children from the school altogether. Baron Hugel, with whom I had travelled from Kashmir, and myself, were introduced by Captain Wade to Shah Shuja and Shah Ziman, the pensioned ex-kings of the coun try I was going to visit. We found Shah Shuja sitting on a chair, in a recess, or ra ther doorway, of his house, with a vista, formed by two rows of attendants, that di verged from it as from a centre.

He appeared to be a man aged about fifty, of the middle size, good-natured, and port-wine complexioned, looking more like a gentle man who had lost an estate, than a monarch who had lost his kingdom. He wore a dark coloured robe, a white turban, and white cotton gloves. Baron Hugel had been received with great distinction by Runjit Sing ; I had come in for a share of it ; every application which the Shah made to the SHAH ZIMAN. Government went through Captain Wade ; and yet he allowed neither of us a chair, but kept us standing the whole time. His brother, Shah Ziman, resided in a different part of the building : we went to see him also : we stood ; he sat on the ground, pale, thin, dejected, and counting his beads. He asked much about Kashmir, and said that the shawls were not now so fine as they used to be.

" I remember," he said, " when the finer fabric could be drawn through a ring." He was praising the beauty of Kashmir. " Yes," remarked the poor blind monarch, " Kashmir is certainly beautiful, and the air and water are good ; but," he continued, with a melancholy shake of the head, and a sigh as deep as I ever heard, " Kabul, Kabul ! what is Kashmir to Kabul ! and I shall never see it again ! " We were surprised to hear from Captain Wade, that in spite of their common mis fortunes and fate, the two brothers were DHURMKOTE AND FIROZPORE. not on the best terms with each other. The next morning, Shah Shuja sent us several trays, containing the best display of native cookery that I had seen in the East ; it had probably been superintended in management by the ladies of the haram. I think Lodiana the most interesting station in India, and that Captain Wade held the most important appointment, as political agent to the Sikhs.

After a night's dak, or journey in a pa lanquin, I found myself at the village of Dhurmkote, and my horse in waiting for me. Two days' ride, over a flat and fertile country, brought me to Firozpore, a place only remarkable for the lofty walls of its fort ; which, in the distance, appeared to rise from the plain like a thick and regular clump of trees. Since the late meeting of Lord Auckland and Runjit Sing, it has HURRIPORE AND PAK PATAN. been put in a state of repair, and a new cantonment has been formed there, as being the nearest place to the Sikh capital, La hore ; thither, too, in case of need, the Bri tish cavalry and horse-artillery could arrive in a few hours after crossing the river. The next day, I was ferried across the Sutlij, after an hour's ride from the town. The river here is somewhat more than two hundred yards in width, from the Punjab side ; and it was then so shallow, that the ferrymen jumped into the water, to assist in dragging the boat ashore.

The banks all around were flat, sandy, and uninteresting. On the same day, I arrived at Gullah, about seven miles in the interior ; and from thence passed through Pak Patan, a considerable village, built on a mound, rising alone from a perfect flat. The last place mentioned by Arrian and Quintus Curtius, in their account of Alexander's march to- ROUTE OF ALEXANDER. wards the Sutlij, is Sangala. Mr. Masson, who had visited the ruins of Hurripore, or " the green city," a few hours' march from the eastern bank of the Ravee, assured me that he felt quite convinced of this having been the site of Sangala ; and that a hill, and a lake, and other localities men tioned in the description of Alexander's victory over the Kathai, were then existing, in such a relative position to each other as to correspond exactly with the ac count given of Sangala by those authors.

It may be inferred, from what follows, that Alexander went thence directly to wards the Sutlij, and built his celebrated altars. Pak Patan lies exactly east of Hurripore. But Alexander was surely too anxious about his glory to have built his altars on the plains of India, where they would be washed away by the river, which is constantly changing its course, otherwise I should have been very much inclined, with COUNTRY ROUND MULTAN. all deference, to have placed them at Pak Patan : the name signifies, literally, " the clean ferry;" whence we should imagine that the river once flowed close to it. It is now a few miles from the Sutlij, and the country is covered with a low jungle ; but the lofty mound on which the village has gradually risen cannot but suggest the idea of a substratum of ruins ; and the place derived an interest in my eyes upon the mere possibility of what those ruins might be.

I think it probable that Alexander would rather have followed up the course of the Sutlij, for the purpose of building his altars upon the solid rock of the Hima laya. I believe that the trench and ruins first visited by Mr. Moorcroft upon the Sekunder, — the Dhar, or hill of Alexander, near the Mundeh country, — are the remains of his celebrated altars. Place and proba bility are well in accordance with this opinion ; but I shall reserve a more length- CULTIVATION OF THE PLAIN. ened dissertation on the subject, and on the position of the rock of Aomos, until I treat of my journeys to Kashmir and Tibet. My next stations were Tibi, Lukhoki, Luka, Suldera, Tiba, and Mukdam-Ram. Six miles beyond the latter place the domes of Multan were visible over the jungle. I arrived there on the sixth of April, after a very uninteresting march, though without accident or robbery.

Thanks to Captain Wade and Kissen Chund, Runjit Sing's vakeel at Lodiana, I had been furnished with a sufficient guard. There was a perfect flat or plain through out the whole distance, much was in cul tivation, but more was jungle, composed principally of a prickly mimosa, tamarisk, and byr-apple or jujube growing in isolated bushes, on a hard and sunglazed soil. Where there was cultivation, the Persian wells were seen and heard constantly at PRODUCTS OF THE PLAIN. work, for the purposes of irrigation. The crops, chiefly of wheat and barley, were every where green, and looking remarkably well; those in the Punjab were, I think, the finest . the wheat in particular, which grew here, had no stunted stalk, and was often as high and as fine-looking as I have ever seen it in Europe ; but the Lahore wheat has always been celebrated.

In the jungle were antelopes, hares, and black and grey partridges (francolins), in great abundance. Tigers are to be found in some parts of the jungle, and on the banks of the river. I did not hear of any lions, but I have known small ones to be bayonetted by Runjit Sing's hunting Sepahis, within two days' march of Lahore, and have seen their skins. Upon my arrival at Multan, 1 was domi ciled in a Bara-Deri (twelve doors) or summer house in the Bagh-i-Begi, made THE FAQUIR SHUMS-I-TABRIZ. by the Nawab Surfuras Khan, about thirty years ago ; it was cool, well-shaded with orange trees, and laid out in the usual manner, with reservoirs and fountains. The walks, intersecting each other at right angles, were raised above the parterres and flower-beds, that they might be dry when the latter are covered with water.

There are numerous gardens in the environs of Multan, often formed around the shrine of some Mussulman Faquir ; and no man will quarrel with the fanaticism which has pro cured him shade and shelter in the climate of India. In the Hazur-i-Bagh, or the garden of the Presence, on the north side of the Fort, I saw a large tree, the Mowul-Siri, grown, as they told me, from a cutting, which was originally brought from Mecca; but I do not vouch for the truth of the story. The principal shrine is that of the Faquir Shums-i-Tabriz ; Shums signifies the sun in Persia. This GREAT HEAT OF MULTAN. holy man, they say, poor and wretched, made his appearance in the bazaar at Multan, and going to a Tabaki or cook's shop, requested permission to dress his dinner, which was rudely denied him. A similar request was made to another, and was met by a similar rebuff.

The Faquir, proud and indig nant, called upon the sun to descend from heaven. The obedient luminary appeared in the air above the bazaar, and he cooked his dinner in its rays. The scorched and exhausted inhabitants of Multan crawled to him in terror, and implored him to send the sun on high again ; a request with which he at length thought proper to comply. Sir J. Malcolm, in his History of Persia, affirms that Shums-i-Tabriz was a great man of the sect of the Sufis, or oriental philosophers or free-thinkers. They be lieve in one God, and the doctrine of predestination, and generally deny the existence of future rewards and punishments ; GREAT HEAT OF MULTAN. believing the soul after death to be re absorbed into the Divine essence. Some of this sect affirm that Christ was a Sufi. After this, it is not surprising that Mul tan should be found notoriously hot ; it is further a very dry place, although nearly within the full influence of the tropical rains of India: and it was singular that scarcely any had fallen for two years lately.

I was, however, fortunate in the weather, which was cooled by repeated showers, so that the thermometer averaged only seventy-six degrees in the shade for the ten days, between the sixth and sixteenth of April, that I was there. Multan, supposed to be the capital of the Malli, of Alexander's historians, is a dusty and slovenly-looking city, containing about forty-five thousand inhabitants. The streets are narrow, and the houses are two, c MULTAN. three, and four stories high ; flat-roofed of course, and built of sun-burnt brick, with a washing of mud over them. The city wall, about five-and-thirty feet high, is of the same material, but in a decayed state. Around Multan, in various directions, are numerous hollow ways of no depth, connected by a short cut or hole through the bank, when necessary.

In the hot weather these are filled by means of a deep canal which com municates with the river Chenab. The Fort was built by Buran Bey, the son of the Emperor Jehan Guire, upon a mound that rises in the north part of the city, of which it occupies a considerable portion ; the city is about three miles in circumference. There are four gates, one of which is closed up by the order of the Maharajah Runjit Sing. The walls of the Fort, which in some places are sixty feet in height, with bastions at intervals of about seventy BUILDINGS IN MULTAN. yards, are in good repair, but mounted with a total of only six or seven ill-cast native guns. They have been surrounded by a ditch, in many places entirely de stroyed. In the interior of the Fort is the shrine of Mir Singh Puree, a Hindoo saint, and two lofty and spacious buildings erected over the tombs of two Mussulmen saints of great celebrity — Bhawul-Huk and Shah Allum.

The ground-plan of one is an octagon, with a diagonal of about eighteen yards, and buttresses at the angles. The lower part of the building is surmounted with another octagon and a dome rising to the height of a hundred feet. The whole of the outside is tastefully ornamented with coloured tiles, chiefly blue, in imitation of those of China. They were originally used in ornamenting the public buildings of Multan, and were made there ; but there is now no other manufactory of them nearer c FORT OF MULTAN. than Delhi. Runjit Sing's cannon appear to have told with great effect upon the roofs of the principal mosques. Most of the buildings of the Fort were destroyed after the capture of the city, with the ex ception of these shrines and the house of Mazuffer Khan, which stands on the most elevated part of it, and commands an ex tensive view.

This brave man, the last independent Nawab of Multan, lies buried in the Vestibule of Bhawul-Huk. For twelve years he resolutely opposed the in roads of the Sikhs, but the Fort was at last taken in the year one thousand eight hun dred and eighteen, by Kurruk Sing, the only son of Runjit, and present ruler of the Punjab. Mazuffer Khan fought in person at the Kederi gate of the Fort, and at last fell mortally wounded, after a desperate resistance. When Runjit Sing visited his tomb afterwards, he is reported SILK MANUFACTURES. to have made a speech somewhat of the same nature with that uttered by Napoleon at the tomb of Frederick of Prussia. Multan is famous for its silk manufac tures. I visited the house of a weaver ; it presented a very different appearance from the atelier of a shawl-maker in Kashmir: there I have seen twenty men at work in one room, here there are seldom more than three, who sit in a hollow in the ground, by which means their hands are brought down even with the tanee or woof, which is extended near the floor and fastened to a post not more than a foot in height.

This apparatus takes up a great deal of room, whereas the frame of the shawl-worker, which is perpendicular, does not occupy a space of more than six square yards. Seven hundred maunds of raw silk are brought to Multan every year by the Lo- MULTAN TOBACCCO. hanis, chiefly from Bokhara and Turkistan : these are manufactured in one hundred and fifty workshops. One man will finish an ordinary kaish or piece of silk in six days, perhaps three yards long and a foot and a half wide, taking eight days previously for the arrangement of the weaving apparatus. A very handsome kaish is finished in sixteen days. That of the red colour is most valuable, it is dyed with cochineal, which is brought from either Bombay or Bokhara ; that from Bombay is one rupee a seer — about a shilling a pound. Multan is also famous for its carpets and embroidery.