LAHORE, the capital of the above province, is situated on the south side of the Ravey River, which is here about three hundred yards wide. It is surrounded with lofty walls, decorated on the outside, but hastening to ruin, as are most of the private buildings. It is still a place of considerable size, with a good bazar; but it is not inhabited by wealthy people. On account of the frequent sackings it has sustained, they have migrated for safety to Amrit-sir. The palace was originally founded by Acbar, and enlarged by his successors. Across the Ravey, at Shah Durra, about two miles north of Lahore, stands the celebrated mausoleum of Jehangeer, within a wall of nearly 600 yards square. It is a magnificent building, sixty-six paces on each side, and still in very good condition. To the southward of this, in the open plain, is to be seen the tomb of Noor Jehan Begum, a building thirty-six paces square. In 1812 Runjeet Singh was building a very thick wall and rampart round the city, with a deep, broad ditch. The palace has also been surrounded by a deep and broad ditch, the whole faced with brick, and the earth thrown inwards, so as to form a broad rampart, with bastions at intervals. The city is verging to decay; yet the domes and minarets of the mosques, the lofty walls of the fort, the splendid mausoleum of Jehangeer, and the numberless inferior tombs and temples that surround the town, still render it an object of curiosity and admiration. Lahore was taken by Sultan Baber, A. D. 1520, and was for some time the seat of the Mogul government. Since that period it has undergone many revolutions, and was for a
considerable time possessed by the Abdalli Afghans of Cabul, by whom it is named Sikrei. For the last thirty years it has been under the domination of the Sikhs, and has latterly been the headquarters of Rajah Runjeet Singh, the powerful chieftain of that predatory people. The travelling distance from Delhi is 380 miles, from Lucknow 639, from Bombay 1070, and from Calcutta 1356 miles. Long. 74. 3. E. Lat. 31. 36. N.