LUCKNOW DESCRIBED.

Colonist, Issue 88, 24 August 1858, Page 4

LUCKNOW DESCRIBED.

Its Situation and Appearanee.—Lucknow, the capital of the kingdom of Oude, is situate on the right or south-west side of the Goomtee, which is navigable upwards for many miles above the town, and downwards through its whole course to its confluence with the Ganges. Heber, who saw the stream a short time after the close of the rainy season, styles it " broad and rapid;" while Lumsden at precisely the same time of the year describes it as " a paltry and narrow stream." It is ill-suited for supplying the population with water, as that which it furnishes during the rainy season can scarcely be used in consequence of the great quantity of the yellow clay which it holds suspended; "and when any great mortality prevails at Lucknow, or along the banks of the river, a putrid scum forms on its surface, occasioned by the number of. dead bodies thrown into it." At the north-western extremity of the city is a bridge, a substantial structure of masonry ;v. another to - the south-east is formed of boats! A complete iron bridge was, in 1816, sent out in sections, but the death of the importer having delayed the undertaking, it long remained suspended, in consequence, it was reported, of the reluctance of the Sovereign to complete a project commenced by a predecessor. At length, after the lapse of about 30 years, the bridge was erected, and now forms a conspicuous ornament of the city, as well as a useful addition to the means of transit. The city is represented as displaying a varied, lively, and even brilliant prospect, when viewed from a position elevated above the general height of the buildings. Of the continuous mass of erections which extends for nearly four miles along the bank, the middle part, being about a third of the whole, is considered to be the ancient city founded by Lakshmana, brother of Rama. It is meanly built, the houses having generally mud walls, with roofs of straw; and many are no better than booths of mats and bamboos, thatched with palm-branches or . leaves. The number of brick-built houses is small. With few exceptions, the streets, which are generally sunk lOor 12 feet belowthe level of the shops on each side, are crooked, and so narrow that in many places an elephant can scarcely pass; and as great numbers of those huge animals are kept by the King

and by his courtiers, they are continually forcing their way along these miserable avenues, to the annoyance and danger of the passengers and shopkeepers. Antiquities. —According to tradition, the stronghold of Lucknow was on an eminence, and was demolished by Aurungzebe, who showed his zeal for Islam by building a mosque upon its' site. Adjoining this division, and on the south-east of it, is one more recent, said to have been built principally by Saadat AH, the Nawaub Vizier, who ruled in Oude from 1798 to 1814. From the division just described, there extends towards the south-east a handsome street, represented to be a mile in length. Heber describes it as " wider than the High-street at Oxford, but having some distinct resemblance to it in the color of its buildings, and Gothic style of the greater part of them." It is called Chinka Bazaar, or Chinese Market, and has at each end a handsome gateway. Between this street and the right bank of the Goomtee is the principal residence of the King. The part called Farabaksch is towards the river, and has numerous open arcades, as well as apart; ments, not only commodious and costly, but provided.with every contrivance to mitigate the effect of a sultry climate. Gardens, well laid out and kept in high order, are interspersed through this spacious palace, and numerous large wells, while reservoirs, lined with marble, and well supplied fountains, give freshness to the air and vegetation. AH, however, in the palace of Lucknow is not of this agreeable character. In exploring the lower apartments of one portion of it, Yon Orlich discovered a room hung with black cloth, on which skeletons were painted, and where all sorts of instruments of torture were kept. According to report, refractory inmates of the harem were here confined; and in former days some, it is said, have perised in this gloomy abode.

Architecture. —-The part of the city most interesting to a stranger is remote from the Royal residence, being separated from it by the ancient and original city, to the northwest of which it is situate. This northwestern quarter is stated to have been principally built by Asofuddoulah Nawaub 'Vizier from 1775 to 1797- Its great ornament is the splendid Imaumbarah, which according to its representation in Salt's beautiful view, can scarcely be surpassed in the light and elegant style of architecture. Lord Valentia observes respecting it, " The Imaumbarah,, the mosque attached to it and the gateways that lead to it, are beautiful specimens of this architecture (light, elegant, but fantastic). From the brilliant white of the composition, and the minute delicacy of the workmanship, an enthusiast might suppose that genii had been the artificers ;" 'and Heber, a critic of high authority on such subjects, observes—" I have never seen an architectural view which pleased me more, from its richness and variety, as well as the proportions and general good taste of its principal features." It opens on the Hasanabad, a broad street running nearly from south-east to northwest, and parallel to the river. At no great disiance is a large mosque, commenced by Saadat Ali, and at his death left unfinished. On the left side of the river, and seperated by it from the palace and city, is the royal menagerie, containing a large collecticttr of animals; near it are accommodations for flocks of beautiful pigeons. Those birds are great favorites with the people cf Lucknow. Nothing is more common than to see an old man on the flat roof of a house armed with a long bamboo, having a piece of scarlet cloth at the point of it, which he waves round his head, while he shouts and whistles to the flock of pigeons flying in a circle round him, though sometimes at a considerable distance.

The Residenaj. —The British residency is near the palace, and Heber expresses his wonder that it should be guarded only by a single company of soldiers amidst a population universally armed, the British cantonment being situate beyond the river and three or four miles to the north-east In 1849, the British force stationed here was, the 2nd company 9th battalion Native Artillery, No. 18 light field battery, the 10th, 38th, and 66th regiment Native Infantry. Three or four miles south-east of the town, and near the right bank of the river, is Constantia, " a strange, fantastical, building, of every species of architecture, and adorned With minute stucco fretwork, enormous lions, with lamps instead of eyes, mandarins ana ladies with shaking heads, and all the gods and goddesses of the heathen mythology." It was built at an enormous expense by an eccentric French adventurer, named Claude Martin, who arrived in India a private soldier, and died a major-general in possession of property to the amount of several hundred thousand pounds. His body is deposited in a sarcophagus in one of thelower apartments. Martin had been bred a Romanist, but appears to have retained little of his early creed. A large share, however, of his vast wealth was devoted to charitable purposes, and a college, called after the founder " La Matiniere," preserves his memory at the place where his fortune was accumulated and his eccentricities indulged. Observatory,— Lucknow may be regarded as entitled to an honorable distinction among Indian cities, in possessing an observatory. It was established under the superintendence of Major Wilcox, who succeeded in training competent assistants for its management, the majority of whom were natives. An hospital and dispensary also afford means for the useful application of European science. A church previously existing has recently been made over to the British Government, and a sum of money assigned for its repair. Of the amount of the population of Lucknow nothing certain is ascertainable, it is estimated at 300,000. There is a large proportion of Mussulmans among the Hindoos and not a few Christians. " Besides the numerous dependents of the residency, the King has a great many Europeans .and half castes in his employ. There are also many tradesmen of both, these descriptions,

and a strange medley of adventurers of all nations and sects, who ramble hither in the hope, generally a fruitless one, of employment." Men of all classes go fully armed, even those at the shop doors being equipped with shield and sword. The site of Lucknow is probably about 360 feet above the sea. Distant N.W. from Calcutta, by Benares, Juanpoor, and Sultanpoor, 61*0 miles; by water, along the continuous lines of the Ganges and the Goomtee, 925 miles, or by the Sunderbund Passage, 1102; N.W. from Allahabad, 128 ; N.E. from Cawnpore, 53. Lat., 26° s'; long., 81°.

Sioan River Convicts.—The Daily Neivs recently published an interesting letter from the newly-appointed Bishop of Perth, in which the writer gives a narrative of a portion of his voyage form England to Western Australia on board one of the very worst class of convict ships. The letter states that the criminals put on board were.of the most ruffianly character. " The warder who came to the ship with these men said they were about as bad a body of fellows as their prison could produce." No,proper vigilance seems to have been exercised in seeing that these desperadoes came on board without implements of rescue or offence. A life-preserver was discovered on. one convict as he came over the ship's side.- Knives and files were subsequently found in possession of others. Several implements of the kind were retained undiscovered, and were used on the vo3 Tage as means of getting rid of the irons with which it became necessary for the general safety to fetter the more dangerous of the convicts. During the voyage to Bahia, whence the letter is dated, the order kept on board was so bad that "many of the men of the worst character and bent on mischief were turned loose together into a low, half-lighted prison between decks, without an officer in the ship who had any previous acquaintance with the worst characters; and, what appears more extraordinary still, with no place for the separate confinement of the refractory. The natural consequences soon made themselves manifest; in that close and sweltering atmosphere of moral pollution every species of crime rapidly developed itself. From the first the manner of the men had been unruly and turbulent; their conduct sobn became openly and flagrantly mutinous. .They half murdered a warder, the surgeon narrowly escaped for his life; with horrible imprecations and gestures they threatened a general rising and an indiscriminate massacre. The women and families of the soldiers and warders crowded wild with terror to the cuddy and poop. The crew were furnished with cutlasses, the guard were kept constantly under arms, and when the prisoners rushed in a body to batter down the bulkhead and bars which alone restrain them, orders were given to fire down the hatchway upon the turbulent and raging mass. The sight of the guns' muzzles' pointing down upon them produced a salutary effect, and the imminent risk of a successful outbreak was for the moment averted. Again and again, however, in the course of the voyage, the mutinous spirit broke out." Disadvantage of Nearsightedness. — A young clerical gentleman relates this anecdote of one of his Dutch brethren:—The old fellow was about commencing one of his spiritual exercises, when, to the disadvantage of his being a little nearsighted, was added the poor light of a country church. After clearing his throat, he gave out the hymn, prefacing it with the apology-

De light tish bad, mine eyes is dim, I cannot see to read dish hymn. The clerk, supposing it was the first stanza of the hymn, struck up the tune of common metre. The old. fellow, taken somewhat aback by this turn of affairs, corrected the mistake by saying— I dinn't mean to sing dish hymn, I only meant mine eyes ish dim. The clerk, still thinking it a continuation of the couplet, finished in the preceding strain. The old man, at this, waxed wroth, and exclaimed, at the top of his voice— I tink ter tyvel's in you all, Dat vash no hymn to sing at all. Small Things.— Small things in the hands of Providence deprive men of life in this world. Pope Adrian lost his life by a gnat. A distinguished Roman counsellor lost his life by a hair. Anacreon, the famous Greek poet, lost his life by the seed of a grape. The Emperor Charles VI. was deprived of his life by a mushroom. Music by Electric Telegraph.— -The English papers state that electricity is about to be applied to music. A performer seated before a piano, constructed for the purpose, in London, Moscow, or St. Petersburg, will play a morcean, every note of which, by means of the electric wire, will be repeated by another instrument in one of the concert rooms in Paris. Thus Thalberg will be enabled, without leaving London, to give a concert by telegraph 2000 miles off, and, we suppose, at all the intermediate stations. Yankee Eloquence.— " A pretty woman is one of the institutions of the country — an angel in dry goods and glory. She makes sunshine, blue sky, and happiness wherever she goes. Her path is one of delicious roses, perfumes, and beauty. She is a sweet poem, written in rare curls and choice calico, and good principles. 'Men stand up before her as many admiration points, to melt into cream and then butter. Her words float round the ear like music, birds of paradise, or the chimes of Sabbath bells. Without her, society would lose its truest attraction, the Church its firmest reliance, and young men the very best of comforts and company. Her influence and generosity restrain the vicious, strengthen the weak, raise the lonely, flannel-shirt the heathen, and strengthen the faint-hearted. Wherever you find the virtuous woman, you also find a pleasant fireside, bouquets, clean clothes, order, good living, gentle hearts, music, light, and model institutions generally. She is the flower of humanity, a very Venus in dimity, and her inspiration 1 is the breath of heaven."