escaped from the boats, four were men, and they were taken out and shot. The women and children were confined in a small room, and fired upon from the windows, and, when all were either dead or wounded, the bodies were thrown into the well. This infamous spot is now enclosed by a marble structure, and the exact site of the well is marked by an angel figure, while a large and tasteful garden surrounds the sad memorial of England's darkest Indian tragedy.

Cawnpore is the greatest market town in India. All the produce of the north-west finds its way to the bazaar, which is of enormous size and crowded with merchandise, especially grain and cotton. The last is extensively grown in the neighbourhood of the city, and is now being profitably manufactured into twist and cloth at mills which have been established by Europeans within the last few years. The increase of manufactures in India is a matter of the highest national importance. Hitherto, the natives have subsisted entirely on agriculture, and, so great is the pressure of population on the acreage, that the cultivators in many parts are always only a little way removed from hunger, while a dry season inevitably produces scarcity, and sometimes famine. The statesman of our time is never allowed to forget this permanent danger to India. In the days of the Company, as in those of the Mogul emperors, famine was looked upon as an irresistible foe, whose course could not be checked, although, as often happened, whole

districts were depopulated by dearth, and the soil returned to jungle for want of tillers. England no longer folds its hands in the presence of such calamities, but every Indian statesman feels that his responsibilities are sensibly lessened by the growth of industries which, by employing labour, diminish the pressure of the popu lation on the soil.

CHAPTER XVIII.

AGRA.

January 16-18.

AGRA lies on the west bank of the Jumna river, which makes a great horse-shoe bend immediately below the city. The population is a hundred and fifty thousand souls, of whom one-third are Mussulmans. The walls include eleven square miles, only half of which area is inhabited; the remainder consists of ruins, ravines, and dusty patches of desert. Agra was the creation of Akbar, the Great Mogul, who established his metropolis and palace here in 1566. Before his day, Delhi had always been the Mahometan capital of India, but this city ceased to attract any attention from Akbar's successors for eighty years, when his grandson, Shah Juhan, built modern Delhi, which then, again, became the capital of the conquerors. These towns, and the splendid architecture which distinguishes them among all other cities of the world, are so identified with Mogul rule that, in view of descriptions to follow, it will be convenient to introduce a short but necessary sketch

of this brilliant dynasty, which raised India to the greatest prosperity she ever attained under native rule, and the art of building, in particular, to a height of excellence which has never been equalled elsewhere.

In 1526, certain disaffected Hindoo princes persuaded Baber, the sixth in descent from Timour the Tartar, to undertake the invasion of India. Baber was a Mogul,

or member of that nomad Tartar tribe whose incursions had harried India ever since the end of the thirteenth century. Hindostan was in an anarchic condition, and the kingdom of Delhi had become restricted to a very small territory when Baber attacked and captured the city in 1526. He only reigned four years, but during that time he extended his conquests until he became master of all Northern India. He was succeeded by his son, Humayoun, in 1530, who soon lost the kingdom to a revolted soldier of fortune, named Shere Khan. Sixteen years later, the weakness of this man's successor gave Humayoun an opportunity of recovering his throne; but he did not long enjoy the crown, being accidentally killed by a fall only six months afterwards. Humayoun's son, Akbar, who succeeded him at the early age of thirteen, was destined to become the greatest of all the Mahometan rulers of India. He was contemporary with Queen Elizabeth, his reign having begun two years before and ending two years after her's. He never fought a battle which he did not win, or besiege a town which he did not take, but he preferred administration

to war, and the glory of his reign depends less on his conquests than the admirable institutions by which they were consolidated. Akbar was entirely free from Mahometan bigotry or religious bias. He treated Hindoos and Mussulmans alike; married a Hindoo princess; made Hindoos his counsellors, and developed Indian nationality to the utmost of his power. Under him there arose a new creed and a new architecture, of which, while the former has decayed, the works of the latter remain, the boast of India and the wonder of the world. Akbar died in 1605, and was succeeded by his son Jehangir, who, though an able man, was a sot. In 1627, Shah Juhan, son of Jehangir, ascended the throne, and proved the most magnificent of all the Moguls. His reign embraced the most prosperous period of native rule in India; the country and finances were well administered by him, and, though he spent immense sums in gratifying his love of splendour, especially in architecture, he left large amounts in the national treasury. He was succeeded, in 1658, by his son Aurungzebe, a bigoted Mussulman, and the last of the line worthy of notice. During these reigns, the empire was extended over nearly all India, and the numerous towns, palaces, and mosques which were erected by the Moguls testify to their enterprise and magnificence. Mogul rule existed, but did not flourish, throughout the eighteenth century, but, in 1803, the British possessed themselves of Delhi. They did not, however, destroy the Mogul dynasty, but,