, situated about midway between
Cawnpore and Futtyghur, is said to have been the capital of Hindoostaun,
and according to Hindoo tradition was the seat of the reigning Rajahs two
thousand years prior to the invasion of India by the Sultaun Timoor. If
credit be given to current report, the Hindoos deny that the Deluge
extended to India[1] as confidently as the Chinese declare that it never
reached China.

These accounts I merely state as the belief of the Hindoos, and those
the least educated persons of the population. The Mussulmauns, however,
are of a different opinion; the account they give of the Deluge
resembles the Jewish, and doubtless the information Mahumud has conveyed
to his followers was derived from that source.

Some of the people are weak enough to conjecture that Kannoge was founded
by Cain.[2] It bears, however, striking features of great antiquity, and
possesses many sufficient evidences of its former extent and splendour to
warrant the belief that it has been the capital of no mean kingdom in ages
past. The remarks I was enabled to make during a residence of two years at
Kannoge may not be deemed altogether uninteresting to my readers, although
my descriptions may be 'clouded with imperfections'. I will not, therefore,
offer any useless apologies for introducing them in my present Letter.

Kannoge, known as the oldest capital of the far-famed kingdom of
Hindoostaun, is now a heap upon heap of ruins, proclaiming to the present
generation, even in her humility, how vast in extent and magnificent in
style she once was, when inhabited by the rulers of that great empire. The
earth entombs emblems of greatness, of riches, and of man's vain-glorious
possessions; buildings have been reared by successive generations on
mounds which embowelled the ruined mansions of predecessors.

The killaah[3] (castle) in which during two years we shared an abode with
sundry crows, bats, scorpions, centipedes, and other living things, was
rebuilt about seven hundred years ago, on the original foundation which,
as tradition states, has continued for more than two thousand years. The
materials of which the walls are constructed are chiefly bricks.

It is worthy of remark, that the bricks of ancient manufacture in India
give evidence of remarkable durability, and are very similar in quality to
the Roman bricks occasionally discovered in England. At Delhi I have met
with bricks that have been undoubtedly standing six or seven c