ity of Delhi.

On the 21st we went on eight miles to the Kutb Minar, across the
range of sandstone hills, which rise to the height of about two
hundred feet, and run north and south. The rocks are for the most
part naked, but here and there the soil between them is covered with
_famished_ grass, and a few stunted shrubs; anything more
unprepossessing can hardly be conceived than the aspect of these
hills, which seem to serve no other purpose than to store up heat for
the people of the great city of Delhi. We passed through a cut in
this range of hills, made apparently by the stream of the river Jumna
at some remote period, and about one hundred yards wide at the
entrance. This cut is crossed by an enormous stone wall running north
and south, and intended to shut in the waters, and form a lake in the
opening beyond it. Along the brow of the precipice, overlooking the
northern end of the wall, is the stupendous fort of Tughlakabad,
built by the Emperor Tughlak the First[1] of the sandstones of the
range of hills on which it stands, cut into enormous square
blocks.[2]

On the brow of the opposite side of the precipice, overlooking the
southern end of the wall, stands the fort of Muhammadabad, built by
this Emperor's son and successor, Muhammad, and resembling in all
things that built by his father.[3] These fortresses overlooked the
lake, with the old city of Delhi spread out on the opposite side of
it to the west. There is a third fortress upon an isolated hill, east
of the great barrier wall, said to have been built in honour of his
master by the Emperor Tughlak's _barber_.[4] The Emperor's tomb
stands upon an isolated rock in the middle of the once lake, now
plain, about a mile to the west of the barrier wall. The rock is
connected with the western extremity of the northern fortress by a
causeway of twenty-five arches, and about one hundred and fifty yards
long. This is a fine tomb, and contains in a square centre room the
remains of the Emperor Tughlak, his wife, and his son. The tomb is
built of red sandstone, and surmounted by a dome of white marble. The
three graves inside are built of brick covered with stucco work. The
outer sides of the tomb slope slightly inwards from the base, in the
form of a pyramid; but the inner walls are, of course,
perpendicular.[5]

The impression left on the mind after going over these stupendous
fortifications is that the arts which contribute to the comforts and
elegancies of lif