LUCKNOW.
LUCKNOW, January 13, 1890.
We arrived here at twelve last night, after a tedious ride by rail, and
I was up at seven this morning, and have been all day seeing the wonders
of the city.
Since a visit to the field on which the battle of Waterloo was fought, I
have never spent a day of such absorbing interest as this, for here
Lawrence, with one thousand eight hundred men, held the fort against
fifty thousand rebels for six months, and up the road we saw came Sir
Colin Campbell and Havelock's army of relief. The buildings are riddled
with balls, and we saw where Lawrence fell and the room where he died,
July 4, 1857. Nothing could be more thrilling than to hear many
incidents of the siege related in an admirable manner by a native
guide.
We spent some hours in wandering about the building and ground held by
the English, and especially examined the big cannons, in front of which
five hundred rebels were blown away and killed.
We went to a fine Mohammedan mosque, one of the minarets of which was
covered with gold, and would make an architectural sensation if placed
in any city in Europe or America.
In the afternoon we took another ride and saw a walled enclosure of
twenty acres or so, where Havelock and his Highlanders made a breach in
the high wall, shot two thousand rebels in four hours, and buried them
on the spot.
We stopped at various mosques and public buildings, and reached the
hotel at 5 P.M.
It is a fearfully dirty place, and the sun of India, here as elsewhere,
is intensely hot, but the evenings are quite cool. I saw many elephants
and camels in the streets to-day, though horses and bullocks are
generally used, and fine carriages drawn by horses are a common sight.
We have seen Lucknow pretty thoroughly, though one might spend a week
here to advantage, especially in visiting the museum, where there are
ancient and modern curiosities of the highest interest, and the mosques,
which are exceedingly beautiful, in great contrast to the filthy Hindoo
temples. One especially reminded me of St. Mark's at Venice.