560 road N.E. from the first, and 85 miles S.W. from the second. It also stands at the head of the Gomal route from the Indus, one much followed by trade. Ghazni, as it now exists, is a place in decay, and probably does not contain more than 4000 inhabitants. It stands at the base of the terminal spur of a ridge of hills, an off- shoot from the Gul-Koh, which forms the watershed between the Arghandab and Tarnak rivers (see AI~‘GHA.TIST..’). The castle stands at the northern angle of the town next the X /
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' ' ' ._ . 4) g . ~ . ? firs O ._ - -r 34% 2 ‘Te 9 :3 ‘Q ‘ I 9 9. U- '.. -‘ll - /‘ K/zoja Bash :1 -2 :- 2 Q 2~ C C Q G C’- L. ....nup,,5: Sketch of Ghazni and its Environs. hills, and is about 150 feet above the plain. The town walls stand on an elevation, partly artificial, and form an irregular square, close on a mile in circuit (including the castle), the walls being partly of stone or brick laid in mud, and partly of clay built in courses. They are flanked by numerous towers. There is also a loopholed fausse-braye wall, and a ditch which can be filled (partially at least) from the Ghazni river, which flows close to the west of the GHAZNI town. There are three gates. The town consists of dirty and very irregular streets of houses several stories high, but with two straighter streets of n1ore pretension, crossing near the middle of the town. New fortifications had been erected previous to 1857, but their present state is not known. In 1839 they were of no real power to resist artillery of moderate calibre, though imposing in aspect and highly picturesque, judging from the views given by Sir Keith Jackson and others. Of the strategical importance of Ghazni there can hardly be a question. The view to the south is extensive, and the plain in the direction of Kanda- har stretches to the horizon. It is bare except in the vicinity of the river, where villages and gardens are tolerably numerous. Abundant crops of wheat and barley are grown, as well as of madder, besides minor products. The climate is notoriously cold,—snow lying two or three feet deep for about three months, and tradition speaks of the city as having been more than once overwhelmed by snow- drift. Fuel is scarce, consisting chiefly of prickly shrubs. In summer the heat is not like that of Kandahar or Cabul, but the radiation from the bare heights renders the nights oppressive, and constant dust—storn1s occur. It is evident that the present restricted walls cannot have contained the vaunted city of )Iahm1’1d. Probably the existing site formed the citadel only of his city. The remarks of Ibn Batuta (c. 1332) already suggest the present state of things, viz., a small town occupied, a large space of ruin; for a considerable area to the N. E. is covered with rui11s, or rather with a vast extent of shapeless mounds, which are pointed out as Old Ghazni. The only remains retaining architectural character are two remarkable towers, rising to the height of about 140 feet, and some 400 yards apart from each other. They are similar, but whether identical, in design, is not clearly recorded. They belong, on a smaller and far less elaborate scale, to the same class as the K utb Minar at Delhi. Views of one of the minarets will be found in Fergusson’s Indirm ilrc/zz'tectm'e, in Vigne's Visit to G/zazni, Cabul, ¢f.'c., in Atkinson’s Slcetclaes in Af_ql¢am'stan, and other works. Arabic inscriptions in Cufic characters show the most. northerly to have been the work of Mahmud himself, the other that of his son )Iasa’ud. On the Cabul road, a. mile beyond the Minaret of Mahmud, is a village called Rauzah (“the Garden,” a term often applied to garden- mausoleums). IIere, in a poor garden, stands the tomb of the famous conqueror himself. It is a prism of white marble standing on a plinth of the same, and bearing a Cufic inscription praying the mercy of God on the most noble Am1'r, the great king, the Lord of church and state, Abul Kasim lIahm1'1d, son of Sabuktigin. The tomb stands in a rude chamber, covered with a dome of clay, and hung with old shawls, ostrich eggs, tiger-skins, and so forth. The village stands among luxuriant gardens and orchards, watered by a copious aqueduct. Sultan Baber celebrates the excellence of the grapes of llauzah. The famous “ Gates of Sonmath” (so—styled) were at- tached to the building covering Mahm1'id’s tomb until their removal to India, 11nder Lord Ellenborough’s orders, on the evacuation of the country in 1842. The gover- nor-general’s intention, as announced in a famous prose pagan addressed to the Hindu princes, was to have carried them solemnly through Upper and Central India to Guzerat, and there to have restored them to the (long- dcsecrated) temple. Calmer reflexion prevailed, and the gates were consigned to the arsenal at Agra, where they now remain. These gates (11 feet in height, 9% in width) are ascertained to be of Himalayan cedar (deodar), and are richly carved in geometric Saracenic patterns, so that there is no likelihood of any real connexion with Somnath. But tradition did ascribe to them such a connexion. And
when Shah Shuja in 1831 treated with Maliaraja Ranjit