Page:Aurangzíb and the Decay of the Mughal Empire.djvu/96

must look through the eyes of Bernier, who saw it when only eleven years had passed since its completion. His description was written at the capital itself, in 1663, after he had spent four years of continuous residence there; so it may be assumed that he knew his Delhi thoroughly. The city, he tells us, was built in the form of a crescent on the right bank of the Jamna, which formed its north-eastern boundary, and was crossed by a single bridge of boats. The flat surrounding country was then, as now, richly wooded and cultivated, and the city was famous for its luxuriant gardens. Its circuit, save on the river side, was bounded by brick walls, without moat or fosse, and of little value for the purpose of defence, since they were scarcely fortified, save by some 'flanking towers of antique shape at intervals of about one hundred paces, and a bank of earth forming a platform behind the walls, four or five feet in thickness.' The circuit of the walls was six or seven miles; but outside the gates were extensive suburbs, where the chief nobles and wealthy merchants had their luxurious houses; and there also were the decayed and straggling remains of the older city just without the walls of its supplanter. Numberless narrow streets intersected this wide area, and displayed every variety of building, from the thatched mud and bamboo huts of the troopers and camp-followers, and the clay or brick houses of the smaller officials and merchants, to the spacious mansions of the chief nobles, with their courtyards and gardens, fountains and cool matted