This page needs to be proofread.

Islam was not much at Delhi during his troublous reign, but the work commenced by his father may have steadily proceeded, in spite of the attention devoted to the new fort of Salimgarh. On the whole, however, we may suppose that the city wall was never completed. As designed, the city was probably intended to have the Kotila of Firoze Shah at the north-eastern corner, and the Purana Kila at the south-eastern corner ; if houses then extended as far as Humayun's tomb, they would have been left in an unprotected suburb, for the walls standing opposite the Purana Kila must be part of the city wall. The only cause for doubting this fact is the statement of William Finch, who visited Delhi in 1611, about seventy years after the building of Sher Shah's city, and forty years before the walls of Shah- jahanabad were started. He says, distinctly enough, " The city is two kos between gate and gate, begirt with a strong wall, but much ruinate/* Further, he says, '^ About two kos without Delhi is the remainder of an ancient mole (mahal), or hunting-house, built by Sultan Berusa (Firoze)." This makes the distance from the Ridge to (say) Humayun's tomb four kos, or eight miles, whereas it is only six miles ; but his idea of a kos is very hazy. He makes eighty-one kos from Agra to Delhi Shershahi, a distance of less than a hundred