the work might then be continued. But should nothing promising be discovered, I would recommend the immediate stoppage of the work.

Since this report was written, the Reverend Mr. Sherring has published a very full and interesting account of Banâras, in which a whole chapter is dedicated to the Buddhist ruins at Sârnâth.* In Appendix B. he has also given a translation of Hwen Thsang's description of the holy places at Banâras, which is a most valuable addition, as M. Julien's French translation is not easily procurable.

See Chapter XVIII., p. 230 of "The Sacred City of the Hindus," an account of Banaras in ancient and modern times,—by the Reverend M. A, Sherring, with an introduction by Fitz Edward Hall, Esq.

Report of Operations of the Archæological Surveyor to the Government of

India during season 1862-63.

NOTE.

IN A. D. 634, when the Chinese pilgrim Hwen Thsang crossed the Satlaj from the westward, the first place that he visited was Po-li-ye-to-lo, or Pariyatra, which has been identified by M. St. Martin with Vairát, to the northward of Jaypur. This place I have not yet visited, as my explorations during the cold season of 1862-63 were confined to Delhi, Mathura, and Khâlsi, on the line of the Jumna and to the ancient cities lying north of that river in the Gangetic Doab, Oudh, and Rohilkhand. In these provinces, I have followed Hwen Thsang's route from Mathura to Srávasti; and, with his aid, I have been successful in discovering the once famous cities of Ahi-chhatra, Kosambi, Sháchi, and Srávasti. The sites of other celebrated places have likewise been determined with almost equal certainty, as Srughna, Madipur, Govisana, Pilosana, Kusapura, and Dhopipapura. I begin the account of my explorations at Delhi, which is the only place of note not visited by the Chinese pilgrim, whose route I take up at Mathura, and follow throughout Rohilkhand, the Doab, and Oudh. The places visited during this tour are accordingly described in the following order:

XXIII. Dewal.

XXIV. Parasüa Kot.

XXV. Bilai-khera.

XXVI. Kâbar.

I. DELHI.

The remains of Delhi are graphically described by Bishop Heber* as "a very awful scene of desolation, ruins after ruins, tombs after tombs, fragments of brick-work, free"stone, granite, and marble, scattered everywhere over a soil "naturally rocky and barren, without cultivation, except in "one or two small spots, and without a single tree." This waste of ruins extends from the south end of the present city of Shahjahânâbâd to the deserted forts of Rai Pithora and Tughlakabad, a distance of 10 miles. The breadth at the northern end, opposite Firuz Shah's Kotila, is about 3 miles, and at the southern end, from the Kutb Minar to Tughlakabad, it is rather more than 6 miles; the whole arca covered with ruins being not less than 45 square miles. It is most probable, however, that not more than a third of this extent was ever occupied at any one period, as the present ruins are the remains of seven cities, which were built at different times by seven of the old Kings of Delhi.†

Other forts are recorded to have been built by the Emperors Balban, Kai-Kubâd, and Mubârak; but there are no remains of them now existing, and the very sites of them are doubtful. It seems even probable that there were no remains of these three cities so far back as A. D. 1611, in the reign of Jahangir, when the English merchant, William Finch, travelling from Agra to Delhi, entered the Mogul

Journal II., page 290.

+ See Plate No. XXXV, for a map of the ruins at Delhi.

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