RELIGIOUS BEGGARS AT BENARES.
From Benares our friends proceeded to Lucknow by the Oude and Rohilcund Railway; it is a distinct company from the East Indian Railway, but runs in harmony with it and serves to bring it a good deal of business. The distance is 199 miles, but so dignified is the pace of the trains that the journey from Benares to Lucknow consumes nearly twelve hours. The equipment has an appearance of antiquity, and Frank said that if the railway had been in existence in the time of Aurengzebe, he could readily believe the great conqueror had travelled in their carriage. But as the road took them through in safety he did not complain, nor did his companions, since they realized how much better the worst railway is than no railway at all.
It was evening when they reached Lucknow, so that there was no opportunity for seeing the place until the following day; the hotel where they stopped was a curious structure originally built for a wealthy native, and very badly designed for the home of Europeans. The rooms were strangely connected, that of Frank having no less than six doors, opening into as many halls and rooms; the locks were very much out of repair, and it was evident that any enterprising thief might do pretty much as he liked among heavy sleepers. The dining-room was two stories in height, and warmed by a small stove which just served to make the cold perceptible; the kitchen was a long way from the dining-room, and nearly everything was chilled through by the time it reached the table.
Bright and early the next morning the three were out of their beds and ready for a tour of the place. They drove to the most famous buildings of Lucknow, and were shown through them by the custodians or by the guide that accompanied them from the hotel, and in a little while their heads were full of palaces and Oriental gold and glitter, till Fred thought he would have a good deal of difficulty afterward in remembering "which was which."
THE IMAMBARA AT LUCKNOW.
The most gorgeous of all the edifices they saw was the Imambara, and they spent twice as much time in it as in any other. It is considered the finest of all the palaces of Lucknow, and its reputed cost is a million pounds sterling. The story is that it was begun in a time of famine to give employment to a starving population, and its construction required nearly ten years. It was not finished till 1783, so that it is quite modern by comparison with other public buildings of Lucknow. The king who built it invited architects to compete for the design, and stipulated that it should not be a copy of any existing building, and should surpass in beauty anything of the kind ever built. At the time of the capture of Lucknow the English troops destroyed a large part of the interior decorations, and since the reoccupation of the city the Imambara is used as an arsenal.