LAHORE, a large and fertile province in Ilindostan; lying between the 30° and 34° of North Lat. and extend ing about 320 miles in length, and 220 in breadth. It is bounded on the north by the province of Cashmere ; on the south by Delhi, Ajmeer, and Mooltan ; on the east by the river Sutuleje, separating it from Northern Hindostan ; and on the west by the Indus, which divides it from Af ghanistan. It was reduced by the Mahommedan invaders under Sultan Baber, in the year 1520, and continued for some time to be the principal scat of the Mogul govern ment, before they had established their power in the cen tral parts of Hindostan. In 1582, as described by Abel Fazel, it contained five circars, which were subdivided into 234 pergutinahs ; and was capable of furnishing 54,480 cavalry, and 426,086 infantry. It has, of late years, fallen under the dominion of the Seiks, and greatly decayed in its prosperity. It consists of two portions of nearly equal extent ; the mountainous districts, which occupy the whole space from 32° north ; and the flat country, to the south of this latitude, which is generally known by the name of the Punjab. This appellation is sometimes erroneously ap plied to the whole province, but properly describes the lower part, referring to the five noble rivers by which it is intersected, viz. the Sutuleje, the Beyah (or Hyphasis), the Chinaub (or Acesines), the Ravey (or Hydraotes), the Behat (or Hydaspes). The climate is generally tempe rate ; and in the northern regions the degree of cold, dur ing winter, is little inferior to that of the central countries of Europe. The Punjab is by far the most fertile part of the province ; and, when properly cultivated, produces abundantly wheat, barley, rice, pulse of all sorts, sugar cane, tobacco, and various fruits. In the eastern parts, the sides of the inhabited mountains, where the earth washed down by the rain is supported by buttreases of loose stones, so as to form ranges of separate flats, produce wheat, bar ley, and a variety of small grains; while rice, though not the usual food of the inhabitants, is cultivated in the nar row vallies. In the mountainous tract towards Cashmere, pines and willows are seen on the sides of the hills ; but the climate of the northern districts being too hot for the Persian productions, yet not sufficiently warm to mature those of India, is unfavourable lur fruits and vegetables. In many parts of the province large beds of fossil salt are found ; and it is conjectured, that the mountainous tracts are rich in all sorts of minerals. As the country is subject to so many petty chiefs, in a great degree independent of one another, and scarcely subject to any authoritative head, the commerce of the country is greatly obstructed by heavy duties in passing through their different territories; and the regular trade, which the Punjab used to carry on with the other parts of Hindostan, has in a great measure ceased. The Scik chiefs, however, have begun to per ceive their error, and are endeavouring to 7.fford and restore confidence to the merchant. A trifling com merce is, in the mean time, carried on by petty traders, who procure passports from the respective rajans through whose boundaries they have to pass. In this way the pro vince exports to the countries west of the Indus, sugar, rice, indigo, wheat, and white cotton clotns ; and imports from these countries, swords, horses, fruits, • lead, and spices.
To Cashmere, its exports are nearly the same ; and its imports shawls and other cloths, saffron, and fruits. To the Deccan are exported horses, camels, sugar, rice, white cloth, matchlocks, swords, bows, and arrows ; and from that country arc imported sulphur, indigo, salt, lead, iron, spices, and European broad cloth. With the inhabitants of the mountainous parts of the province, the people of the Punjab exchange cloth, matchlocks, and horses, for iron, and other smaller commodities. Tne general rate of the revenue exacted by the Seik chiefs is one hall of the pro duce ; but the whole of this assessment is never levied, and the ryots or cultivators are treated with considerable indulgence. Owing, however, to the number of petty hos
tile states into which the country is divided, and the fre quent devastations to which it is exposed, many of its best portions, especially that which lies betwixt the Jumna and the Indus, arc very imperfectly cultivated, and much of the land entirely waste. The inhabitants are composed of Jauts, Alahommedans, Rajpoots, and other Hindoos of lower castes, Seiks, and Singhs. The Jauts, originally a tribe of Hindoos, who erected a state in the province of Agra, but no longer exist as a nation, and are chiefly found among the cultivators of the soil in Lahore. The Mahom mcdans, who are numerous, are, in the Seik territories, a poor, oppressed, and despised race, employed chiefly in tilling the ground, carrying burdens, and performing other kinds of hard labour. They arc not allowed to eat beef, or say their prayers aloud, and seldom permitted to assemble in their mosques, of which few in the province have escaped destruction. The natives of the mountains are composed of different classes of Hindoos, and differ very little from the Southern Hindoos. The goitre or swelled throat is very common among them. The inhabitants of the north-west borders are chiefly Afghans, living in small forts, or walled villages, mutually distrusting one another, and often subjected to the depredations of the Seiks. The Seiks, whose religion is a kind of deism, blended with many of the Hindoo and Mahommedan tenets, form one fourth part of the inhabitants of the Punjab ; and are daily in creasing in number by converts from other classes. They are chiefly descended from the Hindoos, whom they re semble in their cast of countenance ; but, from their fuller diet, are more robust and active, even than the Mahrattas. The original Seiks are full of intrigue, and remarkable from their insinuating manners, possessing all the artifice of the lower classes of Hindoos employed in business, and re sembling them in dress, &c. so as to be with difficulty dis tinguished. The Singhs, a name signifying lions, are those Seiks, by far the majority, who follow the tenets of Gooroo Govind, their last acknowledged religious ruler ; and have become a band of ferocious soldiers, distinguished by the free growth of the hair on their heads and beards: They are all horsemen, though many of them serve as infantry in other armies ; and their courage is equal to that of any of the natives of India, frequently roused, by their enthu siasm, to a degree of absolute desperation. They are ex tremely rough and intrepid in their address, speaking in variably in a loud tone of voice. They indulge freely in spiritous liquours, as well as in opium and bang, and are 4 rarely quite sober after sunset. The whole lower orders of the Seiks, or Singhs, are tolerably well protected from the oppression of their chefs by the precepts of their reli gion, which teaches universal equality among all woo hold their faith, and by the condition of their country, which en ables them easily to transfer themselves to the territories and service of a new leader. Owing, however, to the un- ' settled nature of the government, the whole province is in a most wretched state of cultivation, and is one of the most thinly inhabited in India. The population, dispersed over a surface of 70 000 square miles, is not supposed to exceed four millions. It might otherwise, with its great natural advantages, the remarkable fertility of its southern plains, and the temperate climate of its northern districts, form the basis of a powerful empire ; and, from its topographical situation, has been considered as the country from which Hindostan might best be ruled or conquered. See Mal colm's Political History of India, and History of the Seiks ; Foster's Journey from Bengal ; and Asiatic Annual Regis ter, vol. xi. (q)