The district population, according to a census taken in 1868, numbered 608,850 souls, scattered over an area of 1227 square miles, showing a density per square mile of 496 persons. According to their religious beliefs the inhabitants are thus classified :—Hindus, 438,886, or 72O8 per cent.; Mahometans, 130,645, or 21*46 per cent.; Sikhs, 580, or *09 per cent.; others, 38,739, or 6*36 per cent. Four towns contain a population exceeding 5000,—viz., Delhi city, population 154,417; Sonipát, 12,176; Faridá-bád, 7990; and Balabgarh, 6281.

The principal agricultural products of the district are wheat, barley, sugar-cane, and cotton. In the lands of the northern part, commanded by the irrigation canals, cotton and sugar-cane are the most lucrative staples of the autumn harvest, while joár (great millet), bájrti (spiked millet), and makái (Indian corn) are grown for local consumption. The spring crops consist of the better kinds of grain, such as wheat and barley, and of gram and tobacco. In some irrigated villages a superior kind of rice is grown, but it nowhere forms a staple product. Cotton cultivation is extending, and a ready market for the fibre exists in Delhi city. The total area of the district is returned at 814,672 acres, of which 525,255 are cultivated, viz., 206,853 irrigated and 318,402 unirrigated. A tract of 1147 acres, set apart by the native rulers as a hunting ground, is now inclosed by Government as a timber preserve; and other plantations along the banks of the river have recently been formed and placed under the Forest Department. The hills produce good building stone, and a fair kind of marble of two colours, black and grey. A white clay, supposed to be kaolin, is found at Arangpur, Murádpur, and Kasmpur, and has been employed with success at the Government foundry at Rurkí for making crucibles. At the first named village is a crystal mine, no longer worked. The East India Railway and the Punjab Railway run trains into Delhi from their junction at Ghaziábád, about twelve miles distant, while the Rájputáná State Railway traverses the district for about twelve miles in the direction of Gurgáon. The Government revenue of Delhi district in 1872-76 amounted to £383,082,—of which £89,036 was derived from the land, £264,909 from salt and custom duties, and £14,086 lrom stamps. The land settlement is not a permanent one, but for a term of years. For the education of the people Government in 1872-73 maintained in whole or in part 72 schools, attended by 3645 pupils, at an outlay to the state of £7760. There were also 32 unaided indigenous schools, attended by 529 pupils in 1872-73. Three Government dispensaries gave gratuitous relief to 18,303 patients, at a cost of £925, 8s. (1872-73). For administrative purposes, the district is subdivided into three talιAls of Delhi, Larsauli, and Balabgarh. The staff consists of a deputy commissioner, with two assistants and two extra assistant commissioners, a judge of the small cause court, 3 tahsildárs and 3 naib or assistant tahsildárs, a superintendent and an assistant superintendent of police, and a civil surgeon.

The early history of the district will be found noticed below. In the last century, the Delhi empire fell under the Marhattás, and the emperor Sháh Alam became a pensioner of the Mahárájá Sindhia. In 1803 Lord Lake broke the Marhattá power. The Mughul emperor was taken under the protection of the Company, and a considerable tract of country, consisting of nearly all the present districts of Delhi and Hissar, was assigned for the maintenance of the royal family. This tract was placed under charge of a British officer as Resident, and the revenue was collected and justice administered in the name of the emperor. The annual allowance to the royal family paid from this assigned territory was originally £100,000; it was afterwards increased to £120,000, and subsequently to £150,000, exclusive of certain crown lands which yielded about £15,000 a year. The emperor received the homage of royalty; and throughout the assigned territory all judicial decrees were pronounced in his name, and sentences of death were referred to him for approval. The fiscal arrangements were under the entire control of the resident. This continued till 1832, when the office of resident was abolished, the tract being annexed to the North-Western Provinces,and a British Commissioner appointed to administer it. On the outbreak of the sepoy mutiny in 1857, the whole of the district was for a time lost to British rule, and the southern part was not subdued until after the fall of Delhi city in September 1857. In 1858 Delhi district was separated from the North-Western Provinces, and annexed to the then newly constituted lieutenant-governorship of the Punjab.

Delhi, the chief city of the district and division of the same name, and the capital of the Mughu] empire, is situated in 28° 39' 40" N. lat. and 77° 17' 45" E. long. It abuts on the right bank of the River Jumna, and is inclosed on three sides by a lofty wall of solid stone constructed by the Emperor Sháh Jahán, and subsequently strengthened by the English at the beginning of the present century by a ditch and glacis. The eastern side, where the city extends to the river bank, has no wall; but the high bank is faced with masonry, and bears from the outside the appearance of one. The circuit of the wall is 5∣ miles. It has ten gates, of which the principal are the Kashmir and Mori gates on the north; the Cabul and Lahore gates on the west; and the Ajmír and Delhi gates on the west-The imperial palace, now known as “the fort,” is situated in the east of the city, and abuts directly on the river. It is surrounded on three sides by an imposing wall of red granite, with small round towers, and a gateway on the west and south. Since the mutiny of 1857 a great portion of the palace has been demolished in order to make room for English barracks. The more beautiful buildings in the palace, viz., the entrance hall, the naubát kháná or music hall, the diwân-i-ám or hall of public audience, the diiván-i-kliás or hall of private audience, the rang mahal, and some pavilions, have been preserved intact. As Mr Fergusson well says, in his History of Architecture, however, these buildings “without the courts and corridors connecting them lose all their meaning, and more than half their beauty.” South of the fort, in the Dariáganj quarter of the city, is a cantonment for a regiment of native infantry, which, with one wing of a European regiment stationed within the fort, makes up the garrison usually stationed at Delhi. On the opposite side of the river is the fortress of Salímgarh, erected in the 16th century by Salim Sháb, and now in ruins. At this point the East India Railway enters the city by a magnificent bridge across the Jumna, passing over Salímghar, and through a corner of the fort, to the railway station within the city walls. Thence the line proceeds as the Rájputáná State Railway, and, after traversing the city, emerges through the wall on the northwest. In the north-eastern corner of the city, within the walls, and close to the Kashmir gate, are situated the treasury and other public offices. Dariáganj, the fort, the public offices, and the railway form an almost continuous line along the eastern and northern faces of the city,—the angle between them being devoted to public gardens. The area thus occupied amounts to nearly half of that of the entire city; it presents a comparatively open appearance, and forms a marked contrast to the south-west quarter of the town, which is densely occupied by the shops and dwellings of the native population.

The buildings in the native town are chiefly of brick, well-built and substantial. The smaller streets are narrow and tortuous, and in many cases end in culs de sac. On the other hand, no city in India has finer streets than the main thoroughfares of Delhi, ten in number, thoroughly drained, metalled, and lighted. The principal thoroughfare, the Chándni Chauk, or Street of Silver, leads eastwards from the fort to the Lahore gate, and is three-quarters of a mile long by 74 feet broad. Throughout the greater part of its length, a double row of ním and pipâl trees runs down its centre on both sides of a raised path, which has taken the place of the masonry aqueduct that in former days conducted water from the canal into the palace. A little to the south of the Chándni Chauk is the Jámá Masjid, or great mosque, standing out boldly from a small rocky rising ground. Begun by Sháh Jahán in the fourth year of his reign, and completed in the tenth, it still remains one of the finest buildings of its kind in India. Its front court-yard, 450 feet square, and surrounded by a cloister open on both sides, is paved with granite inlaid with marble, and commands a view of the whole city. The mosque itself, a splendid structure forming an oblong 261 feet in length, is approached by a magnificent flight of stone steps. Three domes of white marble rise from its roof, with two tall and graceful minarets at the corners in front. The interior of the mosque is paved throughout with white marble, and the walls and roof are lined with the same material. Two other mosques in Delhi deserve a passing notice,—the Kálá Masjid, or black mosque, so called from the dark colour given to it by time, and supposed to have been built by one of the early Afghan sovereigns, and the mosque of Roshán-ud-daulá. Among the more modern buildings of Delhi may be mentioned the Government College, founded in 1792, the Residency, and the Protestant church, built at a cost £10,000, by Colonel Skinner, an officer well-known in the history of the East India Company. About half-way down the Chándni Chauk is a high clock-tower, with the institute and museum opposite. Behind the Chándni Chauk, to the north, lie the Queen’s Gardens; beyond them the “city lines” stretch away as far as the well-known rocky ridge, about a mile outside the town. From the summit of this ridge the view of the station and city is very picturesque. To the west and north-west, considerable suburbs cluster beyond the walls, containing the tombs of the imperial family. That of Humáyun, the second of the Mughul dynasty, is a noble building of granite inlaid with marble. It lies about two miles from the city, amid a large garden of terraces and fountains, the whole surrounded by an embattled wall, with towers and four gateways. In the centre stands a platform about 20 feet high by 200 feet square, supported by cloisters, and ascended by four great flights of granite steps. Above, rises the Mausoleum, also a square, with a great dome of white marble in the centre. About a mile to the westward is another burying-ground, or collection of tombs and small mosques, some of them very beautiful. The most remarkable is perhaps the little chapel in honour of a celebrated Mussulman saint, Nizám-ud-dín, near whose shrine the members of the late imperial family, up to the time of the mutiny, lie buried, each in his own little inclosure, surrounded by very elegant lattice-work of white marble. The Kutab Minár, or Pillar, is situated about nine miles south of the city.

The palaces of the nobles, which formerly gave an air of grandeur to the city, have for the most part disappeared. Their sites are occupied by structures of less pretension, but still of some elegance of architectural design. The city is now amply supplied with water; and much attention has of late been paid to its cleanliness and its sanitary condition generally. The principal local institution was, until 1877, the Delhi College, founded in 1792. It was at first exclusively an Oriental school, supported by the voluntary contributions of Mahometan gentlemen, and managed by a committee of the subscribers. In 1829 an English department was added to it; and in 1855 the institution was placed under the control of the Educational Department. In the mutiny of 1857 the old college was plundered of a very valuable Oriental library, and the building completely destroyed. A new college was founded in 1858, and was affiliated to the university of Calcutta in 1864. The old college attained to great celebrity as an educational institution, and produced many excellent scholars. Under orders of the Government of the Punjab (February 1877), the collegiate staff of teachers was to be withdrawn, in order to concentrate the grant available for higher-class education upon the central and more useful institution at Lahore, the present capital of the province.

The population of Delhi in 1853 was returned at 152,424, viz., 76,390 Hindus and 76,034 Mahometans. In 1868, the census showed that since the Mutiny the Mahometan population had greatly diminished, while on the other hand the Hindus had considerably increased. In that year, the population was ascertained to be made up as follows :—Hindus, 85,087 (males 46,541 and females 38,546); Mahometans, 61,720 (males 32,361 and females 29,359); Sikhs, 357 'males 267 and females 90); other denominations, 7253 (males 4177 and females 3076): total of all religions, 154,417 (males 83,346 and females 71,071). The Delhi municipality, which also embraces the suburbs, contains a population of 184,840. The total income (mainly derived from octroi duties) in 1871-72 amounted to £25,610, or an average of 2s. 9|d. per head.

History.— From the earliest period of Indian history, Delhi or its immediate neighbourhood has been the site of a capital city. Within the circuit of a very few miles from modern Delhi, city after city has risen upon the ruins of its predecessors, and the debris of ancient buildings is now estimated to cover an area of 45 square miles. The first of these fallen capitals, Indraprástha, is supposed to date from the 15th century B.C., when the Aryan colonists of India were beginning to feel their way down the Jumna. The Sanskrit epic, the Mahábhárata, relates how the city was founded by Yudhisthira and his brothers, the five Pándavas. It lay upon the banks of the Jumna, near Humáyun’s tomb, about two miles south of the modern city; and the Migambod gliát, near the old Calcutta gate of Delhi, is believed to be its one surviving relic. A list of monarchs brings the history of Indraprástha down to the middle of the 1st century b.c., when the name of Dilli, or Delhi, is first met with. By this time the city had spread or been removed some miles to the south, as far as the site now occupied by the Kutab Minár. Another blank of several centuries occurs until the 3d or 4th century A.D. To this latter period belongs the carved iron pillar near Delhi, one of the most curious monuments in India. It consists of a solid shaft of wrought iron, upwards of 16 inches in diameter, and more than 50 feet in length, of which 22 feet are above ground. The pillar bears a Sanskrit inscription in six lines, recording the history of oneRájá Dháva, who “obtained by his own arm an undivided sovereignty on the earth for a long period.” Delhi nextmakes itsappear-ance in history at the time of the foundation of the Tomára or Tuár dynasty by Anang Pal in 736 a.d. This ruler is said to have restored the city, and during his dynasty the capital alternated between Delhi and Kanauj. About 1151 a.d. the Tomára dynasty was overthrown by Visala Deva, the Chohan king of Ajmír, but a marriage of the daughter of the vanquished monarch to the son of the conqueror united the two families. The son of this union, the famous Prithivi Rája, was the last Hindu ruler of Delhi. In 1191 came the invasion of Muhammad of Ghor. Defeated on this occasion, Muhammad returned two years later, overthrew the Hindus, and captured and put to death Prithivi Rája. Delhi became henceforth the capital of the Mahometan Indian empire, Kutab-ud-dín (the general and slave of Muhammad of Ghor) being left in command. His dynasty is known as that of the slave kings, and it is to them that old Delhi owes its grandest remains, among them Kutab-ud-dffi’s mosque and pillar, a few miles south of the modern city. The slave dynasty retained the throne till 1288, when it was subverted by Jalál-ud-dín Ghilzái. The most remarkable monarch of this dynasty was Ala-ud-dín, during whose reign Delhi was twice exposed to attack from invading hordes of Mughuls. On the first occasion, Ala-ud-dín defeated them under the walls of his capital; on the second, after encamping for two months in the neighbourhood of the city, they retired without a battle. The house of Ghilzái came to an end in 1321, and was followed by that of Taghlak. Hitherto the Pathán kings had been content with the ancient Hindu capital, altered and adorned to suit their tastes. But one of the first acts of the founder of the new dynasty, Ghiás-ud-dín Taghlak, was to erect a new capital about four miles further to the east, which he called Taghlakábád. The ruins of his fort remain, and the eye can still trace the streets and lanes of the long deserted city. Ghiás-ud-dín was succeeded by his son Muhammad Taghlak, who reigned from 1325 to 1351, and is described by Elphinstone as “one of the most accomplished princes and most furious tyrants that ever adorned or disgraced human nature.” Under this monarch the Delhi of the Taghlak dynasty attained its utmost growth. His successor Firoz Sháh Taghlak transferred the capital to a new town which he founded some miles off, on the north of the Kutab, and to which he gave his own name, Firozábád. In 1398, during the reign of Mahmud Taghlak, occurred the Tartar invasion of Timurlane. The king fled to Guzerat, his army was defeated under the walls of Delhi, and the city surrendered. The town, notwithstanding a promise of protection, was plundered and burned; the citizens were massacred. The invaders at last retired, leaving Delhi without a Government, and almost without inhabitants. At length Mahmud Taghlak regained a fragment of his former kingdom, but on his death in 1412 the family became extinct. He was succeeded by the Sáyyid dynasty, which held Delhi and a a few miles of surrounding territory till 1444, when it gave way to the house of Lodi, during whose rule the capital was removed to Agra. In 1526 Baber, sixth in descent from Timurlane, invaded India, defeated and killed Ibrahim Lodi at the battle of Pánipat, entered Delhi, was proclaimed emperor, and finally put an end to the Afghan empire. Baber’s capital was at Agra, but his son and successor, Humáyun, removed it to Delhi. In 1540 Humáyun was defeated and expelled by Sher Sháh, who entirely rebuilt the city, inclosing and fortifying it with a new wall. In his time Delhi extended from where Humáyun’s tomb now is to near the southern gate of the modern city. In 1555 Humáyun, with the assistance of Persia, regained the throne; but he died within six months afterwards, and was succeeded by his son, the illustrious Akbár.

During Akbár’s reign and that of his son Jahángír, the capital was either at Agra or at Lahore, and Delhi once more fell into decay. Between 1638 and 1658, however, Sháh Jahán rebuilt it almost in its present form; and his city remains substantially the Delhi of the present time. The imperial palace, the Jámá Masjid or great mosque,...