Voice of History, The. Rev. F. W. Farrar, D.D., F.R.S. 478 "He shall give His angels charge over thee." Amy Parkinson. 265 335 THE Methodist Magazine. JULY, 1893. INDIA: ITS TEMPLES, ITS PALACES, AND ITS PEOPLE. BY W. S. CAINE, M.P.* XI. YDERABAD is the largest native state in India, and the Nizam is by far the most important of all the independent princes. His dominion is 80,000 square miles, and the population. 9,846,000, of whom one-tenth only are Mussulmans, a notable instance of the wonderful tenacity of Brahmanism on the Hindu mind. Secunderabad, four miles distant, is a British military cantonment, the largest station in India. There are usually stationed here about 3,000 European, and 5,000 native troops of all sorts. The cantonment covers an area of nearly twenty square miles, including the beautiful tank and the magnificent parade ground. Hyderabad is encircled by a strong bastioned stone wall, six miles in circumference, pierced with thirteen fine gateways. The *Picturesque India. By W. S. CAINE, M.P. 8vo, pp. 606. London: George Routledge & Sons. Toronto: William Briggs. Continued from October number, 1892. From pressure of other material this important series of papers has been for a time interrupted. VOL. XXXVIII, No. 1. population is 355,000. It stands in the midst of wild and rocky scenery, with isolated granite peaks. The tank which supplies the city with water is twenty miles in circumference. bazaars are picturesque beyond all description. The The Nizam's palace consists of three enormous quadrangles. These courtyards are full of armed retainers, servants, horsemen, carriages and elephants, and at busy periods of the day are very amusing. There is, however, nothing to be seen inside or outside the palace but the usual tasteless display of splendour characteristic of modern Indian princes. It accommodates 7,000 people of all sorts. In the very centre of the city, at the junction of the four main streets, is the famous Char Minar, or four towers, built about A.D. 1600, upon four grand arches, above which are several storeys of rooms originally devoted to a college. The minarets soar into the air 250 feet above, the street. This is the busiest spot in the whole city, and hours may be spent watching the picturesque scenes surrounding the Char Minar. The palace is an odd building with a terraced garden at the back as high as the topmost room. The palace is full of those mechanical nick-nacks of which Indian rajahs are so inordinately fond, of the "drop-in-a-penny-and-the-machineworks" kind, and other curiosities; in the garden are cranes of various sorts and a few animals in cages. Golconda is an ancient fortress and ruined city, about seven miles west of Hyderabad. In former times Golconda was a large and powerful kingdom of the Deccan, which rose out of the ashes of the Bahmani dynasty, and was the capital of the Kutub Shahi kings. The diamonds of Golconda, of proverbial celebrity, were |