Remonstrantie 7.1

7.1

Lahore is situated in 32° latitude, 300 kos north-west of Agra. It was a great centre of trade in the days before the English came to Agra, and the Armenian and Aleppo merchants did a large and very profitable business. In those days the chief market for indigo was Lahore rather than Agra, because it was more convenient for the merchants, who travelled in caravans at fixed seasons by way of Kandahar and Ispahan to Aleppo; and this is why the indigo which reached Europe from Aleppo or the Levant was known as Lauri, or more properly Lahori. A brisk business is still done in the fine cotton goods of Masulipatam, or Golconda and Mongapatnam, but nothing like what was formerly transacted. The trade of Lahore may in fact be called dead, for exports are limited to the requirements of Persia and Turkey, because the profits cannot stand the great costs of overland transit compared to those of our sea-carriage. Lahore thus lost practically all its trade, and the substantial Hindus, or Khattris, whose reputation still survives, lived on what was left of their old profits. For some years however the present King has spent five or six of the cool months of each year in Lahore (the rest, or hot weather, being spent in Kashmir or Kabul), and the city has now recovered, but more in splendour, royal buildings, palaces, and gardens, than in point of wealth. The river Ravi flows past the city.