218 BÎKANER CITY
It is 6 feet thick and from 15 to 30 feet high, including a parapet 6 feet
high and 2 feet thick. There is a ditch on three sides only, the ground
on the southern face being intersected by ravines which have broken
up the whole plain in that quarter; the depth of the ditch is about
15 feet and the breadth 2o feet.
The old fort, built by Bïka three years before he founded the city,
is picturesquely situated on higli rocky ground close to, and on the
south-west side of, the city. It is small, and now rather a shrine than
a fort ; near it are the cenotaphs of Ma and two or three of his succes
sors, as well as those of some persons of less note. The larger fort
is more modern, having been built by Raja R.ai Singh between 1588
and 1593 ; it contains the old palaces, and is situated about 300 yards
from the Kot Gate of the city. It is 1,078 yards in circuit, with two
entrances, each of which has three or four successive gates ; and its
rampart is strengthened by numerous bastions about 40 feet high, and
a moat running all round in a direction parallel to the curtains without
following the curve of the bastions. The moat; is 30 feet wide at the
top but narrow at the bottom, and from 2o to 25 feet in depth. This
fort has been besieged several times, but is said to have never been
taken, though the old one once was. The palace buildings, some of
which are handsomely decorated with coloured plaster, are the work
of successive chiefs, nearly every one of whom has contributed some-
thing. The latest addition is the spacious Darbâr hall, called Ganga
Niwâs after the present Mahâ,rdja ; it is a fine building, the interior
being of carved red sandstone, the ceiling of carved wood and the
floor of marble, but being of different material. and architectural style
it does not blend very well with its surroundings. A fine library of
Sanskrit and Persian books is maintained in the fort.
The city is irregularly square in shape and contains many good
houses, faced with red sandstone richly carved, the tracery being
called khudai or nzanozziat; but the majority of these houses are situ-
ated in narrow tortuous lanes where they can scarcely be seen. The
poorer buildings are besmeared with a sort of reddish clay, abundant
in the ravines near the city, which gives the place an appearance of
neatness and uniformity, the walls being all red and the doors and
windows white. The north-western portion of the city, where the
richest bankers reside, was so much congested that it was found
necessary to extend the wall in that direction so as to bring in a
considerable area of habitable land. This is being rapidly built over,
while in the northern and north-eastern portions, where formerly there
were only a few small houses, such public buildings as the jail, hospital,
high and girls' schools, post office, and district courts have been erected.
The total number of wells in the city and fort is 45, of which 5 are
fitted with pumping. engines ; water is found from 300 to 400 feet
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