~oo ROMR.4 Y CTTY
Arrangements have recently been completed for the installation of
electric light, and of electric tramways to supe rsede the present horse
tramways. Near the Apollo Bandar is the Sailors' Home, erected at
the expense of a former Gaikw~,r of Baroda. The open crescent-shaped
site opposite the Sailors' Home has been set apart for the erection of a
Museum, of which His Royal Highness the Prince pf Wales laid the
foundation-stone in November, igo5. Behind the Sailors' Home is the
Yacht Club, a favourite resort of Bombay socic;ty ; adjoining it are the
club residential quarters and the grand structure of the new Tâj Mahal
Hotel. At the other end of Rampart Row i;s a white marble statue
of Queen Victoria, under a Gothic canopy, the €;ift of the same Gaikwâr.
The most important buildings in the densely built space occupying the
site of the Fort are the circular row of offices and warehouses known as
the Elphinstone Circle, the Custom House, the; '1.'own Hall, the Mint,
and the Cathedral. North of the Town Hall lies the Ballard I'ier,
whence passengers by the mail steamers embark and where also they
land.
The Castle and Fort St. George are the only two spots now retaining
any traces of the old fortifications. The existing defences of Bombay
harbour are batteries on the rocks which stud the sea from about oppo-
site the Memorial Church at Colâba to the Elphinstone Reclamation.
The one most to the south, called the Oyster Rock, is i,ooo yards
from the shore and 8,40o feet south-west of the Middle Ground
Battery. Thé fort on the Middle C=round shoal is in the middle of the
anchorage, r,8oo yards from shore. The third defence is on Cross
Island, at the north end of the anchorage, zoo yards frôm the shore and
4,00o yards from Middle Ground. There are also batteries at Malabar
Point and Mahâlakshmi on the western side of the island.
On leaving the Bazar Gate police station, which represents the most
northernly point of the Fort section, the first object of interest is the
Victoria Terminus of the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, a very
handsome building standing on the original site of an old temple of
Mumbâdevï. Opposite the station are the municipal offices, the founda
tion stone of which was laid by Lord Ripon in December, r 884.
immediately beyond them the new offices of the leading Bombay news-
paper, the Tinzes of India, have now been erected ; and thence a few
minutes' stroll will bring the visitor to the great markets, named after
Mr. Arthur Crawford, who held the post of Municipal Commissioner
from 1865 to r8gr. North of the markets lies the native city proper.
Two of the best-known thoroughfares in this portion of the island are
the Kâlb~.devi Road and Abdur Rahmân Stréet, both of which lead to
the Pâydhuni (` foot-wash') locality, so calléd from the fact that in very
ancient times a stream flowed there, in which passers-by used to wash
the dust of travel from their feet. Close to the junction of the Kâlbâ-
|
![[Digital South Asia Library]](/graphics/thirdlevel.gif)
