In transcribing the following paragraphs from the Internet Archive online version of The Imperial Gazetteer’s entry on Cawnpoor, I have expanded the abbreviations for easier reading and added paragraphing and links. The illustration is in the original. The title-page bears the date 1856, but internal evidence in various entrees makes clear that the text dates from 1851. This discussion of this city in British India has particular importance because it immediately precedes the events there during the 1857 Mutiny.— George P. Landow]
Simlah. “From a Sketch by Major Luard.” Source: The Imperial Gazetteer. Click on image to enlarge it.
SIMLAH, a sanitary station, Hindoostan, in the protected Sikh territory, 60 miles Northnoprtheast of Umballa, and 7300 ft. above the sea. Besides a bazaar, which may almost be called a native town, it contains above 400 houses, built of wood and stone, in European style, and dispersed amongst forests of oaks, along the crest of different mountain-ranges. At the observatory, the summer-heat has been found seldom to rise above 72˚, and the mean temperature of the year is about 62˚ Fahrenheit. Simlah is accordingly resorted to by British invalids, who belong chiefly to the more opulent ranks. It was founded in 1819, and for several years past it has been the most frequent residence of the governor-general of India. [IV, 927]
View from Simla towards the snowcapped Himalayan peaks, often hidden by mists.
Related material
Bibliography
Blackie, Walker Graham. The Imperial Gazetteer: A General Dictionary of Geography, Physical, Political, Statistical and Descriptive. 4 vols. London: Blackie & Son, 1856. Internet Archive online version of a copy in the University of California Library. Web. 7 November 2018.
Last modified 8 November 2018