Rae Bareilly is the head-quarters of the local authorities in the
Byswara district, and is considered to be one of the most healthy
places in Oude. It is near the bank of the small river Saee, in a
fine, open plain of light soil, and must be dry at all seasons, as
the drainage is good; and there are no jheels or jungles near. It
would be an excellent cantonment for a large force, and position for
large civil establishments. The town is a melancholy ruin, and the
people tell me that whatever landholder in the district quarrels with
the local authorities is sure, as his first enterprise, to sack _Rae
Bareilly_, as there is no danger in doing it. The inhabitants live so
far from each other, and are separated by such heaps of ruins and
deep water-courses, that they can make no resistance. The high walls
and buildings, all of burnt brick, erected in the time of Shahjehan,
are all gone to ruin. The plain, around the town, is open, level,
well cultivated, and beautifully studded with trees. There is a fine
tank of puckah masonry to the north-west of the town, built by the
same Reotee Ram, and repaired by some member of his family, who holds
and keeps in good order the pretty garden around it. The best place
for a cantonment, courts, &c., is the plain which separates the town
from the river Saee to the south-east: they should extend along from
the town to the bridge over the Saee river.
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