Over and above all this our
Government has to send into Oude, to be expended there, the pay of
five regiments of infantry and a company of artillery, which amounts
to some six or seven lacs more. Oude has so many places of
pilgrimage, that it receives more in the purchase of the food and
other necessaries required by the pilgrims, during their transit and
residence, than it sends out with pilgrims who visit shrines and holy
places in other countries. It requires little from other countries
but a few luxuries for the rich--in shawls from Kashmere and the
Punjab, silks, satins, broad-cloth, muslins, guns, watches, &c. from
England.
A great portion of the salt and saltpetre required is raised within
Oude, and so is all the agricultural produce, except in seasons of
drought; and the arms required for the troops are manufactured in
Oude, with the exception of some few cannon and shells, and the
muskets and bayonets for the few disciplined regiments. The royal
family and some of the Mahommedan gentlemen at Lucknow send money
occasionally to the shrines of Mecca, Medina, Kurbala, and Nujuf
Ashruf, in Turkish Arabia; and some Hindoos send some to Benares and
other places of worship, to be distributed in charity or laid out in
useful works in their name. Some of the large pensions enjoyed by the
relatives and dependents of former sovereigns, under the guarantee of
our Government, go in perpetuity to the shrines in Turkish Arabia, in
default of both _will_ and _heir_.
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