Ravi beside Chauburji
and Ranjit Singh's Paddle Steamer
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Included by Fakir Syed Aijazuddin in his illustrious book on Lahore is this sketch by an unknown lady circa 1852
It shows a branch of Ravi in the foreground rubbing its shoulders with Chauburji garden

Dickinson Brothers in 1854 based a lithograph on original sketch
Back to our branch of Ravi, in those days boarding upstream from Mirza Kamran's Baradari one could venture out to Southern suburb of Lahore which in fact was a swifter route
Here comes an interesting tale

Alexander Gardner in his memoir tells us that Ranjit Singh demanded of General Ventura a steamer to improve traffic in Ravi
Gardner, after what all he could muster from reading on paddle boat building came up with a two decked design where the paddle wheels were operated by hand

The barge when launched in Ravi could not go beyond 10 yards upstream with all the exhaustive labour, and was a failure
Interestingly "Ranjit Singh was delighted"
Gardner had installed swivel-guns amidst port holes on the lower deck enough to put the Maharajah in ecstasy

Then 'the fore and aft cabins' were filled with nautch girls and 'there was a great tamasha'
General Ventura had demanded Rs 40,000 for the project, 20,000 were sent in addition
Gardner further received a present of 3000
All for a paddle boat that did not cost more than Rs. 2000

Back to our sketch by the unknown lady, dear reader, and other than a minaret of Chauburji, a structure of interest in the distance could be made out as the Tomb of Anarkali
Anarkali, the Pomegranate Blossom, our Heroine of City Legend on which we did a thread a few months ago

My readers can reference our story on Anarkali here https://twitter.com/meemainseen/status/1300293143603142658

The Sketch and Lithograph in this thread are from
Lahore: Illustrated Views of the 19th Century by Fakir Syed Aijazuddin
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The story on Ranjit Singh's Paddle-boat comes from
Soldier and Traveler; memoirs of Alexander Gardner, Colonel of Artillery in the service of Ranjit Singh