Looting was going on to a great extent, both European and native
soldiers engaging in the work; and though strict orders had been issued
to prevent such licence, it was found impossible to check the evil. The
shots emanated from these men, who, of course, went about well armed,
and brooked no interference when in the act of securing booty.
Altercations of a serious nature had taken place between the Europeans
and Sikh soldiers, ending sometimes in blows, and often in bloodshed,
when the two parties met in a house or were busy employed in dividing
the spoil. However, in time, when most of the native troops had left
Delhi, and the European regiments were quartered in walled enclosures
with a guard at the gates to prevent egress, the looting on the part of
the private soldiers ceased, and the prize agents were enabled to gather
in the enormous wealth of the city without any trouble.

The portions of the town we passed through on that day had been pillaged
to the fullest extent. Not content with ransacking the interior of each
house, the soldiers had broken up every article of furniture, and with
wanton destruction had thrown everything portable out of the windows.
Each street was filled with a mass of debris consisting of household
effects of every kind, all lying in inextricable confusion one on top of
the other, forming barricades--from end to end of a street--many feet
high. We entered several of the large houses belonging to the wealthier
class of natives, and found every one in the same condition, turned
inside out, their ornaments torn to pieces, costly articles, too heavy
to remove, battered into fragments, and a general air of desolation
pervading each building. Much of this wholesale destruction was, no
doubt, attributable to the action of the sepoys and rabble of the city,
who during the siege, and in the state of anarchy which prevailed during
that period, had looted to their hearts' content, levying blackmail on
the richer inhabitants and pursuing their evil course without let or
hindrance. Still, that which had escaped the plundering and devastating
hands of the sepoys was most effectually ruined by our men. Not a
single house or building remained intact, and the damage done must have
amounted to thousands of pounds.

We were quite alone in most streets; deserted and silent, they resembled
a city of the dead on which some awful catastrophe had fallen. It was
difficult to realize that we were passing throug