XIV., and resembles the ceilings at Versailles. Pounded mica has the effect of silver. Fronting the entrance, in the second room, are three rows of niches for lights, and below, standing forward a little, there are more rows of marble niches for the same. From the top, the water pours out, and falls in a broad sheet over the upper lights, and is received below in a basin, from which it again pours forth in another fall over the lower row of lights, so that you see the lights burning behind the falling waters. The waters are then received in a fountain, which springs high and sparkles in the glare, and then, running over a marble causeway, fills another beautifully carved white marble basin, from the centre of which springs another fountain, which is in the first apartment." As we wandered through the baths we recalled to mind Lady Montagu's graphic description of the scene she witnessed in the Baths at Constantinople. She tells us that, as lightly clad as Eve before the fall: "They walked and moved with the same majestic grace which Milton describes of our general mother. There were many amongst them as exactly proportioned as ever any goddess was drawn by the pencil of Guido or Titian, and most of their skins shiningly white, only adorned by their beautiful hair, divided into many tresses, hanging on their shoulders, braided either with pearl or ribbon, perfectly representing the figures of the Graces."

From the Shisa Mahal we proceeded to the Saman Burj, or Jasmine Tower, the boudoir of the chief Sultana. It is a fairy pavilion, exquisitely carved in marble, and ornamented with flowers wrought in precious stones. The court below the pavilion is arranged in squares of coloured marbles, so that the inmates of the harem could enjoy the game of pachisi somewhat similar to our draughts. A staircase leads from the Jasmine Tower to the Diwan-i-Khas, or hall of private audience. This finely proportioned hall opens by three arches on a lofty colonnade with a flat

roof, supported by noble Saracenic arches springing from graceful slender pillars arranged in pairs. The bases of the pillars are ornamented with the purest of white marble

flowers, traced so delicately on the stone that they seem rather drawn than sculptured; and these are surrounded by a band of mosaic flowers of the brightest colours. Near the Diwan-i-Khas, on a terrace facing the river, is the great

marble slab commonly called the Black Marble Throne of Jehangir. The stone has split through in a slanting direction in the middle, and the presence of iron in its composition has given it a reddish stain in one spot. Hence the legend that the throne emitted blood when desecrated by the foot of the infidel. Hawkins, who visited Agra during the reign of Jehangir, informs us that the black slab was used by the Emperor to pray upon. He writes:

"In the morning at break of day, the King is at his beads, praying, on his knees, upon a Persian lambskin, having some eight rosaries, or strings of beads, each containing 400. The beads are of rich pearl, ballace rubies, diamonds, rubies, emeralds, aloes, wood, eshem and coral. At the upper end of a large black stone on which he kneels there are figures graven in stone of the Virgin and Christ; so turning his face to the west he repeats 3,200 words, according to the number of his beads."

On the other side of the court is a white marble slab on which the Vizier sat. It overlooks the Machi Bhawan (or Fish Tank), a vast courtyard of red sandstone, which has a tank in its centre and a series of chambers on two sides. On the east there is a platform where the grandees of the Court waited till they were admitted to a private audience with the Emperor. At a corner of the square is the Naginah Musjid, or Gem Mosque, which well bears out its name. This exquisite shrine of white marble stands in the centre of a small court, walled in with white slabs, and consists of three tiny aisles, supported on square plain pillars, from which spring Saracenic arches supporting the roof, which is crowned with three domes. This was the private mosque for the ladies of the harem. They had access to it by means of a screened passage, which led by the Diwani-Am to their apartments. Following this passage we came to the royal gallery, which overlooked the Diwan-i-Am, or hall of public audience. It is a pavilion of white marble, inlaid with jasper and cornelian, in the form of flowers, orna

mented scrolls, and sentences of the Koran. Below it is an immense slab of white marble, on which he (the Emperor) was accustomed to seat himself.” Seated on the marble slab and looking down on the deserted hall and barren courtyard, the memory goes back to the scene which the Emperor witnessed when Agra had reached the meridian of its glory. Captain Hawkins, who was in high favour with Jehangir, writes:

"At three o'clock all the nobles then in Agra, who are in health, resort to court, when the King comes forth to open audience, sitting in his royal seat, and all the nobles standing before him, each according to his degree. The chiefs of the nobles standing within the red rail, and all the rest without, all being properly placed by the Lieutenant-General. The space within the red rail is three steps higher than where the rest stand, and within this red rail I was placed among the chiefest of the land. All the rest are placed in their order by officers, and they likewise are placed within another rail in a spacious place, and without the rail stand all kinds of horsemen and foot-soldiers belonging to his captains, and all other comers. At these rails there are many doors kept by a great number of porters, who have white rods to keep every one in order. In the middle of the place, right before the King, stands one of the King's sheriffs or judges, together with the chief executioner, who is attended by forty executioners, distinguished from all others by a peculiar kind of quilted caps on their heads, some with hatchets on their shoulders, and others with all sorts of whips, ready to execute the King's commands. The King hears all manner of causes in this place, staying about two hours every day for that purpose : or the Kings in India sit in judgment every day, and their sentences are put in execution every Tuesday."

It is interesting to know what manner of man was the Sovereign who was surrounded with so much splendour. Hawkins writes:

"After this he retires to his private chamber for prayers, when four or five kinds of finely dressed roast meats are set before him, of which he eats till his stomach is satisfied, drinking after his meal one cup of strong drink. He then goes into a private