The neighboring plain is brown and arid, but the villages which dot its surface proclaim the possibility of wresting subsistence from it. Low sandstone hills bound the horizon in almost every direction. Far away in the north the red hills of Dholpur form a background to the white walls of the great Temple of Sahamiya. On the west, within easy distance, the whitewashed Temple of Hanuman stands out against the dark flank of the flat-topped hill to which it gives a name. In the south the conical peak of Raipur dominates over the lower ranges beyond. Within the shadow of the northern end of the rock old Gwalior lies in comatose repose; and about a mile to the south of it the "Camp" carries on the commerce of the district. The chief products are grain, cotton and opium.

The territory of Sindhia, like that of Holkar to the south, is within the opium belt. While opium is cultivated for local consumption throughout Rájputána, there are two special tracts in which the poppy of commerce is grown-namely, the table-land of Central India and the valley of the Ganges, round about Patná and Benares. In the former district, which is under the rule of native princes, the cultivation of the plant is free; but duty is levied upon the manufactured article when it enters British territory. In Bengal, opium is a Government monopoly. Throughout the rest of India it is absolutely prohibited.

The total annual exports of the drug are valued at about one hundred millions of rupees, upon which the Government nets about six per cent. profit. By far the greater quantity goes to China and the Straits Settlements.

In Bengal the Government enters into yearly contracts with the cultivators to devote a certain area to the growth of the poppy. "It is a fundamental principle that they may engage or refuse to engage, as they please." Before he commences operations the cultivator receives an advance payment, the amount of which is deducted from the settlement when he delivers the opium at the collecting agency. He is paid for the produce at a fixed rate, according to quality, and is bound to make over the entire output.

The cultivation of the poppy returns large profits to the rayat, but it is a delicate process, requiring the most careful attention in all its stages. The best soil is high land, with facilities for artificial fertilization and ample irrigation. From the commencement of the rains, in about the middle of June until October, the ground is treated by several plowings, thorough and constant weedings, and two or three applications of manure. The seed is sown in the early part of November, and the fields require to be frequently irrigated between that time and February, when the plants reach maturity. After the poppies have fully flowered, the petals are picked off

and laid away, to be used ultimately as wrappers for the cakes of opium.

The following operation is the most important and delicate of the whole process, and that upon which the quantity of the output depends: In the afternoon the cultivator lightly scrapes the outer skin of the capsules with an iron instrument, and the following morning collects the juice which has exuded from the scarifications. This is the opium in a rough

state.

At the beginning of the month of April the cultivators take their produce to subordinate agencies, where it is examined and weighed, and the accounts settled.

The final process of making the opium up into balls for the Chinese market is performed at the central agencies of Patná and Gházipur. The spherical cakes are dry and in condition to be packed in chests by October.

The natives of India are not, as a general thing, addicted to the use of opium. Indeed, the difficulties in the way of securing the drug would be well-nigh prohibitive for the great mass of the people, even though the desire existed. In Rajputána and the native States in which the cultivation of opium is free, considerable quantities of it are consumed, especially by the rájás and thakúrs.

CHAPTER XIII.

AGRA, FATTEHPUR-SIKRI.

ON a day in one of the closing years of the sixteenth century a little party of four persons— father, mother and two young boys-found themselves in the heart of the Thar, or Great Indian, Desert. Attracted by the reputation for liberality of the greatest monarch of Hindustán, the man had left his home in Western Tartary, with the intention of seeking his fortune at the Court of Akbar. The little band of lonely wayfarers had been two days without food, and exhaustion threatened to make farther progress impossible.

Under these perilous conditions, the woman gave birth to a child. In their dire straits, the parents determined to abandon the babe. Laying it in the shade of a dwarf oak, and covering it with leaves, they pursued their way, the mother mounted upon the one bullock left to them. They had proceeded scarce a mile when the maternal instinct overcame the dictates of prudence, and the woman, in a paroxysm of grief, threw herself to the ground, crying, "My child! my little one!"

Unable to resist this piteous appeal, the father returned to the spot where the infant had been left, and in so doing came in sight of a caravan, by which the party was succored and enabled to reach its destination.

The "daughter of the desert," thus narrowly snatched from the jaws of death, was destined to become Empress of India, with the title of Núr Jahán— the Light of the World. Each of her brothers lived to occupy a prominent place in the pages of Indian history. One of them was the father of Mumtáj-iMahál, to whose memory Shah Jahán erected the Táj

Mahál.

He

The head of this, perhaps, the most remarkable family that ever emigrated to India, made his way by sheer talent to the highest post in the Empirethat of Itmad-ud-daulá, or High Treasurer. died at an honorable old age in possession of the high office. His daughter, the Empress, erected over his remains the beautiful tomb which stands upon the left bank of the Jumna, overlooking the city of Agra.

The building is square, with an octagonal tower, surmounted by a cupola, at each corner, and in the centre of the roof a small structure, in its principal lines not unlike the main building. The exterior is entirely of white marble, carved into lattice-work of the delicacy of lace. The same material and treatment are conspicuous in the interior, the ceiling of