their comrades were ordered to pile arms, which they did, and most of them went to their homes. On the 4th the Kotah contingent mutinied, and went off to join the Neemuch mutineers, consisting of a strong brigade of all arms. Their camp was at 2 m. from the Agra cantonment at Suchata. On 5th July, Brigadier Polwhele moved out with 816 men to attack them. The battle began with artillery, but the enemy were so well posted, sheltered by low trees and walls and natural earthworks, that the British fired into them with little damage. At 4 P.M. the ammunition was expended, and the guns ceased to fire; then Col. Riddell advanced with the English soldiers, and captured the village of Shahganj, but with such heavy loss that they were unable to hold their The British artillery were ground. so disabled that they could not go to assist the infantry. The order for retreat was then given. The enemy pursued with great vigour; 20 Christians were murdered, the cantonments were burnt, the records were destroyed, and the conflagration raged from the civil lines on the right to the Khelat-iGhilzi on the left.

There were now 6000 men, women, and children, of whom only 1500 were Hindus and Mohammedans, shut up in the Fort of Agra. Among these were nuns from the banks of the Garonne and the Loire, priests from Sicily and Rome, missionaries from Ohio and Basle, mixed with rope-dancers from Paris and pedlars from America. Polwhele now made Fraser second in command, and the fort was put in a thorough state of defence. Soon after Brigadier Polwhele was superseded, and Col. Cotton took his place. On the 20th of August he sent out his Brig.-Major Montgomery with a small column, and on the 24th Montgomery defeated the rebels at Aligarh, and took the place. On the 9th September Mr. Colvin, Lieut. -Governor of N. W. Provinces, died. The mutineers, after their successful engagement, marched on to Delhi, but after the fall of that city in September, the fugitive rebels, 1 See Magistrate's Mutiny.

together with those of Central India, advanced, on 6th October, against Agra. Meantime Col. Greathed's column entered the city without their knowledge, and when they, unsuspicious of his presence, attacked the place, they were completely routed and dispersed. Agra was thus relieved from all danger. In February 1858 the government of the N.W. Provinces was removed to Allahabad.

The Cantonment contains the usual buildings of a British station. There is an admirable club, which a traveller should join if he knows a member to introduce him. (4)

The Taj Mahal should be seen more than once. The best time for a first visit is late in the afternoon. A good road leads to it, made in the famine

of 1838.

It stands on the brink of

the Jumna, a little more than 1 m. E. of the Fort. The building is pro

entitled Mumtaz Mahal, lit. the "Chosen of the Palace," or more freely, "Pride of the Palace.' She was the daughter of Asaf Khan, brother of Nurjehan, the famous empress-wife of Jehangir. Their father was Mirza Ghiyas, a Persian, who came from Teheran to seek his fortune in India, and rose to power under the title of Itimadu 'd-daulah. His tomb is described below. Mumtaz -i - Mahal married Shah Jehan in 1615 A.D., had by him seven children, and died in childbed of the eighth in 1629, at Burhanpur, in the Deccan. Her body was brought to Agra, and laid in the garden where the Taj stands until the mausoleum was built. The Taj cost, according to some accounts, 18,465,186 rs., and, according to other accounts, 31,748,026 r's. It took upwards of seventeen years to build, and much of the materials and labour remained unpaid for. According to Shah Jehan's own memoirs, the masons received only 30 lakhs. There were originally two silver doors at the entrance, but these were taken away and melted by Suraj Mall and his Jats. It is uncertain who was the principal architect, but Austin de Bordeaux was then in the Emperor's service. He was buried at Agra, and it is probable that he took part in the decoration, and especially in the inlaid work, of the mausoleum.

The approach to the Taj is by the Taj Ganj Gate, which opens into an outer court 880 ft. long and 440 ft. wide, in which (1.) is the great gateway of the garden-court, which Mr. Fergusson calls “ a worthy pendant to the Taj itself." It is indeed a superb gateway, of red sandstone, inlaid with ornaments and inscriptions from the Koran, in white marble, and surmounted by 26 white marble cupolas. Before passing under the gateway, observe the noble caravanserai outside, and an equally fine building on the other side. Bayard Taylor says: "Whatever may be the visitor's impatience, he cannot help pausing to notice the fine proportions of these structures, and the rich and massive style of their construction." They are not only beautiful, but they increase the glories of the mausoleum

itself, by the contrast of their somewhat stern red sandstone with the soft and pearl-like white marble of which it is built.

Having passed the gateway, the visitor finds himself in a beautiful garden. In the centre is a stream of water, which runs the whole length of the garden, and has 23 fountains in its course. The beds of the garden are filled with the choicest shrubs and cypress trees, equal in size and beauty to those of Mazandarun. It is now that the mausoleum presents itself to the gaze in all its glory. It stands in the centre of a platform, faced with white marble, exactly 313 ft. sq. and 18 ft. high, with a white minaret at each corner 133 ft. high. It is a sq. of 186 ft. with the corners cut off to the extent of 33 ft. The principal dome is 58 ft. in diameter, and 80 ft. in height.

The Taj was repaired before the Prince of Wales's visit. The dome is brick veneered with marble, and all the slabs with which it is faced were examined, and repointed where necessary. The marble was damaged chiefly by the swelling of the iron clamps during oxidation.

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In every angle of the mausoleum is a small domical apartment, two stories high, and these are connected by various passages and halls. Under the centre of the dome, enclosed by "a trellis-work screen of white marble, a chef d'œuvre of elegance in Indian art," are the tombs of Mumtaz-i-Mahal and Shah Jehan. These, however, as is usual in Indian sepulchres, are not the true tombs-the bodies rest in a vault, level with the surface of the ground beneath plainer tombstones placed exactly beneath those in the hall above." In the apartment above, where the show tombs are, "the light, says Mr. Fergusson, "is admitted only through double screens of white marble trellis-work of the most exquisite design, one on the outer and one on the inner face of the walls. In our climate this would produce nearly complete darkness; but in India, and in a building wholly composed of white marble, this was required to temper the glare

that otherwise would have been intolerable. As it is, no words can express the chastened beauty of that central chamber, seen in the soft gloom of the subdued light that reaches it through the distant and half-closed openings that surround it. When used as a Barahdari, or pleasure-palace, it must always have been the coolest and the loveliest of garden retreats, and now that it is sacred to the dead, it is the most graceful and the most impressive of sepulchres in the world. This building too is an exquisite example of that system of inlaying with precious stones which became the great characteristic of the style of the Moguls after the death of Akbar. All the spandrils of the Taj, all the angles and more important details, are heightened by being inlaid with precious stones. These are combined in wreaths, scrolls, and frets as exquisite in design as beautiful in colour. They form the most beautiful and precious style of ornament ever adopted in architecture. Though of course not to be compared with the beauty of Greek ornament, it certainly stands first among the purely decorative forms of architectural design. This mode of ornamentation is lavishly bestowed on the tombs themselves and the screen that surrounds them. The judgment with which this style of ornament is apportioned to the various parts is almost as remarkable as the ornament itself, and conveys a high idea of the taste and skill of the Indian architects of the age" (see Hist. of Arch.)

The delicately sculptured ornamentation, in low relief, to be found in all parts of the building, is in its way as beautiful as the pietra dura work itself. There are two wings to the mausoleum, one of which is a mosque. Anywhere else they would be considered important buildings. There are three inscriptions: 1046 A. H. =1636 A.D., 1048 A.H. 1638 A.D., and 1057 A. H. =1647 A.D. Mr. Keene, who has given an excellent account of the Taj, thinks that "the inscriptions show the order in which the various parts of the building were completed.' Such then is this " 'poem in marble," whose beauty

has been faintly shadowed out. It should be seen if possible by moonlight, as well as by day. The S. face, which looks upon the garden, is perhaps the most beautiful, but the N. front which rises above the Jumna, derives an additional charm from the broad waters which roll past it.

The Fort. "Most of the magnificent Mogul buildings which render Agra so interesting in the eye of the traveller are situated within the Fort. They justify the criticism that the Moguls designed like Titans and finished like jewellers." The Fort stands on the right bank of the Jumna. The walls and flanking defences are of red sandstone, and have an imposing appearance, being nearly 70 ft. high. The ditch is 30 ft. wide and 35 ft. deep. The water gate on the E. is closed, but there are still 2 entrances the Ummer Sing gate on the S., the Delhi Gate on the W. Within it, and approached by a somewhat steep slope, is another gateway called the Hathiya Darwazah "Elephant Gate," or Inner Delhi Gate. There used to be two stone elephants here with figures of Patta and Jaimall, two famous Rajput champions; they were removed, but the marks where their feet were fixed may still be traced on the platforms on either side of the archway. There are here two octagonal towers of red sandstone, relieved with designs in white plaster: the passage between these is covered by a dome. Following the road, the traveller will then pass the Mini Bazaar, now barrack premises, and reach

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The Moti Musjid, the "Pearl Mosque," Fergusson describes as one of the purest and most elegant buildings of its class to be found anywhere." It was commenced 1056 a.H. =1648 A.D., and finished 1063 A.H. = 1655 A.D., and is said to have cost 300,000 rs. It was built by Shah Jehan on ground sloping from W. to E. The exterior is faced with slabs of red sandstone, but within with marblewhite, blue, and gray veined. entrance gateway of red sandstone, which is very fine, makes a trihedral projection from the centre of the E.

The