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brick buildings, or barracks, built by the English for their soldiers.

As we have already seen, beautiful buildings are quite common in other cities in India, but there is one structure in Agra which has no parallel in all India, and perhaps not in all the world. It is the Taj Mahal, the magnificent tomb erected by the emperor Shah Jehan in honor of his wife. It is more than three centuries and a half since this palace tomb was completed, and yet everything about it is as perfect as if the workmen had left it but yesterday. As we go from The Fort along the road leading to the Taj Mahal, we see before us its shining domes and minarets.

We gain some idea of the greatness and magnificence of this work when told that it required twenty thousand men more than twenty years to build it, and that its cost was fifteen million dollars. (See page 12.)

This wonderful structure stands upon the banks of the sacred Jumna, in the midst of a garden filled with orange and lemon trees, pomegranates, palms, and rare flowering shrubs. This garden is a third of a mile square, and is surrounded by a wall sixty feet high. Even the massive wall, built of red sandstone and inlaid with marble, is richly carved in every part.

Entering through a splendid gateway, which is in itself one of the most beautiful buildings in all India, we look down a long avenue of cypress trees to the great dome which, like a cloud of snowy whiteness, crowns the Taj Mahal.

The foundation on which the building stands is a marble platform nine hundred feet square and forty

feet high. At each of its four corners there is a marble minaret. These graceful minarets stand like sentinels about the grand central dome. The whole interior of the building is lined with mosaic work.

The Mohammedans were forbidden by their Koran to copy any natural forms, but, in spite of this fact, these decorations appear very lifelike.

We recognize wreaths of jessamine and clematis. The blossoms of the pomegranate and oleander, too, are easily distinguished. These are all made of separate stones inlaid in the polished marble. Each leaf and petal is a precious stone, and sometimes as many as a hundred different gems make up a single spray of

blossoms.

There are agates, bloodstones, jasper, amethysts, lapis lazuli, onyx, and emeralds to be seen in these mosaics; while not a few more precious gems were used in the lavish decoration of these walls. Beneath the great central dome are two raised marble frames which cover the tombs of the emperor and his much loved wife.

A beautiful screen made of thick marble slabs, so carved and pierced with openwork patterns that it all appears like delicate lace, surrounds the marble tombs.

While standing here, let a few words be spoken, or a song be sung, and the notes come echoing and reechoing from the lofty dome, like voices from that dim past to which this marvelous work belongs.

Fortunate is the visitor who is favored with a view of the Taj Mahal by moonlight; for then, as some one has aptly said, "it is a dream in marble."

CHAPTER VI.

DOWN THE GANGES.

ONE of the great railway centers of India is Allahabad. It stands at the junction of two sacred rivers and is, therefore, loved by the Hindus.

Here the clear water of the Jumna, flowing into the yellow, muddy Ganges, is seen keeping its own current for some distance, as if hesitating to mingle with that filthy stream.

Allahabad has great natural advantages of communication; hence it has become the halfway station between Bombay and Calcutta, and the starting point for all the cities of northern India. Just here the Jumna River is crossed by a great railway bridge.

The Brahmins declared that the gods would never tolerate a bridge over so sacred a stream; but, to their surprise, it was built, and it still spans the river in seeming security.

A great fair, or religious festival, is held every year, during the dry season, on the wide stretch of sand which is then to be found at the junction of the rivers. Pilgrims from all parts of the Empire come to this ancient festival, some to bathe in the holy waters; others, less religious, to sell their wares.

"Holy fairs" are held at various other places in India. One of the largest is at Hardwar, the city nearest to the source of the Ganges. The devout Hindu desires to visit Hardwar, and esteems it the highest privilege to be able to make a pilgrimage the

whole length of the river, visiting all the holy cities, and washing his sins away at every sacred bathing place from Hardwar to Calcutta.

To the fair at Hardwar, as to the one at Allahabad, come multitudes of pilgrims. Two hundred thousand people have often been known to gather at one of these fairs. Think what a large city is represented by that number of inhabitants!

As soon as the pilgrims and traders arrive, they pitch their tents by the river, and in a very short time the fair is well under way. The pilgrims are happy to be near their sacred river, and the traders are happy with thoughts of increased wealth.

These fairs present to a vast number of the village people the best market they ever see, and hence their trade is very large. Whole booths are devoted to the sale of hideous-looking idols. Sweetmeats of every description, dried fruits, jewelry, shawls, and all the other wares of native manufacture, as well as all kinds of European goods, are to be found in the tent bazaars.

The din made by the dealers is simply deafening. It seems, too, the less one has to sell the more he thinks it necessary to shout about it, so that the hullabaloo raised by the man whose whole stock in trade consists of one earthenware jar is quite overwhelming.

Allahabad seems destined to be a great commercial center. Besides its ready means of communication, it is surrounded by one of the most populous and fertile districts of all India. Great quantities of cotton, sugar, and indigo are raised here.

In this region there is a good opportunity to see the

real Indian bungalow. It is built one story high, with thatched roof and broad verandas. The ceiling is usually made of tightly stretched canvas, and you soon become aware that the space between the ceiling and the roof is the home of numberless small animals, squirrels, lizards, and the like.

The house is divided into large, square rooms, provided with charpoys (the native name for a wooden bedstead) and deal tables. The floors are usually covered with straw matting. Opening out of each room

is a bathroom, with jars of cool water ranged along one side. These jars are filled every morning by the water carriers.

A few hours' ride down the river from Allahabad we come to Benares, the sacred city of India. This is the place which every devout Hindu wishes to visit at least once during his lifetime.

Benares was conquered by the Moslems, and added to the Mogul Empire.

Here the great Aurungzebe built a mosque to establish the worship of "the true prophet "; but it was all in vain, as the Hindu, undisturbed by conquest, continued his faith in his gods Vishnu, Siva, and Brahma. Every year thousands of pilgrims from all parts of India come here. They come from far-away Himalayan villages, from the table-lands of Deccan, and from the lowlands of the coast.

In days gone by these pilgrimages caused much hardship, as the long journeys had to be made on foot, or in the rude, native conveyances. Now that so many parts of the country are traversed by railroads, the devout

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