searching out and bringing to justice the perpetrators of the outrages of May and June; this discrimination; this justice even to the most suspected wretches, to whom every opportunity is given of proving their innocence (one trial alone lasted ten days*); the prompt execution of those who are proved guilty; this manifest anxiety to separate friends from enemies, and to take care that only the guilty suffer; all this with the disposition of government to acknowledge and reward fidelity, is producing an immense impression. It is all so contrary to the rash and indiscriminate mode of Oriental despotism, and argues in their estimation such resources, and justice, and calm resolve as are invincible; and which it is therefore folly and madness to resist. We have seen, I believe, the last rising against British authority that India will ever witness."

* This was written before the trial of the Emperor, which occupied much more time.

CHAPTER XXV.

AGRA.

Arrival at Agra-The Taj-Its Proportions-Mosaics-The "Tribe of the Infidels""The Ornament of the Palace"-Cost of the Taj-The Fort-The Pearl Mosque -The Dewán Am-Dewán Khas-A Seat for a Sovereign-A Court of the Zēnana -The Palace of Mirrors-The Terrace-Sleeping Rooms-Town of Alexander-The Printing Establishment-Akbur's Tomb-Akbur's Character-His Legislative and Administrative Acts-His Religion-An Unexpected Meeting-Dine with my American Friends-"Young Bengal"-Illumination of the Taj-Revisit the Palace-An Indian Oubliette-The Old Hindoo Palace-Hindoo Art-A Great Well -A Pleasant Summer Residence-Presentation of Colours-Commander-in-Chief's Camp-Manly Sports-The Cathedral-Ram-bagh-Tomb of Aktmud-ood-Dowlah"The Light of the Harem"-Her Ambition and its Success.

I LEFT Delhi, by gárrhee-dâk, on the evening of December 28th, and arrived in Agra the next day about noon. On the outskirts of the city there were ruins of many gardens, tombs, and other buildings, but neither in number or beauty did they compare to those which cover the country outside the walls of Delhi.

The city of Agra is situated on the south side of the Jumna, a hundred and fifty miles below Delhi. Its buildings and public edifices are quite equal to those of Delhi, as it was the capital of the great Emperor Akbur, and was a favourite residence of several other sovereigns.

The cantonments were situated about two miles from the town. I put up at one of the hotels, which compared very unfavourably with that at Umbala.

On the day after my arrival I drove to the Taj,* the mag

*This word is a corruption of the last syllable of Moomtaz, the name of the Queen whose tomb it is. The "j" should be pronounced soft, as in French, or as if the word were written "tarshj"-remembering to give the "a" a broad sound, as in the word "father."

nificent tomb erected by Shah Jehan, the most splendid of the Mogul Emperors, over the remains of his favourite wife Moomtaz-ee-Mahul.

The Taj is built apart from all other buildings, on the banks of the Jumna, two miles east of the city. It is in a beautiful garden, surrounded on three sides by a lofty wall of redstone. The garden is entered by a magnificent gateway, which is approached through several large paved courts, used as surais.

The northern side of the garden is occupied by a chubootra, or platform of redstone, over nine hundred and fifty feet in length. It is open toward the river, and the side of it which is washed by the waters of the Jumna is protected by a water wall of squared redstone.

At each corner of this vast chubootra is a tower, with a white marble kiosk. Two mosques occupy the east and west sides. Like the towers, they are of red sandstone, inlaid with white marble. Their domes are of the latter material. The western mosque only was used for prayer, which must always be made in the direction of Mecca. That to the east was built as a jowáb, or answer to the other, in order to preserve the symmetry of the group.

Upon this redstone chubootra is reared another of white marble, which supports the Taj. The marble chubootra is over three hundred feet square, and has at each angle a round minár, one hundred and fifty feet high, with two projecting galleries, and a light kiosk, or dome, supported by columns. In the centre of the chubootra, between the minárs, is the Taj itself. Its form is octagonal, but the sides which face the four cardinal points, and contain the entrances, are by far the largest. Each is about one hundred and thirty feet long, but if produced, so that the building should be a square, would be nearly a hundred and seventy feet in length. The roof is seventy feet from the surface of the chubootra; above rises for fifty feet the circular neck of the dome. The height of the dome from where it begins to swell is seventy feet. It is surmounted by a gilt copper ornament, the top of which is two hundred and twenty feet from the marble chubootra,

and nearly two hundred and sixty feet from the ground level.*

. The proportions of the Taj are then as follows: The chubootra, on which it is situated, is one-third as long as the one of redstone which supports it, and forms the north end of the garden. The four minárs are twice as high as the walls of the Taj, and the highest point of the ornament on the dome is three times as high.

The entrances to the building are through doorways, in the back of large arched recesses, which also contain the windows, and which occupy nearly one-third of each principal side. These niches are as high as the roof, and the wall around them is continued up, as a screen, above the general level of the

eaves.

The shape of the dome, which is high in proportion to its diameter, and the great length of the circular neck on which it rests, are evidences of the late period at which the building was erected. They have been objected to by some as defects, but are really like the great size of the entrance-niches, only the carrying out of the idea and genius of Moosulman architecture, which is to give prominence to the principal features at the expense of the general mass of the building.

The Taj, its dome, the minárs, and the chubootra, are all of the purest white marble, highly polished. Every part of the whole external surface is inlaid with the most beautiful designs in various coloured stones, and yet with such surpassing skill has this been done that the general effect of the pure white surface is not interfered with, and it is only on close examination that the elaborate ornamentation is detected.

The interior of the building is a circular hall, with a domeshaped roof. The walls are all of polished marble, ornamented with designs in sculpture and mosaic. The pavement is alternate blocks of white, marble and jasper. An octagonal screen

* I think it right to state that these numbers are not the result of actual measurement by me. I computed them by comparing various authorities, so that I cannot vouch for their entire accuracy. The proportions I believe to nearly correct.

of the most delicate marble filagree work surrounds the cono taph of the Queen, which is immediately under the centre of the dome. The tomb of the Emperor, her husband, is by her side. These are both covered with elaborate mosaics, delicate as the work of Florentine jewellers. One single flower contains a hundred precious stones, each cut to the exact shape required. The Queen's tomb has upon it certain passages from the Koran, inlaid in black stone. One of these extracts, facing the entrance, terminates with the words, " And defend us from the tribe of the Infidels"-the same tribe which now governs the country of Shah Jehan, and keeps his tomb in repair. On the Emperor's tomb, which was erected by his pious son Aurungzeeb, there are no passages of the Koran. They were omitted for fear the foot of man might perchance some day tread upon the "holy words"-a very possible contingency, as things turned out.

I have now described, as well as I can, this flower and ideal of Saracenic art. I must leave it to other and more eloquent writers to dwell upon its perfect harmony, its purity, its almost heavenly beauty. It has been often said that one sight of the Taj was worth a journey from England. I will not dispute it, and I feel sure that one might make the pilgrimage, visiting on the way all the great triumphs of European art, and not find among them all anything that would compare with the Taj at Agra, in chaste beauty, perfect simplicity, and exquisite grace.

The Taj was built in the latter part of the seventeenth century by Shah Jehan, the same Emperor who founded the present city of Delhi, and built the Palace there. He had intended to build a precisely similar structure on the opposite bank, as a mausoleum for himself, connecting the two edifices by a bridge over the river. This ambitious design was begun, but never carried out, and his remains now repose in a sarcophagus beside that of his Queen.

Moomtaz-ee-Mahul, "the ornament of the Palace," for whom Shah Jehan erected this magnificent mausoleum, was the niece of the famous Noor Jehan, the wife of Jehangeer, who is the heroine of Moore's poem, "The Light of the Harem."