ng train, or loping swiftly
away. Camels were seen in long strings, with their loads protruding on
either side, slowly moving over the country roads; while an occasional
elephant, with half a dozen people upon its capacious back, served to
vary the ever-changing panorama.

Our course was nearly due south, so that we felt an increased rise in
the temperature from hour to hour. As before remarked, it was a surprise
to see how many of the poor people availed themselves of the railroad.
The third class cars were thronged with them going to Benares, or some
other holy place, on religious pilgrimages; which, indeed, appears to be
the one absorbing idea of their lives. It was not unusual to see two
hundred of these pilgrims, composed of both sexes and of all ages, enter
the cars from some small station. Though these people wear the scantiest
of clothing, yet they affect strong contrasts in colors, which will give
picturesqueness even to rags. The third class cars of an Indian railroad
are little better than our cattle cars in America; and these natives
were hustled into them and locked up, much after the style of loading
live stock in Illinois.

Agra, which, like Delhi, stands not on the Ganges, but on its great
tributary, the Jumna, is an important city, fully as populous as Lahore;
and though its history is rather vague, still there are tangible
evidences carrying it back more than a thousand years, while some
authorities claim for it a much greater antiquity. Its modern history is
interwoven with the great mutiny, and our local guide wearied us by
expatiating volubly upon the subject. To all who come hither, the first
great object of interest will be the Taj Mahal, or tomb of the wife of
Emperor Shah-Jehan, the most interesting building in India, and perhaps
the most beautiful in the world. A tomb in this country means a
magnificent structure of marble, with domes and minarets, the walls
inlaid with precious stones, and the whole surrounded by gardens,
fountains, and artificial lakes, covering from ten to twenty acres.
Cheap as labor is in India, the Taj must have cost some fifteen millions
of dollars, and was seventeen years in building. The Mogul Emperor
resolved to erect the most superb monument ever reared to commemorate a
woman's name, and he certainly succeeded, for in his effort Mohammedan
architecture reached its acme. The mausoleum is situated in a spacious
garden, the equal of which can hardly be found elsewhere,