beautiful to
the eye, and delightful to the senses with fragrant flowers, exotic and
indigenous, of every hue, and in endless variety, embracing acres of
roses, "each cup a pulpit, every leaf a book." These are softly shaded
by trees scarcely less beautiful than themselves. The whole scene is
reflected in lakes of clearest water, from which scores of fountains
throw up pearly jets in the dazzling sunshine the livelong day and
through the still watches of the night. This grand structure, with the
ripeness of centuries upon it, is no ruin; there is no neglect in or
about the Taj and its gardens. All is fresh, fragrant, and perfect as at
the hour when it was completed.

The edifice, which is of white marble, a material retaining its
snow-like purity for centuries in this climate, is embellished with
domes, colonnades, towers, and all the pomp, finish, and lavishness of
Eastern architecture. It stands upon a stone platform of the same
material, from three to four hundred feet square, to reach the surface
of which one ascends about twenty steps. On the back of this platform
runs a marble balustrade overlooking the Jumna. On each corner of the
terrace is a marble minaret about a hundred and forty feet in height, of
fine proportions, like four sentinels placed there to guard the
mausoleum, which forms the centre of the platform. Two mosques, built of
red sandstone, stand between these minarets, one on the east and one on
the west side. The height of the Taj from the base to the top of the
dome must be very nearly or quite three hundred feet. The principal dome
in itself is eighty feet high, and of such exquisite form and harmony is
the whole, that it seems almost to float in the atmosphere. Agate,
sapphire, jasper, and other precious stones are wrought into flowers,
and inlaid upon the polished marble, the work having employed the best
artists for years. In the centre of the edifice, beneath the glorious
dome, are two sarcophagi covering the resting-place of the emperor and
his wife, whose bodies are in the vault below. How appropriate the
inscription at the threshold: "To the Memory of an Undying Love." On the
surrounding grounds are the fragrant blossoms of nature; within are
flower-wreaths of mosaic blooming in jasper, carnelian, and
lapis-lazuli, fresh and bright as when they came from the artist's hand
centuries ago. As we stood beneath the arched roof of the cupola, beside
the pure white tombs of glistening marble, a ve