dan
architecture reached its height. The mausoleum is situated in a spacious
garden, the equal of which can hardly be found elsewhere, beautiful to
the eye and delightful to the senses, with fragrant flowers, exotic and
indigenous. This grand structure, with the ripeness of centuries upon
it, is no ruin; all is fragrant and fresh as at the hour when it was
completed. It is of white marble, three hundred feet in height, the
principal dome being eighty feet high, and of such exquisite form and
harmony is the whole that it seems almost to float in the air.

In the centre of the Taj, beneath the glorious dome, are two raised and
ornamented marble frames, covering the resting-place of the emperor and
his wife. How appropriate is the inscription at the threshold: "To the
memory of an undying love." As we stand beneath the cupola, let us
repeat in a low tone of voice a verse from Longfellow's "Psalm of Life";
instantly there will roll through the dimly lighted vault above a soft
and solemn repetition, which will sound as though voices were repeating
the psalm in the skies. Nothing finer or more lovely in architecture
exists than this faultless monument, this ideal of Saracenic art.

By consulting a map of India it will be seen that few regions in the
world present such an array of remarkable cities as have sprung up and
flourished in the Ganges-Jumna valley. Here we have Agra, Delhi,
Cawnpore, Lucknow, Allahabad, Benares, Mirozapur, Patna, Decca, and
Murshedabad. What historic associations arise at the bare mention of
these Indian cities!

CHAPTER IX.

On our way southward we pass through the beautiful, though small Indian
city of Jeypore, which is under native rule; those we have heretofore
visited are subject to Great Britain. It is quite ancient, though there
are no ruins here, everything giving evidence of present prosperity,
peace, and abundance. The houses are painted in rather gaudy colors, but
are neat and pretty. Queer little canvas-covered, two-wheeled carts,
their tops shaped like half an egg-shell, are drawn about the town by
bullocks at a lively trot. Some are closely curtained, containing women
of the harem. Oriental seclusion is the rule with the women. Under the
prince who rules here the population exhibits a marked contrast to those
of India generally, over which the authority of England extends. There
are no mud cabins here, no beggars, no visible want or poverty. The
people are decently clothed,