ar Agra, I was finally compelled to
make the best of this same spot.... In every corner I planted suitable
gardens, in every garden I sowed roses and narcissus regularly, and in
beds corresponding to each other. We were annoyed by three things in
Hindustan; one was its heat, another the strong winds, and the third
its dust. Baths were the means of removing all three inconveniences."

As I have mentioned above, there are very few vestiges remaining of
Babar's city, of his fruit and flower gardens, palaces, baths, tanks,
wells and watercourses. The Ram Bagh (p. 92) is one of the gardens
laid out either by himself or by one of his nobles, and the Zohra,
or Zuhara Bagh, near it, contains the remains of a garden-house, which
is said to have belonged to one of Babar's daughters. Opposite to the
Taj there are traces of the foundations of the city he built. Babar
planned, and his successors completed, the great road leading from Agra
to Kabul through Lahore, parts of which still remain. Some of the old
milestones can be seen on the road to Sikandra. Babar's account of the
commencement of it is very characteristic: "On Thursday, the 4th of
the latter Rebia, I directed Chikmak Bey, by a writing under the royal
hand and seal, [3] to measure the distance from Agra to Kabul; that at
every nine _kos_ he should raise a _minar_, or turret, twelve _gez_
in height, on the top of which he was to construct a pavilion; that
every ten _kos_ he should erect a _yam_, or post-house, which they call
a _dak-choki,_ for six horses; that he should fix a certain allowance
as a provision for the post-house keepers, couriers, and grooms,
and for feeding the horses; and orders were given that whenever a
post-house for horses was built near a _khalseh_, or imperial demesne,
they should be furnished from thence with the stated allowances;
that if it were situated in a _pergunna_, the nobleman in charge
should attend to the supply. The same day Chikmak Padshahi left Agra."

The promptness of Babar's administrative methods is a striking contrast
to the circumlocution of present-day departmentalism. There still
exist remains of many splendid _sarais_, or halting-places, built
along this road by different Mogul Emperors for their convenience,
from the time of Babar down to Aurangzib. One of the finest is the
Nurmahal Sarai, near Jalandhar, built by Jahangir and named after
his favourite wife. Edward Terry, who accompanied Sir Thomas Roe,
James the First's a