large gate
of red sandstone. In a long pool goldfish dart about under floating
lotus blossoms, and all around is luxuriant verdure, the dwelling-place
of countless singing birds; the air is filled with the odour of jasmine
and roses, and tall, slender cypresses point to heaven.

Straight in front the marble Taj Mahal rises from a terrace, dazzling
white in the sunshine--a summer dream of white clouds turned to stone, a
work of art which only love could conjure out of the rubbish of earth.
The airy cupola, the arched portals, and bright white walls are
reflected in the pool. At each of the four corners of the terrace stands
a tall slender minaret, also of white marble, and in the centre the huge
dome rises to a height of 240 feet. In the great octagonal hall below
the dome, within an enclosure of marble filigree work, stand the
monuments over Shah Jehan and his queen Mumtaz. The actual sarcophagi
are preserved in the vault beneath.

The four facades of this wonderful building are all alike, but the
background of green vegetation and the changes of light seem always to
be producing new effects. Sometimes a faint green reflection from the
foliage can be seen in the white marble; in the full sunshine it is like
snow; in shadow, light blue. When the sun sinks in the red glow of
evening, the whole edifice is bathed in orange light; and later comes
the moonlight, which is perhaps the most appropriate of all. Steamy and
close, hot and silent, now lies the garden; the illumination is icy
cold, the shadows deep black, the dome silvery white. The mysterious
sounds of the jungle are heard around, and the Jumna rolls down its
turbid waters to meet the sacred Ganges.

BENARES AND BRAHMINISM

In the drainage basin of the Ganges, through which the train is again
carrying us south-eastwards, 100 million human beings, mostly Hindus,
have their home. The soil is exceedingly fertile, and supports many
large towns, several of them two or three thousand years old, besides
innumerable villages. Here the Hindu peasants have their huts of
bamboo-canes and straw-matting, and here they cultivate their wheat,
rice, and fruits.

Our next stay is at Benares--the holiest city in the world, if holiness
be measured by the reverence shown by the children of men. Long before
Jerusalem and Rome, Mecca and Lhasa, Benares was the home and heart of
the ancient religion of India, and it still is the centre of
Brahminism and Hinduism. There are more th