g tour,
Allahabad, Cawnpore, Futtygurh, Mynpoorie, and Agra, we were treated
with the utmost kindness by the American and English missionaries, and
by other Christian brethren, some of whom have been life-long friends
ever since.

[Sidenote: THE BUILDINGS OF AGRA.]

We were interested in all the places we saw on this tour; but
Agra--Akbarabad, as natives always call it, the capital of Akbar, the
most remarkable emperor who ever ruled over India--had for us, as for
all who have visited it, peculiar attractions. When at some distance
from the city we saw glistening in the sun the lofty dome and the still
loftier four minarets or towers of the Taj Muhal, that wondrous
mausoleum of the purest marble, built by the Emperor Shah Jehan for a
favourite queen. On our arrival we lost no time in going to it. On
subsequent visits to Agra we renewed our acquaintance with it, and on
every new occasion its exquisite beauty and lofty grandeur enhanced our
admiration. We also saw the Motee Musjid, the Pearl Mosque as it is
called, built of marble, and called the Pearl Mosque, as I suppose, on
account of its beauty and symmetry; the grand tomb of Akbar at Secundra,
six miles from Agra; and other objects of interest. I am not to attempt
a description of these world-famed buildings of Agra. They have been
often described, and by none perhaps better than by Bishop Heber in his
journal, which is now little read, but which gives a more graphic and
accurate account of the parts of India he visited in 1825 than any I
have seen elsewhere. Of the Taj and other grand structures of the
Muhammadan emperors, he says they look as if "built by a giant and
furnished by a jeweller."

While deeply interested in much we saw in this tour of 1842-43, on it,
as well as on all subsequent tours, our great evangelistic object was
kept steadily in view. On this occasion I was accompanied by a
catechist. In the early afternoon, when we might hope to meet people
released from the work of the day, we repaired to the neighbouring
village. Often we found a large tree at the entrance to the village,
with a stone seat close to its trunk, and on it we sat down. If there
was no such seat a small native bedstead was often brought--such a thing
as a chair was unknown--and we were asked to sit, while the people
politely stood, till at our request they sat, which they can well do on
their haunches. We entered into conversation with those who gathered
around us. We asked if