-from Ceylon, garnets from Gwalior, amethyst from
Persia, and a host of the agate tribe from—any
where.
The Taj was intended to have a golden cupola,
.which had actually been commenced, but, before being
finished, became broken by a violent storm, and was
replaced by one of marble; the latter came from
Jubbulpore and Jeypore. This wonderful piece of
Eastern architecture, which in reality is so beautiful—
especially seen by moonlight—that it seems impossible
to describe it impassionately, is said to have cost three-
quarters of a million pounds sterling, and one authority
gravely adds a million to that enormous sum ; but
such was the prodigality of Shah Jehan, that he
had seriously contemplated erecting a similar structure
for his own tomb on the opposite shore of the Jumna,
and to connect the two by a marble bridge with silver
railings.
The same purity of taste and richness of fancy
exists in the Motee Musjid, or Pearl Mosque, which
stands in the centre of the Fort, a jewel of chaste
architecture. I t is likewise erected on a raised platform,
but of red sandstone, and opens upon a handsome
courtyard, with a graceful minaret at each end.
The body of the mosque is divided into a central and two
smaller side halls, each entered by a lofty arched portal,
and surmounted by three domes; an open gallery running
along the entire front, consisting of a triple row of
most exquisitely proportioned Moorish arches. Every
part of the edifice is of pure white marble, like that
of the Taj, but instead of incrustations in coloured
stone, the marble here is delicately carved into elegant
patterns and arabesques without the addition of colour,
and the effect is exceedingly beautiful.
I must now retrace my steps, and advance by the
drawbridge, spanning a deep moat, which gives admittance
to the Fort, with its high embrasured walls and
handsome gateways. I t was built by the brave Akbar,
the grandfather of Shah Jehan, about three hundred
years ago, and during the Mutiny became the refuge
of nearly 6,000 Europeans, who flocked to it from all
parts. The tales I heard here as to the origin of that
disastrous Mutiny were strange and contradictory,,
varying in degree between open insurrection and a
mere cartridge feud ; the latter, we now know, was
the approximate cause, the match that fired the train ;
but that the principal conspirators aimed much higher
is equally beyond a doubt. “ The origin of the great
Mutiny,” says Sir Richard Temple (“ Men and Events
of my Time in India ”), in quoting Sir John Lawrence,
his chiefs opinion, “ was that the Sepoys had become
too numerous and powerful in proportion to the