AGRA.
AGRA, January 17, 1890.
We left Cawnpore at five o'clock on the morning of the 15th. The train
was delayed, and I wandered about the chilly depot and caught a bad
cold. We were several hours on the train looking out upon the Oriental
scenery, the people, and the wild and domestic animals near by, and at a
distance we saw elephants, camels, droves of small donkeys, big black
goats, and long-legged pigs, flocks of paroquets and green parrots, now
and then a deer or antelope, and the usual remarkable trees and flowers.
I arrived here well fagged out, but a good night's rest made me all
right again, and I have put in two days of hard work, which I regard as
among the most remarkable of my life.
We saw many magnificent palaces and mosques, the description of which
would alone fill a large book, and I have space only to refer to the
Tâj-Mahal, which has been regarded by all who have seen it for the last
two hundred years as the most remarkable building of its kind ever
erected, and one of the wonders of the world.
Built by the Emperor Shah Jahan as a tomb for his wife, it is of pure
white marble, 186 feet square, the centre dome being 50 feet in diameter
by 80 feet high.
At the four corners stand four towers, each 137 feet high. The architect
came from Venice, and his name was Geronimo Verrone.
On the front gateway is the date, 1648, marking the completion of the
building, which was twenty years building, and cost ten millions of
dollars, nothing being paid to the twenty thousand workmen, who were
said to have been employed in its construction, except an allowance of
corn daily, and even this was carefully curtailed by rapacious officers,
causing frightful mortality among the men. Jewellers were brought from
Italy, and they inserted in the marble walls, both inside and out, in
the shape of vases and flowers, diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and other
precious stones. The more valuable ones were stolen, but since the
English have had possession they have inserted artificial ones, and we
could see what a magnificent show it must have been.
The remains of the emperor were placed in a tomb by the side of those of
his beloved wife. Each tomb had precious stones inserted in the marble,
and on the top of one I saw a place where a ruby two inches in diameter
was said to have been taken out. Ordinary stones, such as the cornelian
and amethyst, were still there. We lingered about the beautiful building
for many hours, admiring it from every point of view. My friend, Mr.
Jackson, sang a little song under the great dome, which echoed and
re-echoed, producing a remarkable effect.
I have been so much impressed with the marvellous beauty of the Tâj that
I have purchased an alabaster model of it, and having packed it
carefully hope to get it home safely. On the opposite side of the river
from the Tâj we were shown the foundation of a building which the
emperor intended to erect for his own tomb, and to connect the two by a
bridge of solid silver twelve hundred feet long, but the tale they told
us was that the emperor's son shut his father up in a prison palace for
several years, and there he died at ninety-four years of age.
The emperor, knowing that he was about to die, asked to be taken to a
marble summer-house, from which he could see the Tâj. They carried him
there, and on the spot where we stood he took a last look at the
beautiful building, and died. I know no more touching tale in all
history, and it being well told on the spot by one of the guides, was
very impressive.
This city, like most others we have seen in India, is very dirty, and we
are put to many trials and discomforts, especially in eating, for we
cannot get what we want, the hotels being very indifferent from an
American point of view.