sed through the
inception of the stupendous Plan conceived by Him could now flow
unchecked, under the beneficent influence of a sympathetic regime, into
channels designed to disclose to the world at large the potencies with
which that Plan had been endowed. The interment of 'Abdu'l-Baha Himself
within a vault of the Bab's mausoleum, enhancing still further the
sacredness of that mountain; the installment of an electric plant, the
first of its kind established in the city of Haifa, flooding with
illumination the Grave of One Who, in His own words, had been denied even
"a lighted lamp" in His fortress-prison in A_dh_irbayjan; the construction
of three additional chambers adjoining His sepulcher, thereby completing
'Abdu'l-Baha's plan for the first unit of that Edifice; the vast
extension, despite the machinations of the Covenant-breakers, of the
properties surrounding that resting-place, sweeping from the ridge of
Carmel down to the Templar colony nestling at its foot, and representing
assets estimated at no less than four hundred thousand pounds, together
with the acquisition of four tracts of land, dedicated to the Baha'i
Shrines, and situated in the plain of Akka to the north, in the district
of Beersheba to the south, and in the valley of the Jordan to the east,
amounting to approximately six hundred acres; the opening of a series of
terraces which, as designed by 'Abdu'l-Baha, are to provide a direct
approach to the Bab's Tomb from the city lying under its shadow; the
beautification of its precincts through the laying out of parks and
gardens, open daily to the public, and attracting tourists and residents
alike to its gates--these may be regarded as the initial evidences of the
marvelous expansion of the international institutions and endowments of
the Faith at its world center. Of particular significance, moreover, has
been the exemption granted by the Palestine High Commissioner to the
entire area of land surrounding and dedicated to the Shrine of the Bab, to
the school property and the archives in its vicinity, to the Western
pilgrim-house situated in its neighborhood, and to such historic sites as
the Mansion in Bahji, the House of Baha'u'llah in Akka, and the garden of
Ridvan to the east of that city; the establishment, as a result of two
formal applications submitted to the civil authorities, of the Palestine
Branches of the American and Indian National Spiritual Assemblies, as
recognized religious societies in