variety
seen in captivity, but are freeborn denizens of the forest, whose coats
glisten and whose curly tails are of unusual length.

Some of the apartments in the old palace rival anything to be seen at
Lucknow, Agra or Delhi. A gem of a temple, adjoining a public audience
hall of marvelous richness in finish, is dedicated to the awful goddess
Kali, and each morning a goat is sacrificed to this deity, ever craving
blood, by Hindu priests attached to the Maharajah's court. This is a
revolting blot on a series of majestic buildings that unite to make one
of India's greatest sights.

"How blessed would it be," you meditate, "if the betel-chewing priest
might be sacrificed in place of the innocent and helpless animal." But
no, human sacrifices are no longer permitted in India; England stopped
them years ago.

Oh, yes; the state elephant. Well, it was extremely useful, for it
rescued four stalwart native servants, laden with tiffin basket and a
dozen bottles of mineral water, from toiling up the hills on foot.
Perched on his back like nabobs, they probably indulged in remarks
disparaging of their masters, electing to walk, and mused maybe upon the
theory that now and then man meets his deserts.

CHAPTER VIII

THE WORLD'S MOST EXQUISITE BUILDING

A Mogul ruler who did things was Shah Jahan, and he came of a race not
content with ordinary achievements. His grandfather, Akbar, was probably
the greatest personage ever born in India. He it was "whose saddle was
his throne, the canopy of which was the vaulted dome of heaven." Akbar
made Eastern history, made it fast, blazoning it with proud records of
conquest and empire extension. Akbar was the grandest man who ever ruled
Central India, and it was he who developed the Mogul Empire to the
loftiest importance it attained.

Shah Jahan embellished the empire with noble structures, and his impulse
for building amounted to mania. Time annulled Akbar's achievements, but
those of his grandson stand to-day, and the structures of his era are
beautiful enough to attract admirers from every corner of the earth. A
famous critic once said that Shah Jahan built like a giant and finished
like a jeweler. His works have made Agra, of all cities in India, the
place of unrivaled interest.

[Illustration: THE TAJ MAHAL, AGRA]

Agra's Taj Mahal is the most exquisite building ever erected by the
hands of man, and is a romance as deftly wrought in marble as any writer
ever fashione