nd she who loved her garden, lieth now
Lapped in a garden.
And all this for Love!"

The laborers came from many parts of the world--the chief masons from
Northern India and Bagdad, the dome builders from Asiatic Turkey, and
the mosaic artists from Persia and probably Italy. Every section of
India and Central Asia was drawn upon for materials. The marble,
spotless in purity, was brought from Jeypore, 300 miles away, on the
backs of elephants and camels or by bullock carts. The red sandstone was
contributed by Fathpu Sikrij, the jasper by the Punjab, the crystal and
jade by China. The turquoises came from Tibet and the Red Sea, the
sapphires and lapis lazuli from Ceylon, coral and cornelian from Arabia,
onyx and amethysts from Persia, and the diamonds from Bundelkund.

It engaged the unceasing labor of 20,000 men for seventeen years to
complete the Taj; and like that other great tomb, the Cheops Pyramid in
Egypt, it was reared chiefly by forced labor, unpaid and uncared for,
and thereby produced great suffering and mortality. This is the chief
blemish attaching to the project that gave to art the mausoleum
overlooking the Jumna.

According to native accounts the cost of the Taj was lakhs of rupees
having to-day a value of $20,000,000; and local tradition affirms that
not half this sum was ever paid by the emperor--this is a blot upon the
sincerity and strict uprightness of the magnificent grandson of Akbar.

The Taj garden is perhaps a half mile square, and is surrounded by a
strikingly beautiful wall of masonry. It is an orderly wilderness of
rich vegetations, to be found only in Asia, and the deep greens and rich
browns of the avenues of foliage unquestionably accentuate the whiteness
of the Temple of Death. As the garden helps the tomb, so the tomb gives
expression to the garden.

The great gateway of red sandstone, whose roof is adorned by Moorish
arches and pavilions, is in itself one of India's most perfect
buildings. From its summit a perfect view of the Taj is had, with the
Jumna flowing sluggishly beneath its marble platform; and from there the
grounds are spread before the visitor in a perfect panorama. The paved
avenues, all leading to the magnificent pile, miles of marble acqueducts
filled with ornamental fish, playing fountains--all breathe the
superlative of art, every fluttering leaf whispers of the East.

Not by its size is Arjamand's tomb commanding, for its dimensions are