th not under very sanitary conditions. These lions
he had imported from abroad and turned loose to furnish sport to his
shooting friends; but they killed so many of the peasantry that they had
to be recaptured and confined. The town of Lashkar, the State capital
city, being reported full of plague, I was naturally careful in passing
through. Nothing in it calls for comment, however. Gwalior Fort, on a
high rocky plateau, has much historic interest. In it are the ancient
palaces, still in fair condition but long ago abandoned, certain Jain
temples covered with bas-relief carvings, tanks and many old ruins. The
entrance is handsome and impressive. My friend and myself were supplied
with an elephant, so we rode all over the immense fort, now almost
silent, having only a small guard and a few other occupants. Altogether
I enjoyed the visit very much, and after three or four days' stay
returned to Agra. Everyone knows Agra, with its heavenly Taj-Mahal, its
great fortress, its pearl mosque, its beautiful halls of audience and
its palaces. It is truly sad to know that one of our former
Governor-Generals actually proposed to tear down the Taj-Mahal so that
he could use the marble for other purposes! Among these delights of
architecture one could wander for days, ever with an unquenched greed
for the charm of their beauties. One sees marbled trellis-work of
exquisite design and execution, and inlaid flower wreaths and scrolls of
red cornelian and precious stone, as beautiful in colour as graceful in
form. Agra's cantonment avenues and parks are kept in excellent order.
The temperature at the time of my visit was delightfully cool, and the
hotel the best I had yet found in India. Fatepur Sikri, a royal city
built by Akbar, only to be abandoned by him again, is near Agra, and
possesses enough deserted palaces, mosques and other beautiful buildings
to make it well worth a visit.

There is, for instance, the great mosque, rival to the Taj-Mahal, the
inside of which is entirely overlaid with mother-of-pearl.

From Agra I went to Delhi, India's imperial city. In and around it are
innumerable palaces, mosques, tombs and forts, each and all worthy of
careful inspection; but I will only mention the Jama Musjid; inside the
fort the Diwan-i-Am, wherein formerly stood the famous peacock throne;
and the Diwan-i-Kas, at either end of which, over the outer arches, is
the famous Persian inscription, "If Heaven can be on the face of the
earth i