laid tables,
inkstands, plates, and similar fancies, as well as models of the Taj, out
of white Jeypore marble. These are the hereditary descendants and
successors of the men who in the palmy days of the Mogul power spent
their lives in decorating the royal palaces and tombs with mosaics and
tracery. Nowadays their skill is expended on mere articles of virtue, to
be sold to European tourists and English officers. Some of them are
occasionally employed by the Indian Government to repair the work
desecrated by vandals during the mutiny, and under the purely commercial
government of the East India Company. One curious phase of this work is,
that the men employed to replace with imitations the original stones that
have been stolen receive several times higher pay than the men in Akbar's
time, who did such splendid work that it is not to be approached, these
days. Several months' imprisonment is now the penalty of prying out
stones from the mosaic-work of the Taj.

This lovely structure has been described so often by travellers that one
can scarce venture upon a description without seeming to repeat what has
already been said by others. One of the best descriptions of its
situation and surroundings is given by Bayard Taylor. He says: "The Taj
stands on the bank of the Jumna, rather more than a mile to the eastward
of the Fort of Agra. It is approached by a handsome road cut through the
mounds left by the ruins of ancient palaces. It stands in a large garden,
inclosed by a lofty wall of red sandstone, with arched galleries around
the interior, and entered by a superb gateway of sandstone, inlaid with
ornaments and inscriptions from the Koran in white marble. Outside this
grand portal, however, is a spacious quadrangle of solid masonry, with an
elegant structure, intended as a caravanserai, on the opposite side.
Whatever may be the visitor's impatience, he cannot help pausing to
notice the fine proportions of these structures, and the massive style of
their construction. Passing under the open demi-vault, whose arch hangs
high above you, an avenue of dark Italian cypress appears before you.
Down its centre sparkles a long row of fountains, each casting up a
single slender jet. On both sides, the palm, the banyan, and feathery
bamboo mingle their foliage; the song of birds meets your ears, and the
odor of roses and lemon-flowers sweetens the air. Down such a vista, and
over such a foreground, rises the Taj."

Of the Taj itself