, fault has been found with its proportions by severe
critics, like the party who regards the Moti Mesjid "nun" as faulty
because she wears a point-lace collar; but the ordinary visitor will find
room for nothing but admiration and wonder. It is hard to believe that
there is any defect, even in its proportions, for so perfect do these
latter appear, that one is astonished to learn that it is a taller
building than the Kootub Minar. One would never guess it to be anywhere
near so tall as 243 feet. The building rests on a plinth of white marble,
eighteen feet high and a hundred yards square. At each corner of the
plinth stands a minaret, also of white marble, and 137 feet high. The
mausoleum itself occupies the central space, measuring in depth and width
186 feet. The entire affair is of white Jeypore marble, resting upon a
lower platform of sandstone: "A thing of perfect beauty and of absolute
finish in every detail, it might pass for the work of a genii, who knew
naught of the weaknesses and ills with which mankind are beset. It is not
a great national temple erected by a free and united people, it owes its
creation to the whim of an absolute ruler who was free to squander the
resources of the State in commemorating his personal sorrows or his
vanity."

Another distinguished visitor, commenting on the criticisms of those who
profess to have discovered defects, says: "The Taj is like a lovely
woman; abuse her as you please, but the moment you come into her
presence, you submit to its fascination."

"If to her share some female errors fall, Look in her face, and you'll
forget them all."

Passing beneath the vaulted gateway, we find a sign-board, telling that
the best place from which to view the Taj is from the roof of the
gateway. A flight of steps leads us to the designated vantage-point, when
the tropic garden, the fountains, the twin mosques in the far corners,
the river, the minarets, and, above all, the Taj itself lay spread out
before us for our inspection. The scene might well conjure up a vision of
Paradise itself. The glorious Taj: "So light it seems, so airy, and so
like a fabric of mist and moonbeams, with its great dome soaring up, a
silvery bubble," that it is difficult, even at a few hundred yards'
distance, to believe it a creation of human hands. While gazing on the
Taj, men let their cigars go out, and ladies drop their fans without
noticing it.

Descending the steps again, we pass inside, and again