auze
cloth lest they swallow and destroy minute forms of life. In the city
of Bombay, Jains have a hospital for animals, for the maintenance of
which they spend large sums of money annually. Maimed cattle, stray
dogs and cats, and decrepit animals of all kinds are sought and
brought here for asylum and care. It is even said, I cannot say with
how much truth, that they employ men to come and spend nights here
with a view to furnishing food for the many kinds of vermin which
infest the place.

[Illustration: TAJ MAHAL, AGRA]

In a sumptuous through train we now pass rapidly over nearly one
thousand miles of a country which is intensely interesting,
historically and ethnologically, and finally arrive in the famous city
of Agra, which stands supreme among Indian cities as a centre of
architectural beauty. We have here come into a distinctively
Mohammedan region; and the edifices which crown the city with glory
are not only connected with the Mohammedan faith, they are also the
masterpieces of the greatest minds of the Mogul Empire, and culminate
in the Taj Mahal, which is the most valued gem of Mohammedan
architecture, and, perhaps, the most beautiful edifice in the world.
We first turn our face toward the Fort, which is one of the
magnificent fortresses of India. Two and a half centuries ago, Shah
Jehan was the ruling Mogul. He was not only one of the greatest rulers
of the dynasty; he had also a passion for building, and was a man of
rare taste as an architect. The Agra Fort, whose stern walls of red
sandstone extend about a mile and a half, represents to us, at
present, not strength and protection, but an enclosure within which
the emperor built his great palace, which is a marvel of beauty and of
superb architectural workmanship. The most attractive of the many
parts of this palace is the Pearl Mosque, which "owes its charm to its
perfect proportions, its harmony of designs, and its beauty of
material, rather than to richness of decoration and ornament. In
design it is similar to most temples of this kind; a court-yard with a
fountain in the middle, surrounded on three sides by arcaded
cloisters; while on the entrance side and that facing it are
exquisitely chaste marble screens." "Into the fair body of the India
marble the Moguls could work designs and arabesques borrowed from the
Persia of ancient history, and flowers of exquisite hue and symmetry
suggested by the more advanced and civilized Florentine artists, who