debts
of a nation. The marble walls are richly adorned with exquisite
mosaics. Indeed, they are regarded as incomparable specimens of the
art. One can pardon the builder who engraved over the north and south
entrances to this palace of the Moguls the following lines:--

"If there be a Paradise on Earth,
It is This! It is This! It is This!"

Eleven miles from the city are found splendid ruins which are crowned
by the celebrated tower known as Kutab-minar, which is another of the
most ancient and interesting monuments of India. Originally, this
remarkable structure was a Hindu temple, and was erected probably in
the fourth century of our era. But upon the invasion of the Mussulmans
the temple was converted into a Mohammedan mosque, and the famous
tower, which is 238 feet high, and is one of the most beautifully
erected in the world, was allowed to stand. "The sculptures that cover
its surface have been compared to those upon the column of Trajan in
Rome and the Column Vendome in Paris; but they are intended to relate
the military triumphs of the men in whose honour they were erected,
while the inscription on the Kutab-minar is a continuous recognition
of the power and glory of God and of the virtues of Mohammed, his
Prophet."

[Illustration: AKBAR'S TOMB]

It is in this city that one is impressed most thoroughly with
memorials of the great Mutiny of half a century ago, where the British
were so hard pushed and suffered so terribly in those days of
bitterness which tried men's souls. And there is no memorial of this
bitter struggle, to which the British refer with so much of pride and
glory, as they do to the Cashmere gate, which they blew up and thereby
forced an entrance into the city, with a loss of much precious blood.

But it was not the Mutiny nor the massive and gorgeous emblems of
Mohammedanism which impressed the writer most in this city. It was a
vision just outside the walls of the city--a vision of great
simplicity--which thrilled his heart a few years ago. It was a very
unattractive little ruined tower, from the centre of which rose a
polished granite pillar, some thirty or forty feet high. It was
inscribed from top to bottom, and the inscription was quite legible.
It spoke not of the triumphs of war nor of the glory of human rule and
conquest. It is one of the most eloquent testimonies to the nobility
of the Buddhist faith. It was carried here only a few centuries ago by
an enlightened Mohamme