ugh commonly made, is erroneous. The building
is named the 'assembly house' (jama'at khana), or 'guest-house'
(mihman khana) and was intended as the place for the congregation to
assemble before prayers, or on the anniversaries of the deaths of the
Emperor Shah Jahan or his consort. Taj Mahal (Muh. Latif, _Agra_, p.
113). Of course, it also serves as an architectural balance for the
mosque.

15. The gardens of the Taj have been much improved since the author's
time, and are now under the care of a skilled European
superintendent, and full of beautiful shrubs and trees. The author's
measurements of the quadrangle seem to be wrong. Different figures
are given by Moin-ud-din (_Hist. of the Taj_, p. 29) and Fergusson
(ed. 1910, vol. ii, p. 313). No official survey is available.

16. The white marble that forms the substance of the building came,
Mr. Keene thinks, from Makrana near Jaipur, but according to Mr.
Hacket (_Records of the Geographical Survey of India_, x. 84), from
Raiwala in Jaipur, near the Alwar border [note]. The account of these
marbles given in the _Rajputana Gazetteer_, 1st ed. (ii. 127) favours
Mr. Keene's view' (_N.W.P. Gazetteer_, 1st ed., vol. vii, p. 707).
The ornamental stones used for the inlay work in the Taj are lapis
lazuli, jasper, heliotrope, Chalcedon agate, chalcedony, cornelian,
sarde, plasma (or quartz and chlorite), yellow and striped marble,
clay slate, and nephrite, or jade (_Dr. Voysey, in Asiatic
Researches_, vol. xv, p. 429, quoted by V. Bail in _Records of the
Geological Survey of India_, vii. 109). Moin-ud-din (pp. 27-9) gives
a longer list, from the custodians' Persian account.

17. There is some exaggeration in this statement. Shah Jahan's
concern was with his wife's tomb, and his fortified palaces, more
than with 'the cities'.

18. Sleeman's talk about Austin de Bordeaux is wholly based on his
misreading of _Ustan_ for _Ustad_, meaning 'Master', in the Persian
account, which names Muhammed-i-Isa Afandi (Effendi) as the chief
designer. He had the title of Ustad, and some versions represent
Muhammad Sharif, the second draughtsman, as his son. Muhammad, the
son of Isa ('Jesus'), apparently was a Turk. He had the Turkish title
of 'Effendi', and the Persian MS. used by Moin-ud-din asserts that he
came from Turkey. The same authority states that Muhammad Sharif was
a native of Samarkand.

Austin de Bordeaux was wholly distinct from Muhammad-i-Isa, Ustad
Afandi, and there is no r