and remained in the vicinity of the old man's
hermitage till her confinement, which took place 31st of August,
1569. The infant was called after the hermit, Mirza Salim, and became
in time Emperor of Hindostan, under the name of Jahangir.[7] It was
to this Emperor Jahangir that Sir Thomas Roe, the ambassador, was
sent from the English Court.[8] Akbar, in order to secure to himself,
his family, and his people, the advantage of the continued
intercessions of so holy a man, took up his residence at Sikri, and
covered the hill with magnificent buildings for himself, his
courtiers, and his public establishments.[9]

The quadrangle, which contains the mosque on the west side, and tomb
of the old hermit in the centre, was completed in the year 1578, six
years before his death; and is, perhaps, one of the finest in the
world. It is five hundred and seventy-five feet square, and
surrounded by a high wall, with a magnificent cloister all around
within.[10] On the outside is a magnificent gateway, at the top of a
noble flight of steps twenty-four feet high. The whole gateway is one
hundred and twenty feet in height, and the same in breadth, and
presents beyond the wall five sides of an octagon, of which the front
face is eighty feet wide. The arch in the centre of this space is
sixty feet high by forty wide.[11] This gateway is no doubt extremely
grand and beautiful; but what strikes one most is the disproportion
between the thing wanted and the thing provided--there seems to be
something quite preposterous in forming so enormous an entrance for a
poor diminutive man to walk through--and walk he must, unless carried
through on men's shoulders; for neither elephant, horse, nor bullock
could ascend over the flight of steps. In all these places the
staircases, on the contrary, are as disproportionately small; they
look as if they were made for rats to crawl through, while the
gateways seem as if they were made for ships to sail under.[12] One
of the most interesting sights was the immense swarms of swallows
flying round the thick bed of nests that occupy the apex of this
arch, and, to the spectators below, they look precisely like swarm of
bees round a large honeycomb. I quoted a passage in the Koran in
praise of the swallows, and asked the guardians of the place whether
they did not think themselves happy in having such swarms of sacred
birds over their heads all day long. 'Not at all,' said they; 'they
oblige us to sweep the gatew