TAJ-MAHAL.
“Taj-Mahal is erected on a base of red sand-stone nine hundred and sixty-four feet long and three hundred and twenty-nine feet wide, one side of which is washed by the river Jumna, and on each of the four corners is a tower of red sand-stone covered by a white marble kiosk. Two mosques take up the east and west sides. From this ground rises a fine terrace of white marble, three hundred and thirteen feet square, in the center of which is the beautiful main building itself. At each angle is an airy marble spire of exquisite style, surmounted by a noble cupola resting on eight pillars. They are about one hundred and fifty feet high, and a spiral stairway leads to the very top. The ground-plan of Taj-Mahal forms a regular octangle. The four sides on which the entrances are located are each about one hundred and thirty feet long, and turn to the four cardinal points of the compass. The roof is seventy feet above the base. Over each corner is a gorgeous spire, and over the center towers a marble dome measuring seventy feet in diameter, and rising to a height of one hundred and twenty feet. It is covered by a gilt vault in the shape of a half-moon about two hundred and sixty feet above the floor. All this is of the finest Jaypoor marble, carefully polished, and still retaining its pure color.
“Notwithstanding the colossal size of Taj-Mahal, every part of it, from the foundation to the dome, is adorned with artistically executed designs, and the whole is as carefully wrought as the finest ebony ornament. Thus the entire Koran is inscribed on it. Even to-day the burial vault of the beautiful queen is filled with the fragrance of roses, jasmines and sandal-wood. The graves of the empress and emperor constitute sarcophagi of the purest marble, covered with elegant inlays of agate, carnelians, lapis lazuli and other precious stones, and surrounded by a six-foot-high gallery in the open net-work of which lilies, roses and other flowers of gems are inlaid. The dome in Taj-Mahal produces an echo which is more pleasant, pure and lasting than any other. A single musical sound produced by the human voice seems to flow or soar up there like a prolonged, pleasant modulation, which dies away so slowly that one seems to hear it after it is silent, just as one seems to see a lark after following it with the eyes after it has disappeared. Twenty thousand workmen were engaged for twenty-two years in erecting this mausoleum.”
These recollections from India would be incomplete if I should omit to describe some of the wonderful tricks which I saw performed by Hindoo jugglers. As I was sitting one day in an open place before the hotel in Benares, together with some English army officers, an ordinary looking Hindoo of the lower classes, accompanied by a small boy, appeared before us, and asked permission to show the mango trick. This being granted, the boy scraped up some earth on the road before our eyes, and made a little mound of it on the floor of the open veranda in front of the hotel. The magician, who had no other garment on than a loosely wrapped cotton cloth, usually worn by the men, and in his hand a white cloth and a little bag containing a few sticks and other small implements, stooped down beside the little mound of earth, and, with his eyes fixed on us, took a mango kernel about twice the size of a peach stone, which he planted in the little mound. Having smoothed the mound with his hands he recited several prayers and incantations, and made some motions over the mound with a magic wand, carefully assuming an air of expectancy. After a minute or two we saw the mound slowly opening at the top and the tender shoot of a plant coming up through the crack. The Hindoo sat with folded hands, occasionally breathing on the plant, and every now and then he would invoke some invisible being. Meanwhile the plant grew taller and more solid, until it finally assumed the shape of a dwarf tree, which kept growing and sent out branches and leaves. This development took place gradually and slowly, until finally a ripe mango fruit was seen hanging down from one of the branches. During this wonderful performance the magician had only now and then for a moment covered the plant with the cloth in his hand.
At another time, when I was on the deck of a large steamer, a Hindoo accompanied by a little girl asked the passengers to permit him to perform a trick. This being granted, he placed a round wicker basket, resembling a paper wastebasket, on the deck, and the little girl sat down in it so that her head and feet were flush with the edge of the basket, which was thus fairly filled up by the girl. Thereupon the Hindoo put the cover on and took a long, straight, double-edged sword which he ran through the basket in all directions. It was a shocking sight, some of the ladies screamed, others fainted. But when he removed the cover from the basket the girl came out alive and without injury. The sword was handed to us for inspection, and I am perfectly sure that it was a straight, solid, honest infantry weapon. During all this time the basket stood on the deck of the ship so that no springs, machinery or other contrivance could be concealed under it.
Snake charmers are very common in India. “When one of these is to perform a trick he asks for a piece of paper, which he puts in the out-stretched hand of the spectator, and begins to play on his flute, and stare with his eyes as if he sees something near the hand. His whole body seems to be changed; writhing like a worm, he continually plays on the instrument and keeps his eyes riveted on the hand. Suddenly he rushes forward and points to the same. But the spectator sees nothing, and the charmer again plays and contorts his body still more wildly. His arms are bare up to the elbows, and he holds the flute with both hands. Suddenly he throws his flute away, continues his motions and repeats incantations. Again he points to the paper, and while the observer turns his eyes in that direction without seeing anything unusual, the charmer presses his folded hands down on it and pulls out three large cobras, raising their heads and stretching out their poisonous tongues in different directions while he holds them in his hand.”
SNAKE CHARMERS.
These and similar tricks are performed daily, yet no one has been able to detect how they are done. The theory of hypnotism has recently been advanced, and it does not seem improbable.