The carriage took our friends to General Wheeler's intrenchment, where a memorial church has since been erected, to the ghaut, or landing-steps, where the massacre on the boats was perpetrated, and then to the scene of the worst butchery near the terrible well. The building has disappeared, and in its place is a cemetery containing the graves of those who perished there. Frank observed that many of the graves were nameless, and the guide said that the remains of only a few of the victims could be recognized. Over the well is a stone platform supporting the figure of an angel, and around the platform is an octagonal screen of marble of beautiful design. An inscription on the pedestal of the statue makes the melancholy record of the casting of "a great company of Christian people, chiefly women and children," into the well by the orders of the rebel Nena Sahib.
There is nothing of special interest in the hundred miles between Cawnpore and Agra, as the country presents the same features of flatness and monotony it has hitherto displayed. It was evening when our friends reached the city; they had hoped for daylight in order to have a distant view of the Taj Mahal, but were doomed to disappointment. This did not greatly matter, however, as they were sure to have all kinds of views of the famous mausoleum during their stay, and they went to bed and slept soundly.
Their first excursion in the morning was to the Fort of Agra, which includes the palace, the Pearl Mosque, and several other buildings of more or less interest; its walls are of red sandstone and of massive construction, so that they have suffered very little during the three centuries the fort has existed. Several hours were spent inside the fort, and there was so much to attract their attention that the boys could hardly realize how rapidly the time had passed. They agreed with the Doctor that the Motee Musjid, or Pearl Mosque, was the finest of all the buildings within the walls of the fort, and were ready to adopt the words of Bayard Taylor, who pronounced it the pearl of all mosques of small dimensions, and absolutely perfect in style and proportions.
Next to the Taj Mahal, the Motee Musjid is the great attraction of Agra. It stands close to the wall of the fort, and its three domes have been compared to bubbles that might be blown away by a gust of wind. Domes, roof, walls, pillars, floors, and all are of white marble, and the whole work is finished as finely as though intended for examination under a microscope. It is not a closed building, like the mosques of Cairo and Constantinople; one side is quite open to a large quadrangle, and as you stand in the latter, with the sun of India beating down on your head, you can see to the very depths of all the arches that support the domes and roof. Doctor Bronson said it was a most perfect specimen of the Saracenic arch, and the boys found that as the arches cut into each other the perspective from any point of view was absolutely bewildering.
VIEW OF THE TAJ MAHAL FROM THE GARDEN.
They ended their visit to the Pearl Mosque by climbing the roof, and looking down the river some two miles or more, where the Taj Mahal glistened in the sunlight and pushed its dome-like globe far into the sky. In the afternoon they visited the Taj, and remained there till the sun was setting: they went there again and again during the three or four days they remained at Agra, and when at last they left the city their curiosity and their love of the beautiful tomb of the wife of Shah Jehan were far from satisfied. Frank was the historian of this part of their travels, as we will learn by the following letter:
"I thought we had seen several beautiful structures in our travels thus far, and so we have; but none of them can compare with the Taj Mahal. Thanks to the care bestowed upon it by the East Indian Government, it is as perfect to-day as it was 200 years ago, when the builders delivered it to the emperor who ordered it. It is not a mosque but a tomb, and it is the handsomest tomb in the world. That you may know how it happened to be built, I will tell you something of its history.
"Shah Jehan, one of the Mogul Emperors of India, was married, in 1615, to Moomtaz-i-Mahal. They lived very happily together till she died, in 1629, and then the emperor determined to build her the finest tomb the world had ever seen, in the garden that had been her favorite resort. He summoned all the best architects of the time, and asked them to compete for the contract; his choice fell on Eesa Mohumed Effendi, who had been sent to him by the Sultan of Turkey. Several years were consumed in preparing the plans, more in collecting the necessary materials, and more in the work of construction, so that the building was not finished till upward of twenty years after the death of the lady in whose honor it was erected.