"First there is a broad platform of red sandstone at the end of the garden, and about four feet above it. On this there is a marble platform eighteen feet high and 313 feet square, white marble entirely, or at least externally. There is a tower or minaret 137 feet high at each corner of this platform, and the building in the centre is 186 feet square, except that the corners are cut off opposite each of the towers. The mausoleum thus takes the form of an octagon, with four of its sides broader than the other four. Each of the broad sides has a grand entrance like a half-dome, that rises nearly to the cornice, while on each side of the entrance there are two arches, one above the other. Around this magnificent door-way are Arabic inscriptions, consisting of black marble inlaid upon pure white, and the spaces left by the curving of the arches are similarly ornamented with mosaic scroll-work. It is said that the whole of the Koran, or Mohammedan Bible, is on the walls of the Taj, and all of it inlaid in stone.
"There is a dome at each of the four corners of the building, while there is a large one in the centre that swells from its base, so that at a distance it looks like a ball suspended in the air. The architect's attempt in the construction of this great central sphere was as daring as it is successful. Doctor Bronson says that of all the domes he has seen in other parts of the world, none can compare in beauty with that of the Taj.
"Now picture the above in your mind if you can, and then add a mosque of red sandstone on either side, and on the level of the lower platform. I say 'on either side' for completing the idea at the risk of incorrectness. The building to our left, as we look from across the river, is really a mosque, and was intended for purposes of worship, while that on the right is of no sanctity whatever; it was simply erected for the artistic completeness of the picture, and is known as the Jowab, or 'Answer.' Without these buildings the Taj appears too high for its breadth, but when they come in view the effect is perfect. Height and breadth are exactly proportioned, and it would need a very bold critic to suggest an alteration.
THE PRINCESS OF SHAH JEHAN.
"The tombs of Shah Jehan and his wife are in a vault beneath the floor, while the monuments for show are on the floor itself, and surrounded with a marble screen. If you have any doubt about the building having been erected for the lady, you will find it vanish as you enter; her tomb and monument are exactly beneath the centre of the dome, while those of her disconsolate husband are at one side. And here again is a marvel of the Taj workmanship; tombs, monuments, screen, walls, and pillars are covered with mosaic work, chiefly of flowers and scrolls, with many passages from the Koran. The scriptural texts are in black marble, but the flowers and scrolls are of jasper, carnelian, agate, and other semi-precious stones, with here and there an addition of mother-of-pearl. And in nearly every instance it is as carefully done as a Florentine brooch, and you do not wonder, when you have seen it, at the great cost of the work. It is as though we should attempt to cover the New York Post-office with frescoes as fine as the most delicate engravings on steel.
"We saw a single flower containing more than thirty pieces of stone, and yet the whole flower was not more than an inch in diameter. There are hundreds and hundreds of these flowers, and there is a vast amount of stems and scroll-work and sacred writings, and as you look around you are fairly bewildered with the display. Bishop Heber says the builders of the Taj 'designed like Titans and finished like jewellers;' the wealth and elaboration of the interior are in full keeping with its great external beauty and symmetry.
"There is a wonderful echo in the dome of the Taj; it repeats every sound of the voice with great distinctness, but will disappoint any one who tries to sing a complicated piece of music beneath it. If the notes are at all rapid, the echo runs them into one another, and makes a complete discord, but it is not so with very slow music. An English writer says the chord of the seventh produces a very beautiful effect, and it was this chord that Bayard Taylor heard and described as floating and soaring overhead in a long, delicious undulation, fading away so slowly that you hear it after it is silent, as you see, or seem to see, a lark you have been watching after it has been swallowed up in the blue vault of heaven.