It is built on an immense
esplanade, which is mounted by three flights of stairs, each in the form of
the three sides of a pyramid, and each leading to an immense pointed arch,
the entrances to the buildings.
Before the party entered a carriage arrived, from which General Noury and
another person alighted. The Moroccan had accepted the invitation of a
Delhi Mussulman to be his guest, and this gentleman had begun to show him
the sights of the city. The general presented him to the members of the
party as Abbas-Meerza. Evidently in honor of his host the Moroccan had put
on his Oriental dress, which was certainly a very picturesque costume,
though it called up unpleasant memories in the minds of the commander and
the Woolridges.
Abbas-Meerza was evidently a Persian, or the son of one; for he was clothed
in the full costume of that country. He wore a rich robe, reaching to his
ankles, with a broad silk belt around his waist. His cap, of equally costly
material, was a tall cylinder, with the top slanting down to the left side,
as though it had been cut off. He spoke English as fluently as the general.
He invited the party to step to a certain point, and view the mosque as a
whole.
The wall of the esplanade was a continued series of pointed arches, with a
handsome frieze above it. On the elevated platform was a colonnade of the
same arches on each side, with a pillared tower at each corner, interrupted
only at the grand entrances.
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