"After the death of Akbar his successors reigned in Delhi. The Mogul Empire
came to an end in 1761; and Agra was sacked by the Jats, and later the
Mahrattas completed the destruction they had begun. It was captured from
Scindia in 1803 by the English under Lord Lake, and has since remained in
their possession. In all these disasters its population, which had been
seven hundred thousand, dropped to ten thousand; but under British rule it
recovered some of its former prosperity, and it is now about one hundred
and seventy thousand."
"If a man wants to build a house here he has only to dig for the material,
for not far down he will find the stone and brick of the structures that
crumbled into the earth after the death of the great emperor. We are now
approaching the fortress, or the citadel as it is oftener called. It is a
sort of acropolis, for it contains palaces, mosques, halls of justice, and
other buildings."
The carriages stopped at the principal gate, opposite to which is the
mosque of Jummah Musjid, or the Cathedral Mosque. About all the great
structures here are built of red sandstone, with marble bands on many of
them, so that it is hardly necessary to mention the material, unless it
varies from the rule. This mosque is a fine one, mounted on a marble
esplanade or platform, like most buildings of this description.
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