From the museum the party walked to
the imperial palace of Akbar, still in an excellent state of preservation.
Some of the apartments, especially the bath-room of the monarch, made the
visitors think of the Arabian Nights.
The great black marble slab on which Akbar sat to administer justice was
pointed out. When one of the Jat chiefs seated himself upon it, the story
goes, it cracked, and blood flowed from the fracture. Lord Ellenborough
tried the experiment, and the stone broke into two pieces. The Mosque of
Pearls is a small building of white marble on a rose-colored platform. It
is considered by experts the finest piece of architecture in the fortress.
Nothing could be simpler, nothing grander. Bishop Heber visited it and
wrote this of it:--
"This spotless sanctuary, showing such a pure spirit of adoration, made me,
a Christian, feel humbled, when I considered that no architect of our
religion had ever been able to produce anything equal to this temple of
Allah."
Following the Jumna, the carriages reached the Taj, the wonder and glory of
all India. It was built by the Emperor Shah Jehan, as a mausoleum for the
Empress Mumtazi Mahal. She was not only beautiful, but famous for mental
endowments; and the emperor had so much love and admiration for her that he
determined to erect to her memory the most beautiful monument that had ever
been constructed by any prince.
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