THE "TAJ." 57 



of SO exalted a personage. A high wall with a hand- 

 some gateway on each side, all of red sandstone, 

 encloses, excepting its river fagade, the enormous 

 square platform, upon which stand in each corner an 

 exquisitely tapered minaret with the Taj in the centre. 

 The form of the latter is octagonal, it has four lofty 

 entrances under a Moorish arch, facing each quarter of 

 the globe, and is surmounted by a large Oriental dome 

 in the centre, containing an echo of marvellous sweet- 

 ness, flanked by four smaller ones in a line with the 

 minarets. The interior, relieved by recesses and 

 galleries, contains the sarcophagi of Shah Jehan and 

 his consort, surrounded by a splendidly carved screen, 

 rather resembling lace than marble. The material of 

 this monument, of the platform with its open work 

 gallery, of the minarets, and of the temple itself, nay, 

 of the entire Taj and all that belongs to it, is of snow- 

 white marble, and, thanks to a Government grant, in 

 most perfect condition. The outside, and also the 

 inner tomb, is richly inlaid with arabesques of precious 

 stones in Florentine manner, and an elegant border, 

 consisting of verses from the Koran in Persian letters 

 of black marble, surrounds the entrance gates. The 

 stones employed are the cornelian, which came from 

 Gujerat and Bagdad, the jasper and heliotrope from 

 .the Punjab, turquoises from Thibet, lapis lazuli 



