58 - THE PEARL MOSQUE. 



from Ceylon, ji;aniets from Gwalior, amethyst from 

 Persia, and a host of the agate tribe from — any 

 where. 



The Taj was intended to have a golden cupola, 

 which had actually been commenced, but, before being 

 finished, became broken by a violent stoi'm, and was 

 replaced by one of marble ; the latter came from 

 Jubbulpore and Jeypore. This wonderful piece of 

 Eastern architecture, which in reality is so beautiful — 

 especially seen by moonlight — that it seems impossible 

 to describe it impassionately, is said to have cost three- 

 quarters of a million pounds sterling, and one authority 

 gravely adds a million to that enormous sum ; but 

 such was the prodigality of Shah Jehan, that he 

 had seriously contemplated erecting a similar structure 

 for his own tomb on the opposite shore of the Jumna, 

 and to connect the two by a marble bridge with silver 

 railings. 



The same purity of taste and richness of fancy 

 exists in the Motee Musjid, or Pearl Mosque, which 

 stands in the centre of the Fort, a jewel of chaste 

 architecture. It is likewise erected on a raised plat- 

 form, but of red sandstone, and opens upon a hand- 

 some courtyard, with a graceful minaret at each end. 

 The body of the mosque is divided into a central and two 

 smaller side halls, each entered by a lofty arched portal,. 



