PLACES VISITED IN INDIA. 145 



The magazine held a vast quantity of ammunition, much 

 coveted by the rebels, who besieged the building in overwhelm- 

 ing numbers. The little party within held their own with the 

 utmost gallantry for three hours, at the end of which time two 

 of their number were mortally wounded and defence had 

 become hopeless. Willoughby and his men, however, were 

 determined that the powder should not fall into the hands of 

 the enemy ; so, when all hope of a rescue was at an end, a train 

 was fired by Conductor Scully, one of the " noble nine," which 

 blew the ammunition, the magazine, hundreds of rebels who 

 stood round, and the brave defenders themselves, into the air 

 together in one awful explosion, in which five of the English 

 lost their li ves, and the rest escaped by little short of a miracle. 



CASHMERE GATE, DELHI (p. 151). At the capture of Delhi, on 

 the memorable September 14th, 1857, the Cashmere Gate was 

 the scene of one of the bravest actions of the day. The task of 

 blowing it open, to make an entrance for one of the storming 

 parties, had been allotted to a forlorn hope. A little party of 

 sappers and miners, under Lieutenants Home and Salkeld, made 

 their way, under a deadly fire, across the ruins of a drawbridge 

 that crossed the ditch, each man carrying in his hand a bag 

 of 25 Ibs. of gunpowder, which they succeeded in safely 

 depositing under the left arch of the gate. Salkeld, who was 

 to fire the train, was mortally wounded as he bent over it. As 

 he fell he handed the port-fire to a companion, who instantly 

 was shot dead in trying to light the fuse. A third seized the 

 match from his loosening grasp, lighted the train, and in his 

 turn fell, done to death ; while the fourth only saved his life by 

 jumping into the ditch as the gate blew open with a violent 

 explosion. A tablet placed beneath the battered wall now bears 

 the names of those who took part in this desperate endeavour. 



THE GREAT MOSQUE, DELHI (p. 151). We were at Delhi on 

 the last Friday in Eamazan, and were allowed to go during the 

 service on the walls and gateway of the great mosque, whence 

 the photograph was taken. The moment chosen is that when 

 the three or four thousand worshippers present, who have all 

 arranged themselves in long lines and have been repeating the 

 prayers after the imam, have bowed themselves until their 

 foreheads touch the ground. They do this three or four times 

 just before the close of the service. 



THE TAJ MAHAL, AGRA (p. 127). As is well known, this, the 

 most beautiful and famous building in India, if not in the whole 

 world, was begun A.D. 1630, by Shah Jehan (Great Mogul), as 

 a tomb for his favourite wife, Arjmund Banu, entitled Mumtaz 

 Mahal ("the chosen of the palace"), who died 1629. It 



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