6 A Sportswoman in India 



if not himself? He died before it was finished, and 

 so of course it never was completed." 



Agra is a great place for pig-sticking ; and as we 

 drove over to Fatehpur Sikri, we saw for the first 

 time what sort of country provides one of the finest 

 sports in the world a sport with which we became 

 well " acquaint " hereafter. 



One of Akbar's great imperial roads took us to 

 the ruined city. Fatehpur Sikri was intended to be 

 the capital of the Mogul Empire ; but the superior 

 position of Agra on the great waterway of the Jumna 

 made Akbar eventually select that city. His mosque 

 at Fatehpur Sikri, an accurate copy of one at Mecca, 

 is Mohammedan in style, while the six adjoining halls 

 are Hindu. The Hindus, like the ancient Greeks, 

 never made use of the true structural arch ; to this 

 day they will not use it, for, as they say, "An arch 

 never sleeps," meaning that by its thrust and pressure 

 it is always tending to tear a building to pieces. On 

 the walls of the mosque are written in Arabic : " The 

 world is a bridge ; pass over it, but build no house 

 there. He who hopeth for an hour may hope for 

 eternity. The world is but an hour spend it in 

 devotion ; the rest is unseen." 



It would be hard to take no interest in India's 

 history, with associations of the great Mogul Emperor 

 Akbar on every side. Born in 1542, the real founder 

 of that empire, he subjugated the whole of the Punjab 

 from the heart of Afghanistan ; he conquered Kashmir, 

 recovered Kandahar, annexed Sind, and won Bengal, 



