AGRA 6 1 



imagine to some extent the proportions of a building 

 which could house so vast a throng. Indeed, one 

 needs a guide to explore the palace at Agra. 



Every palace has its private chapel, and the 

 palace of Akbar is no exception to the rule ; but no 

 king ever knelt to pray in a more beautiful spot 

 than the interior of the Moti Musjid, or Pearl 

 Mosque, at Agra. It is the most exquisite little 

 building of its kind in existence; the marble of 

 which it is constructed is of the purest white, with- 

 out flaw or tint, inlaid here and there with verses 

 from the Koran in precious stones or black marble. 

 The roof, which bears three domes and innumerable 

 minarets, is supported by graceful marble arches, 

 the western side of the mosque, which looks toward 

 Mecca, being open and facing on a courtyard where, 

 in a great marble tank, the faithful performed their 

 ablutions before going to prayer. 



Akbar himself sleeps in a beautiful mausoleum on 

 the road to Delhi from Agra. At the head of his 

 cenotaph stands a marble column, finely carved, 

 and in the centre of the top is a rough hole, the pre- 

 sence of which, considering the flawlessness of its 

 surroundings, is a cause for surprise. It once was 

 filled by what was then the greatest diamond in the 

 world, the Kohinoor, which the Emperor Jehanghir 

 had had imbedded there after Akbar's death, in 



