64 SPORT AND TRAVEL 



talent of the world was brought to assist in its con- 

 struction. Finally, in 1648, the work was finished, 

 and when Shah Jehan died, his body was placed 

 beside that of his wife in pure white marble tombs, 

 sheltered from the untempered light outside by a 

 screen of beautiful pierced marble tracery, which 

 allows the reflection of the glaring Indian sun to sift 

 gently into the interior of the mausoleum, and 

 insures by day a perpetual twilight in keeping with 

 the solemnity of the surroundings. 



It was fitting that the Emperor should have 

 commemorated the perfect love of his marriage 

 with a monument to which alone, even to-day, the 

 word perfect may be applied, perfect in propor- 

 tion, perfect in detail, perfect in the exquisite 

 beauty, grace, and delicacy of its conception. It is 

 useless to attempt to describe the Taj ; poets have 

 raved over it during the centuries of its existence, 

 prosaic guide-books have set down its dimensions 

 and enumerated its cupolas and minarets, innumer- 

 able photographers and painters have reproduced 

 its form. But neither pen nor camera nor brush has 

 ever been able to convey the faintest impression 

 of its true beauty, the gracefulness of its design, the 

 softness of its symmetry, the delicacy of its decora- 

 tion. Mr. W. E. Curtis, in his book on ''Modern 

 India" sums it up in a particularly pleasing figure: 



