THE LIFE-GIVING GARDEN 119 



ments is through the great court of the Diwan-i- 

 'Am (Public Hall of Audience), behind which 

 were originally several small garden courts, in 

 front of various buildings. Bernier saw these 

 zenana quarters during the King's absence from 

 Delhi, and says that " nearly every chamber has 

 its reservoir of running water at the door ; on 

 every side are gardens, delightful alleys, shady 

 retreats, streams, fountains, grottoes, deep ex- 

 cavations that afford shelter from the sun by 

 day, lofty divans and terraces, on which to sleep 

 coolly at night. Within the walls of this en- 

 chanting place, in fine, no oppressive or incon- 

 venient heat is felt." 



Within the palace walls there were also two 

 larger gardens, called respectively the Life-giving 

 Garden, and the Mahtab Bagh or Moon Garden. 

 Looking at an old plan of the place, before its 

 partial destruction in 1857, showing the positions 

 and names of these two gardens, one cannot 

 but be struck afresh with the practical and ima- 

 ginative beauty of Indian garden-craft. These 

 gardens formed two separate enclosures treated 

 hi one design : the first was a square of about 

 five hundred feet, the second garden-court was 

 the same length and about three hundred and 



