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their abilities, in the remotest districts of their extensive empire. 

 In their davs arose those magnificent structures which now adorn 

 the northern cities of Hindostan; the palaces, aqueducts, and 

 mausoleums lately described, were all erected by those emperors ; 

 and Shah Jehan, who built the summer-palace on the banks of 

 the Sabermatty, erected the Taje Mahal at Agra, in memory of a 

 favourite Sultana, which is still the wonder of the eastern world. 



The most splendid palaces at Ahmedabad were in too ruinous 

 a state during my visit to furnish a sufficient description; but to 

 give some idea of these structures in the time of the imperial 

 princes, I shall mention the dewane khass, one of the halls in the 

 palace of Shah Allum, described by Francklin; which, although 

 repeatedly stripped and plundered by successive invaders, still re- 

 tains great beauty. " This building is a hundred and fifty feet in 

 length, by forty in breadth. The roof is flat, supported bj f nume- 

 rous columns of fine white marble, which have been richly orna- 

 mented with inlaid flowered work of different coloured stones. The 

 cornices and borders have been decorated with a frize and sculp- 

 tured work. The cieling was formerly incrusted with a rich foliage 

 of silver, throughout its Avhole extent; and the delicacy of the 

 inlaying in the compartments of the walls is much to be admired. 

 Around the exterior of the dewan khass, in the cornice, are the 

 following lines, written in letters of gold, upon a ground of white 

 marble: " If there be a paradise upon earth this is it; it is this; 

 it is this!" The terrace of this building is composed of large slabs 

 of marble, and the whole is crowned at top with four cupolas of 

 the same material. The royal baths built by Shah Jehan near the 



