ACROSS THE JUMNA 77 



in singing at drinking parties." Kamber Ali 

 Mughal, who could not stand prosperity, but 

 " after he had gained a certain elevation he 

 became negligent and perverse. He talked a 

 good deal and very idly ; indeed, there can be 

 no doubt that a great talker must often talk 

 foolishly. He was a man of narrow capacity 

 and muddy brain." 



Of uncertain date, this building by the banks 

 of the Jumna had long since fallen into decay. 

 Thorn bushes stopped my passage along the wall 

 which had once been the rampart of the now 

 vanished garden ; and the level cultivated land 

 stretched away to the horizon, broken only 

 where the clumps of trees marked the villages. 

 Looking back, the sight of the great pile of 

 buildings on the far side of the river was worth all 

 the trouble of crossing it. For the first time I had 

 a full view of the whole group, and realised the 

 great scale on which it had been conceived ; the 

 vast walls and platforms rising sheer above the 

 water, the two great rose-red mosques, the corner 

 towers, with their elaborate arcades, and, raised 

 on the central platform high above all, the pale 

 lilac minarets, walls, and dome of the Taj worked 

 in shadow, and outlined with the gold thread 



