[o Travels in India. Part II 



heap'd together great Sums, they would fain be going to Mecca, and ma- 

 king rich Presents to Mahomet. But the Great Mogul, unwilling to let his 

 Money go out of his Countrey, will ieldom permit them, leave to undertake 

 that Pilgrimage : and therefore not knowing what to do with their Money 

 they employ a great part thereof in Monuments, to perpetuate their Memo- 

 ries. 



Of all the Monuments that arc to be feen at Agra, that of the Wife of 

 Cborubm is the molt magnificent ; me caus'd it to be let up on purpofe near 

 the Tafmaean, to which all Strangers mult come, that they mould admire it 

 The Tafimacan is a great .Bazaar, or Market-place, compos'd of fix great Courts' 

 all encompafled with Portico's ; under which there are Warehouses for Mer- 

 chants ; and where there is a prodigious quantity of Cahcuts vended. The 

 Monument of this Begum, or Sultamfs, ftands on the Eait-lide of the City 

 upon the River fide, in a great place enclosed with Walls, upon which there 

 runs a little Gallery, as upon the Walls of many Cities in Europe. This place 

 is a kind of Garden with Compartiments, like our Garden-plots ; but whereas 

 our Walks are made with Gravel, here the Walks are black and white Marble 

 You enter into this place through a large Portal j and presently upon the left 

 hand you eipy a fair Gallery, that looks towards ALcca; wherein there are 

 three or four Niches, wherein the Mufti comes at certain hours to pray. A 

 little beyond the middle of the place, toward the Water, are three great Plat- 

 forms, one rais'd above another, with four Towers at the four Corners of each 

 and Stairs within, upon the cop whereof they call the people before the time 

 of their prayer. On the top there is a C^ little leis magnificent than that 

 of Kal de (jr. ice in Pans ; it is covert! within and without with black Marble 

 the middle being of Brick. Under this CuftU is an empty Tomb; for the Be- 

 gum is inter d under the Arch of the loweit Platform. The lame change of 

 Ceremonies which is obitrv'd under ground, is oblerv'd above. For they change 

 the Tapcffne: ^Candles, and other Ornaments at lcveral times, and there are 

 a ways Mollabs attending to pray. I law the beginning and complcating of 

 this great work, that colt two and twenty years labour, and twenty thouland 

 men always at work 5 fo that you cannot conceive but that the Expence mult 

 be exceffive. Ck*~jehan had begun to raife his own Monument on the other 

 fide of the River j but the Wars with his Son, broke off that delign, nor did 

 JMrcngtib, now reigning, ever take any care to iiniih it. There is an Eunnh 

 who commands two thonfand men, that is entruked to guard not only the 

 Sepulcher of the Begum, but alfo the TaAmc** 



On another fide of the City, appears the Sepulcher of King Atyar. And 

 as or the Sepulchers of the E^nnchs, they have only one Platform, with four 

 little Chambers at the four Corners. When yon come to A*ra from Dehlj, 

 you meet a great Bazar-, near to which there is a Garden, where King }eb*» 

 mire Father of Cba-jeban, lies interfd. Over the Garden Gate you fee the 

 Tomb it fcffi befet with Portraitures, cover'd with a black Hearfe-Cloath, or 

 Pall with Torches of white Wax, and two fefates attending at each end. There 

 are fome who wonder, that CU-jeha* againlt the practice of the M*htmetms t 

 who abhor Images, did permit of carving , but the realon conjefturtl at is, 

 that it is done upon the confederation that his Father and himlelf learnt from 

 the fejmtes certain principles of Mathematicks and Aftrology. Though he had 

 not the lame kindnels for them at another time ; for going one day to 

 vifit an -Armenian, that lay fick, whofe name was Corgi*, whom he lov'd very 

 well and had honour'd with feveral Employments, at what time the Umtts, 

 who hv d next to the Armenians houfe, rang their Bell , the found thereof fo 

 difpleasd the King as being a difturbance to the fick perfon, that in a great 

 fury he commanded the Bell to be taken away, and hung about his Elephants 



SEfi k T , d 7 S after ^ thc Kin § fecin § his EfcpSfil with that great 

 Bell about his neck, fearing fo great a weight might injure his Elephant, caus'd 



\ % l a°r Carne T d r ° the CoHtev ^ w ^ch is a kind of a rail'd place, where 

 a Provoft fits as a Judg, and decides differences among the people of that 

 garter where it has hung ever face. This Armenian had been brought up 

 with Cba-jehan., and in regard he was an excellent Wit, and an excellent Poet, 



he 



