A86 AN ACCOUNT OF THE INSCRIPTIONS 
arches, and could not consequently have been intended to form partof the 
mosque. Even had the architect proposed to extend the front. beyond the 
unfinished Minar, the same circumstance which prevents the Cootub being 
considered a part of the mosque, {its distance from the front) applies with 
equal force to the large tower. It could never have been intended to 
“match the Cootub, for it’s circumference is nearly double. It is not built 
in the same style, being surrounded by a sort of projecting basement, on 
which the door facing the east) is raised, "There are no steps in the 
inside, the masonry is extremely rough, and the walls and centre pilar 
about 40 feet high... From the appearance of the mortar in many places, 
if seems to me thal this building was formerly cased with smooth stone, 
but why this. was removed, or for what purpose, and by whom the tower 
itself was cortnencddiatld afterwards left unfinished, I cannot pretend to 
Say. Tt 
‘Tur present state.of the Cootub Miner is calculated to’ excite appre- 
hensions of its speedy destruction. - On the west side many stones have been 
forced out with a degree of vielence sufficient to cause a vertical crack in 
the stairease and centre pillar, On the east a Banyan tree has taken 
ern root, and if no one takes the trouble to remove it, there can be no 
doubt that it wall ensure the fall of the tower, before many years have 
elapsed. This is to be regretted, for the Cootuh Minar is a work unri- 
valled of it’s kind in this country, and in some respeets in the world, when 
we consider its great size, the fahenale ef which it is built, the richness 
and profusion of its ornaments, but above all the solidity of its construction, 
which, for all we know to the contrary, has. enabled it to resist the effects 
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