TAJE MAHAL. 
195 
white marble, closed by a huge pair of brazen gates, 
and surmounted by several magnificent domes. Through 
this portal you enter the gardens, and here bursts at 
once upon the view, in all its unrivalled grandeur, an 
edifice perhaps altogether unparalleled among the works 
of human ingenuity. “ Stretched upon an immense 
basement forty feet high and nine hundred in length, its 
prodigious mass of polished marble rises proudly over a 
river that not only adds to its majesty, but by reflec- 
tion multiplies its splendour : in truth, exclusive of its 
magnitude, extent, and variety, whatever may be our 
architectural predilections, we are overwhelmed with 
its effect, and compelled to acknowledge it a most ex- 
traordinary assemblage of beauty and magnificence.” * 
“ All those parts of the building which appear white 
are of marble, brought by land-carriage from Kanda- 
har, a distance of nearly six hundred miles; those 
which are red are composed of a stone obtained from 
the neighbouring Mewat hills.” t 
This incomparable structure has been often and 
variously described, but never yet has any adequate 
conception of it been conveyed. The principal dome 
was originally surmounted by a golden spire and 
crescent, which were stolen by the Mahrattas, and 
have been replaced by a substitute less attractive 
to those ’daring marauders, being now composed of 
baser metal gilt. This ornament rises thirty feet 
* Oriental Scenery, by Thomas and William Daniell. In 
this work, these distinguished artists have given by far the most 
accurate description of the Taje Mahal which I have anywhere 
met with. 
t Oriental Scenery. 
