120 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
there is a descent by a broad flight of steps* composed 
of durable stone* forming at once a compact and beau- 
tiful piece of masonry. The street is here so spa- 
cious that a numerous cavalcade of elephants and 
horses may pass without difficulty. The picture re- 
presents an elephant kneeling at the bottom of the 
steps awaiting its rider* who has just descended from 
his devotions in the sanctuary. On the left of the 
steps* as you face the mosque* is a large bazaar* abun- 
dantly supplied with every thing that might tempt 
the palate of the most luxurious* from a kismish* 
to a pine-apple. 
In the fort of Mathura are still to be seen the 
mins of an observatory* reported to have been a 
lofty and elegant structure* though* it must be con- 
fessed* there are few indications of this in what now 
remains of it. This city continued subject to the 
Mogul government until the period of its decline* 
when it experienced many of the vicissitudes common 
to conquered provinces. About the middle of the 
eighteenth century the province of Agra was ravaged 
by the Persian despot Ahmed Shah Abdalli* who 
ordered a general massacre of the wretched people 
of Mathura. He took the city by storm* and giving 
it up to plunder* put the inhabitants to the sword 
for having dared to defend their lives and property. 
Towards the close of the last century* the province 
of Agra fell into the hands of the Mahratta conqueror 
Mahadajee Scindia* and was* in 1803* rescued from 
his successor Dowlut Rao by Lord Lake. 
* A dried raisin. 
