138 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
It is astonishing to what a degree of perfection the 
natives of India carry the art of stuccoing with this 
beautiful material, producing an effect so near to that 
of white marble, that it often requires a close scru- 
tiny to detect the imitation. As neither frost, nor 
snow, nor any of the sudden atmospheric changes, 
to which most ‘other countries are subject, occur in this 
“ land of the sun,” the chunam resists even those 
awful storms with which every region between the 
tropics is more or less visited at certain periods of the 
year, and will last for generations without showing 
the slightest symptoms of decay. 
The mosque in the distance, though simple, is not 
devoid of elegance, which is much enhanced by the 
two lofty minarets that ornament the transverse angles 
of the square. 
The body of A soph ud Dowlah, who built the 
mausoleum just described, is buried in a sepulchre 
constantly illuminated by an immense number of 
wax tapers. The sarcophagus in which his body re- 
poses, is continually strewed with flowers and strips 
of gilt paper ; why the latter, I never heard ex- 
plained. The tomb is kept covered with consecrated 
bread from the city of the Prophet, whence a supply 
at certain intervals is obtained at an enormous ex- 
pense, and passages from the Koran are chanted day 
and night over the mouldering ashes of the prince. 
A censer filled with various perfumes is placed on 
one side of the sepulchre, and his sword and cummer- 
bund on the other. At the head a copy of the Koran 
and his turban are deposited. 
