SCENES IN INDIA. 
CHAPTER I. 
Among all the varieties of architecture in the East, 
few are so imposing, and none so solemn, as the 
monumental. Both Hindoos and Mohammedans have 
freely opened their treasures to cover with magnificent- 
structures the ashes of their heroes, and frequent- 
ly of their relatives. Millions have been lavished 
upon those proud monuments of departed greatness ; 
which are noble, indeed, but melancholy memorials of 
the foul dust contained within their shrines, and of 
the dreadful process of decay which has taken place 
beneath their towering pinnacles and gorgeous domes. 
They are but splendid mockeries raised by the living 
over the dead, to perpetuate a tale of which every 
individual upon earth must one day be the hero ; and 
to consecrate to the veneration of posterity the memo- 
ry of those who, having been eminent in their lives, 
deserve to be remembered in their deaths. 
Whenever our steps are drawn towards “ the place 
of graves,” whether it be among the humble tumult, 
B 
