46 
THE ORIENTAL ANNUAL. 
construction of the dome it is evident that something 
of the kind has been used, though this is denied by 
the natives. The carvings are bold and in good taste, 
but by no means so elaborate, or of such skilful 
workmanship as the specimens with which similar 
buildings are adorned in the Doab ; nor is the tomb 
generally remarkable for the same symmetry of design 
as those around Agra and Delhi. The dome is very 
peculiar, being ornamented with intersecting lines, 
having the appearance of a reticulation, which on 
near inspection are found to be a representation of 
plantain leaves overlapping one another; the only 
design of the kind which I ever with met in India. 
There is one circumstance, however, about the archi- 
tecture of this building which at once claimed my 
attention, and is deserving of particular notice; the 
principal entrance is formed by a noble Gothic arch, 
coved and supported by a series of small columns 
diminishing towards the door, representing a per- 
spective effect, such as is common in many of our 
Gothic cathedrals and abbeys in England. This is 
the only instance of the kind which I have ever seen 
or heard of in Bengal, or the whole continent of 
India ; nor have I ever met with any notice of the fact 
in any disquisition upon the origin of the various styles 
of architecture of the East, which certainly is not a 
little to be wondered at; since, although the Egyptian, 
Moorish, and Hindoo modes may, in the early 
