FUTTEHPORE SIKRI. 
179 
when they went monthly to make their offerings, and 
then it was with becoming dread and reverence. 
Now the Jaod Bhae stood very near the annual 
encampment and practice-ground of the Artillery ; and 
it so happened, that upon the occasion of a review and 
general inspection, the Jaod Bhae attracted the irreli- 
gious notice of a certain Artillery officer, who, through 
a culpable love of mischief, an inordinate delight in 
the display of the force of powder, and a very iniqui- 
tous process of reasoning, came to the conclusion that 
it would have an unusually grand effect to mine and 
blow up the Jaod Bhae, rather than to perform the 
simple operation of igniting some fifty or sixty barrels 
of powder under the level earth. The idea was sugges- 
ted to the commanding officer, who, by a like evil 
influence, came to a similarly wicked opinion, and it 
was agreed that the mining of the Jaod Bhae would 
indeed form a glorious spectacle at the review. Orders 
were therefore immediately issued for a shaft to be 
sunk below the foundation, and a mine of five-and- 
forty barrels of powder to be prepared under its very 
centre, so that the whole building might be blown into 
the skies. 
The task proved to be one of greater difficulty than 
was anticipated, for beneath the soil was discovered a 
vaulted mass of solid masonry, which proved to be no 
less than four or five feet in thickness, and so firmly con- 
structed that not a single stone could be moved entire, 
but the shaft was literally carved through it. At the 
