Page:Burke, W.S. - Cycling in Bengal (1898).djvu/53

 begins." In regard to colour and design, its interior may rank first in the world for purely decorative workmanship; while the perfect symmetry of its exterior and the ærial grace of its domes and minarets impress the mind of the beholder in a manner never to be forgotten. The other principal buildings of Agra are Akbar's fort, an imposing, but, considered as a fortress, an unsubstantial structure, with walls 70 feet in height and nearly two miles in extent, made up of stone rubble, sand, or loose earth, faced with red sandstone. It is difficult to imagine that the great Akbar, the Napoleon of the East, who knew and thoroughly appreciated the power of artillery, should have relied upon such a fort as a protection to his new capital. Inside the fort are the public and private halls of audience, the Machi Bawan, the Sish-Mahal or Palace of Glass, and that perfect masterpiece of art, the Pearl Mosque, designed by Shah Jehan in 1654. Outside the fort, but now shut in by the railway station, is the Juma Musjid, or great mosque, constructed by Shah Jehan as a memorial of his pious and highly gifted daughter, Jahanara. The tomb of Ihtimad-ud-daula, the vizier and father-in-law of Jehangir, a study of oriental architecture, is on the east bank of the Jumna among the ruins of ancient Agra, a short distance from a fine garden—the Ram Bagh.

Fatehpur-Sikri, designed and intended by Akbar as another new capital, now consisting of a mass of ruins of noble but unfinished buildings, is distant about 20 miles from Agra. The modern public buildings of Agra include the Government College, the Catholic Mission and Orphanage, an institution introduced