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189 are inlaid in one small flower, and that the whole Koran is inlaid, verse by verse, on the walls. There is a whole new set of sensations when one enters the softly lighted, dim white interior, with the echo repeating each word like the response of a chanted service—a single note from flute or guitar a whole theme. A trellis of marble tracery, with inlaid borders, screens the two tombs, low sarcophagi of jeweled marble resting on inlaid platforms. Mumtaz-i-Mahal in the center, where the Great Mogul laid her, and with Shah Jahan at her side are laid away in real simple white tombs in a vault immediately below the sarcophagi; and to them the aged guardian conducts one with a lantern.

We went back at sunset, and saw only an uninteresting yellow ball sink against a hazy horizon, and the clear-cut shadows in the arches of the Taj fade to white and gray. In a little while the yellow ball of the full moon rose beyond the river, and flooded the eastern arch with a splendor unimagined. On the platform in mid-garden were other moonlight pilgrims, and what did they talk about in face of this glorious apparition, this wonder of the world? The German professor told how the mutton chops were served at his hotel—brought in and passed around sizzling on the hot grill! Could sacrilege go further?

There was a British artist at our hotel, "painting Tajes," as he naïvely explained, for the "London spring market"—"four rather nice ones" already finished, and more to do while the fine weather lasted; since early in March the hot winds begin,