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Rh "—it was before the tomb was built, Tatar and Mogul alike preparing a beautiful garden in life that it might become their burial-place, after which it was never used for pleasuring, but given over to the care of priests. The Taj Mahal was held in great reverence in Mohammedan days, and visitors were blindfolded at the entrance and not uncovered until they reached the place of prayer. When the Jats took Agra and looted its palaces, they carried off the entrance gates with their thousands of silver nails, each with a rupee as its head. They took away the inner doors of the Taj, each a single translucent slab of agate, the gold spire and crescent, and the precious carpets laid three and four deep on the floor. No vandalism of that kind has taken place in British days, and there has been great interest shown in keeping the gardens in their original condition. In 1876 the whole place was thoroughly repaired and restored in preparation for the Prince of Wales's visit, and the closest watch is kept to prevent natives, soldiers, and tourists from picking out the precious bits of inlaid stone. Severe punishment is visited upon natives who pick flowers or otherwise transgress within the inclosure, and the query was always in my mind whether or not the natives had any comprehension of the beauty and sentiment of the place. It was ever a growing wonder that these people, the Hindus, had ever accomplished it—how even twenty-two thousand of them, working for seventeen or for twenty-two years under Moslem directors, had ever reared it. Like Sir Charles Dilke, one finds it hard to believe that