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122 great Akbar, in the fashion of that worn by the Persian kings, and was of extraordinary beauty and magnificence. It had twelve points, each surmounted by a diamond of the purest water, while the central point terminated in a single pearl of extraordinary size, the whole, including many valuable rubies, being estimated at a cost equivalent to £2,070,000 sterling, or $10,350,000. Add one thing more, the Koh-i-noor diamond, on his brow, and you have the Mogul “in all his glory,” as he sat on the Peacock Throne in his Dewan Khass, surrounded by Mohammedan princes, by turbaned and jeweled rajahs, amid splendor which only “the gorgeous East” could furnish, and the fame of which seemed to the poor courts of Europe of that day like a tale of the Arabian Nights.

Soon the Portuguese were found making their way around “the Cape of Storms” into the Indian Ocean, and thence to the capital of the Moguls. James I. of England, in 1615, sent as his embassador Sir Thomas Roe, whose chaplain has left us a record of the embassy in A Voyage to the East Indies. Sir Thomas felt keenly the contrast afforded by the unpretending character of the presents and retinue with which his royal master had provided him, to the magnificent ceremonial which he daily witnessed, and in which he was permitted to take part. He remained two years at Jehangeer's Court. One of the greatest displays occurred on the Emperor's birthday, when, amid the ceremonies, the royal person was weighed in golden scales twelve times against gold, silver, perfumes, and other valuables, the whole of which were then divided among the spectators. His description of the splendors of the scene sounds like the veriest romance.

On one of the pillars of the Audience Hall is shown the mark of the dagger of the Hindoo Prince of Chittore, who, in the very presence of the Emperor, stabbed to the heart one of the Mohammedan ministers, who made use of some disrespectful language toward him. On being asked how he presumed to do this in the presence of his sovereign, he answered in almost the very words of Roderic Dhu,