Page:The Land of the Veda.djvu/140

130 Amid all this loveliness the Taj rises before your view, upon an elevated terrace of white and yellow marble, about thirty feet in height, and having a graceful minaret at each corner. On either side are the beautiful Mosque and the Rest House, facing inward, and corresponding exactly with each other in size, design, and execution. That on the left side is the one used for service, as it allows the faces of the worshipers to be set toward the tomb of their prophet, to the west, at Mecca. The one to the right is used for the accommodation of visitors who come from various parts of the world to enjoy this great sight, and who here receive free quarters as long as they choose to remain.

From the center of this great platform springs up the Taj itself. A detailed description of its general appearance is rendered unnecessary, as our readers have that before them in the beautiful engraving here given. The mausoleum itself, the terrace upon which it stands, and the minarets, are all formed of the finest white marble, inlaid with precious stones. The marble was brought from the Jeypore territory, a distance of nearly three hundred miles, and the sandstone for the walls, from Dholepore and Futtehpore Secree. A Persian manuscript, preserved in the Taj, professes to give a full account of the stones and materials used in its construction. The white marble was brought from Jeypore, the yellow marble from the Nerbudda, the black from Charkoh, crystal from China, jasper from the Punjab, carnelian from Bagdad, turquoises from Thibet, agate from Yemen, lapis lazuli from Ceylon, diamonds from Punah, rockspar from the Nerbudda, loadstone from Gwalior, amethyst and onyx from Persia, chalcedony from Villiat, and sapphires from Lanka—and this does not exhaust the list.

The dome, “shining like an enchanted castle of burnished silver,” is seventy feet in diameter, the Taj itself is two hundred and forty-five feet in altitude, and the cullice, or golden spire on the summit, is thirty feet more, making a height of two hundred and seventy-five feet from the terrace to the golden crescent.

It is asserted that the whole of the Koran is inlaid upon the building in the Arabic language, the letters being beautifully formed