Page:The Land of the Veda.djvu/164

154 below this, on the floor of the hall, is the tomb inclosing the body of Etmad-od-Doulah. Interiorly and exteriorly this fairy pile is covered, as with beautiful lace, by lattice-work, delicately wrought in marble, covered with foliage and flowers, and intermingled with scrolls bearing passages from the Koran. Every portion of the mausoleum is thus enriched, and all that wealth could furnish, or Oriental art suggest, or genius execute, in the completion of the structure, was devoted to its adornment. The original idea in the mind of the Empress, as Martin and others relate, was to construct her father's shrine of solid silver; and she was only dissuaded from this purpose by the assurance that if marble was not equally costly, it was certain to be more durable, and less likely to attract the cupidity of future ages.

The photograph of this building, when examined by a good glass, brings out its singular loveliness as no mere engraving can present it. Each slab of white marble is wrought in rich tracery in the most delicate manner, pierced through and through so as to be the same when seen from either side; the pattern of each slab differs from the next one, and the rich variety, as well as beauty of the designs, fixes the attention of the beholder in amazement at the taste and patient skill that could originate and execute this vision of beauty, which seems like an imagination rising before the fancy, and then, by some wondrous wand of power, transmuted into a solid form forever, to be touched, and examined, and admired. Standing within the shrine, it seems as though it was covered with a rich vail, wrought in curious needle-work, every ray of light that enters coming through the various patterns. You approach and touch it, and find it is of white marble, two inches in thickness! What mind but that of a lady could have suggested a design so unique and feminine?

According to the usages of the Moguls, a lovely garden was planted around the fair shrine, and ample provision made for its care and preservation in the future. Rare and costly trees, flagrant evergreens, shady walks, and tanks and fountains, all added their charms to set off the central pile. A small mosque was