Page:Wanderings of a Pilgrim Vol 2.djvu/113

 dinner was ready; we seated ourselves near one of the ruins, and partook of refreshment with infinite glee. No sooner was it ended, than, remounting the elephant, we went to the ruins of a hunting tower: approaching it from every point, it is a beautiful object seen above the woods, or through the intervals between the trees. Akbar beautified the city, and may probably have built this circular tower,—a column of solid masonry, within which winds a circular stair. At Fathīpūr Sicrī is a tower, somewhat of a similar description, built by Akbar, and used as a hunting tower; people were sent forth to drive the game from every part towards the minār, from the top of which the emperor massacred his game at leisure. This tower at Gaur, much more beautifully situated, with a greater command of country, may have been used for a similar purpose. The building is on a larger scale, and much handsomer than the one at Fathīpūr Sicrī.

My companion mounted the hunting tower; climbing up the broken stones, a feat of some difficulty, he went up to the dome, which is now in ruins, though its egg shape may be clearly traced. The view pleased him: he was anxious I should ascend; but I was deterred by the difficulty of climbing up to the entrance porch, which is of carved black stone and very handsome.

There is one thing to observe with relation to the buildings: judging from the exterior ornaments on the stones, they would be pronounced Muhammadan; but, on taking out the stones, the other side presents Hindoo images; as if the conquerors had just turned and ornamented the stones according to their own fashion. The Hindoo idols around Gaur have generally been broken; the interior of the buildings, presenting pillars of massive stone, appear to me Hindoo: this point I leave to the learned, and rest content myself with admiring their fallen grandeur. The peepul tree and the banyan spring from the crevices, twisting their roots between the masses of stone, destroying the buildings with great rapidity; the effect, nevertheless, is so picturesque, one cannot wish the foliage to be destroyed. Crossing a bridge, we saw what I supposed to be the dry trunk of a tree; it was a large alligator asleep on the edge of a morass. Mr. S fired, the ball struck him just