whose new monarchy opened with their own in the tenth century; but a race who received the faith which those Mohammedans repelled and persecuted, and who have consequently risen to supremacy among the nations; so that, while one portion of them rules the New World, the other inherits the empire of the fallen Moguls, and are there with confidence expecting that the promise of the Almighty shall ere long be made as true as his threatenings now consummated: “Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.” How expressively does the history of these eight hundred years declare, “Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him!”
True religion was the only thing this guilty but magnificent race needed for perpetuity. No dynasty ever had a grander opportunity than they—a rich land, the sixth of the world's population, boundless wealth, almost a millennium of time for the trial, with a civilization all their own, and a splendid cultivated taste, which they had the will and the ability to gratify to the utmost, as its memorials in Agra, and Delhi, and elsewhere, attest, to the surprise and delight of the traveler and tourist from many lands.
The Emperor Shah Jehan—A. D. 1627—alone, for his portion, laid out in Alipoor the celebrated Gardens of Shalimar, at a cost of $5,000,000. They were about two miles and a half in circumference, and were almost like Paradise in beauty. He then built the world-renowned Taj Mahal, expending upon it nearly $60,000,000, the present value of money. He also erected the Dewan Khass, the most gorgeous audience hall in the East. This latter we here illustrate.
This imperial hall was a gorgeous accessory of the Palace of Delhi. The front opened on a large quadrangle, and the whole stood in what was once a garden, extremely rich and beautiful. This unique pavilion rested on an elevated terrace, and was formed entirely of white marble. It was one hundred and fifty feet long, and forty in breadth, having a graceful cupola at each angle. The roof was supported on colonnades of marble pillars. The solid and
