The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1872-03-21

trope, chalcedony, cornelian, etc.
The whole Of the Koran is said to
be thus inwrought, and yet it has
the appearance of a light and grace
ful vine running over the walls.
With the sentences of the Koran,
thus traced upon the marble in such
costly n aterial, are interspersed
fruits, and flowers, and running
vines, all of precious stones iniaid,
designed to represent one of tho
bowers of Paradise in which the en-
peror had laid the light Of his life
to sleep her last sleep. (ts@3I &.
| . While we were standing beneath
that lofty dome, the silence of the
tomb reigning even over its ex.
quisite beauty and grandeur, voices
at my side commenced sin ing:
aa SIN the bour Of pain and anguish, - =
In the hour when, death draws near, ~t
| Suffer not our hea arts to IsnguIsh,
Suffer not our souls to fear.
And when mortal lifs is ended,
Bid us in thine arms TO rest,
Till, by angel bauds attended,
We awake anoag the biest.''
The singing ceased, but far up in
that snow-white vault, as if among
the fleecy clouds of heaven, an angel
band caught up the strain, not as
an ordinary echo of reflected sound,
but as ifit prolonged the notes. 1t
continued as long as the original
song, and at length gradually died
away, only as the song Of angels
would cease to be heard when they
enter the portals of heaven. This
echo is as marvellous and as celebra.
ted as the Tai itself, and know not
in what building or in what part of
the world another like it can be
heard.
All this description may seem to
the reader simply extravagant, but
not, if the reader has ever looked
upon the building described. Ev-
cry one who has seen it will simply
say that words are powerless to eX-
press the ideas which its sublimity
and beauty inspire. could only
compare tho emotions which it ex-
cited TO those awakened by listening
to exquisite music, and the building
to some sublime poem, whose words
transport the soul out of itself. The
very first glimpse of the structure,
as L entered the gateway quarter
of a mile distant, and looked down
the long avenue of acacias and cy-
press, was overpowering, and [ felt
at every step as l drew nearer that
| must withdraw my gaze or be
overcome. Often, as L stood within
The Tai, its silent grandeur was
equally overpowering. Moonlight
is said to add greatly to the effect OF
the whole scene, giving TO the build
ing the appearance of cloud-castle
built in air. 1t Il. s,...t..5.
8 According to the records, Shah Je-
han had planned another structure
precisely similar to this for his own
tomb, on the opposite side of the
Jumna, to be connected to it by q
bridge, but he wisely concluded to
sleep by the side of his beloved be-
gum.
AS we left the Tai and fingered in
the park, We found it vocal with the
song of birds. Richly colored paro-
quets made their homes along the
cornices Of the surrounding build
ings and upon the gateway, and, by
a singular though somewhat senu
mental coincidence, the only turtle
doves that | saw or heard in India
were two mates, that sighed their
melancholy notes upon the evening
air as q requiem over Shah Jehan
and his beloved Moor Mahal.