Evening star., 1904-03-24

inclosing an area Of 5000 feet long by 500
feet wide, which was at one time filled with
buildings of unique beauty and interest.
They illustrate the imperial grandeur of the
moguIs, whose style of living was probably
more splendid than that of any monarehs
that ever lived before or since their time.
Their extravagance was-unbounded. Their
love or display has never been surpassed,
and while 1t Is question where they OBJ
tained the enormous sums of money they
squandered in ceremonies and personal
adornment, there Is none as to the accuracy
of the descriptions given of them.
The fact that Nadir Shah, the Persian
invader, was able to carry away $3.50, 600, 600
In booty of jewels and gold, silver and other
portable articles OF value when he sacked
Delhi in 1879 is of itself evidence that the
stories of the wealth and the splendor of
the moguls are not fables. 1t is written in
the history of Persia that the people of that
empire were exempt from taxation for three
years because their king brought from
Delhi enough money to pay all the expenses
of his government and his army during that
time. We are told that he stripped plates
OF gold from the walls of the palace of
Delhi and removed the ceilings from its
apartments because they were made of
silver, and the peacock throne was of itself
of sufficient value to pay the debts of a
nation.
Vandalism of the British
A considerable part of The palaces of the
Moguls has been destroyed by vandals or
removed by the British authorities In or
der to make room for ugly br.1 buile'-gs
which are used as barracks and for the
storage of arms, ammunitions and other
military supplies. 1t is doubtful W. ether
they could have secured uglier designs and
carried them out with ruder wo- kmanship.
Writers upon Indian history and architec-
ture invariably devote chapter to this ma
tional disgrace for which the viceroys in
the latter part of the nineteenth ce-
nv,l
even worse than the devastation committed
by barbarian invaders.
''Nadir Shah. Ahmed Khan and the Ma
ratha chi. were content to strip tie build
ings of their precious metals and the Jew
eled thrones" exclaims one eminent writer
ITO the government of the present Empress
of India was left the last dregs of van
dalism, which after the E.utiny pulled down
these perfect monuments of Mogui art to
make room for the uglie-4 brick buildings
from Si:nla to Ceyfon e whole the
harem courts Of the palace were swept of
the face of the earth to make way for a
hideous British barrack without those who
carried out this fearlui p.oce of va alism
thinking it even worth Y to make a plan
OF what they were destroying or making
any re IS of the most splendid palace in
the world. OF the publ $ of the ice
all that remains are the ent-cnce hail. the
Nobut Khana, the Dewani Aum, the De-
wani Khas and the Rung Mahal, now used
as a mess room. and one of two small pa
vilions. They ar the gems of the palace,
1t is true, but without tie courts co-ri-
doris conr ting tim they Io-c all their
meaning and more than half L.1eir beauty.
Being now sitr- ed in Che miast of British
barraek yard. they look Iikeiprecic stones
torn from their SETTINGS in SC exquisite
piece of oriental jewelers. wor- and set at
random In bed of the commonest plaster"
1t is only fair to say that no one appreci-
ates this situation more keenly than Lord
CurZon, and while he is too discreet a man
to criticise the acts Of his predecessors in
office, he has plans to restore the interior
of the fort to so4iething like its original
condition, and has already taken steps to
tear down the ugly brick buildings that
deface the landscape. But something more
Is necessary. The vandalism still contin-
ues In small way. While we were being
escorted through the beautiful buildings
by blithe and gay young irish soldier 1
called his attention to several spots in the
wall where bits of preciou4 stone-corne-
liam, turquoise and agate @had been picked
wounds in the wall are recent. 1t was per-
fectly apparent that the damage had been
done that very day; but he declared that
there was no way to prevent IT; that he
was the only custodian of the place; that
there were no guards; that it was impossi-
BILE for him to be everywhere at once and
that it was easy enough for tourists and
other visitors to deface the mosaics with
their pocket knives In one of the palaces
while he was showing people through the
others.
The mosaicS which adOrn the interior
marble walls of the palaces are considered
incompatible They are claimed to be the
most elaborate, the most costly and the
most perfect specimens of the art in exist
ence. The designs represent flowers, foli-
age, fruits. birds, beasts, fishes and rep
tiles, carried out with precious stones In
the pure white marble with the skill and
delicacy of a Neapolitan cameo cutter. and
1t is said that they were designed and done
by Austin de Bordeaux. the FIR snch archi-
tect who built the Tai Mahal, and 1t was
bad man who did this beautiful work. His
tory says that after defrauding several OF
the princes OF Europe by means OF false