Douglas Island news., 1910-10-05

ces and tombs that nobody knows any thing about. Many tombs are twice as large as the Douglas Opera House.
 Sicandra is namedsafter the emperor sicander Lodi who had palace here. It is about four miles from Agra, dusty road, through an almost contln- uous line of tombs and ruined mosques. Three and half miles out is Sican- dria's palace, now ruin. Beside 1t IS a very large tank. On the other side of the road is an old Mahometan ceme- tery with many strange tombs, among them being a horse carved of redstone and standing over his owners grave, Half mile away is the tomb of Akbar. 1t stands in the center of large gar den or park and has four redstone gateways each about 100 feet high. The main one is beautifully carved and in- laid with marble of many colors. There is a museum in the gateway and many other rooms, so that fifty people could live comfortably in it. There are four minarets From one there have been many suicides, the last one being na- tive prince few years ago. A paved marble walk leads up to the tomb, which is five stories bigh. Base is 320 feet square; lower part of tomb is of redstone, upper of marble 1t has in- scriptIons, has the go names of God with the titles of Akbar.
 At the head of the marble tomb is sm all pillar of marble in which was set the Kohin.or diamond. The wind walls through the marble screens as if sing ing or moaning his dirge.
 Below is the real tomb without any inscription, and in the corner are the tombs of Akbar's relatives.
 Near by is the workroom and bath room of Miriam, Akbar's Christian wife. They have been pretty buildings, but are now ruins. Half mile away is her tomb in the vault and center of an immense ruin. went through over ground and underground passages, up stone stairs and down marble stairs, stepping on lizards and disturbing bats, striking my head against stone beams and all the while perspiring like a seal. The tomb was not worth look ing at. It was brick and had a layer of mortar over it with no inscription. The great objection 10 these under ground passages is the presence of snakes. As it is never cold enough for them to hyberDate they are always lively.
 Arjmand Bann was the daughter of Asaf Khan and granddaughter of Mirza Ghias. She was also the favorite wife of Shah Jahan, although not his first wife. She accompanied him everywhere and was with him on some military ex- cursion when she gave birth to her thirteenth child. She died few hours later. They had been married fifteen years, and eight children lived. Shah Jahan began building a tomb for her at Agra and the Tai Mahal was the re- suit. From all parts of India they con- tri buted, sending him precious stones, marble, gold etc. They estimate the cost at ten millions, but it is hard to tell as the labor was almost free and nearly everything else was presented to him by bis subjects.
 You first pass into large courtyard with redstone buildings on all sides. Those are for the accommodation of pilgrims visiting the tomb, and thous- ands can be taken care of. You pass through magnificent gateway into the garden. The gateway is the finest I have seen and also has museum and many large rooms. At every tomb visited in India 1 found from one to twenty guards and guides besides an occasional native policeman. 4 double marble roadway with a water. course between leads up to the Tai On each side are beds of flowers and then rows of trees.
 (Continued next week)