Douglas Island news., 1910-09-28


 Akbar have Hindoo and other orna- ments and carvings besides Mahome- tan. The ladies' apartments are very beautiful There are hundreds of rooms; in one place are the apartments of the empress and the work room or sitting room of her maids. There are a num- Der of jewel boxes where the ladies kept their valuables. They are l1a feet deep in the marble wall and open bya very small opening. There are also the apartments of Shah Jahan when he was imprisoned. He could see the Tai Mahal when his empress was buried. His favorite daughter Jahanri shared his imprisonment 1 think they make too much of her. Poets tell of her spending seven years of her life with her father and throwing away her chances of marrying. She was over fifty when her father was imprisoned and in India she would have been con- sidered confirmed old maid at seven- teen Those and most of the other apartments have instead of windows, latticed or scrolled screens of marble or redstene. Some of these stone slabs looked like red sandalwood beautifully Ie scrolled. The room of the empress was marble inlaid. Pillars, floor and ceiling all were inlaid, and the walls were scrolled or latticed marble which  gave light and allowed you to see the whole country. The view of the Tai Mahal from here was one of the best died here looking to the east on the Tai Mahal.
 The redstone rooms and palaces are inlaid with figures of different colored marble; the marble rooms and ceilings and pillars are inlaid with precious stones. There is large chessboard of black and white marble blocks, where tbe chessmen were girl slaves who were moved about from square to square.
 The winner got all the slaves he won. The pearl mosque is very large. It is redstone without, the interior all being marble, white blue or gray veined. There is a marble tank inside, 40 feet square where the worshippers washed before prayers. The Nina Mosque Is a small, rich, little room where Akbar used to pray quietly.
 There is also the women's mosque.
 Below Akbar's palace and the women's apart n ents are cells which were often used for women. The snakes now make it unsafe 10 visit them. There are two ladies bath rooms with thousands of
 pieces of mirrors and mica set in the
 walls and ceiling. There are fountains, jets and sprays of hot and cold water. There are also Colored lanterns and
 when the ladies were bathing with lights and water turned on the effect
 must have been dazzling. There is the ball of public audience. This is 200 feet long and about 70 wide. There is throne for the emperor and one for his vi2ier on a lower level. The hall is open on three sides. In the other side are mal bIe gratings through which the ladies could watch proceedings without being seen. saw those gratings in the harems everywhere. You have seen summer houses with laths or slats crossed diagonally and painted green. You eau see out, but not in. The ladies could see what was going on outside, but nobody could see them. The roof is held up by redstone pillars about four feet apart.
 The litigants and others stood against those pillars while their cases wer being decided, In front of this hall is the tomb of Lieut.. Governor ColVin, who died during the mutiny. He also had been afraid of offending the natives nd rarely agreed with the commander in chief about anything. Although they did we'll at first they soon became de- m moraiized, as the soldiers did not know to obey, the governor or commander. They took refuge in the fort, disarmed She native soldiers and had no such ma ssaeres as there were at Delhi and Cawnpore, but they blundered terribly. may say here that though the Eng, lishman often blunders he is almost invariably ready to die to retrieve the blunder, and good many died during the mutiny. You have to look long