At the head of the Catholic mission is a bishop.  The present one, Mr. Porgi, is the founder of a tastefully-built church.  In no similar establishment did I ever see so much order, or find the natives so well-behaved as here.  On Sundays, after prayers, they amuse themselves with decorous and lively games; while in the Protestant establishments, after having worked all the week, they are compelled to pray all day long, and their greatest amusement consists in being allowed to sit for a few hours gravely before the house-doors.  A person who passed a Sunday in this country among strict Protestants would imagine that God had forbidden the most innocent amusements.

These two religious societies, unfortunately, are not on very amicable terms, and censure and persecute every slight irregularity on the part of each other; by this means not setting the natives living round them a very good example.

My last visit was to the magnificent treasure of Agra, and, indeed, of all India—­the famous Taj-Mehal.

I had read somewhere that this monument ought to be visited last, as the others would not be admired at all after seeing this.  Captain Elliot says:  “It is difficult to give a description of this monument; the architecture is full of strength and elegance.”

The Taj-Mehal was erected by the Sultan Jehoe (Dschehoe), in memory of his favourite muntaza, Zemani.  Its building is said to have cost 750,000 pounds.  Properly speaking, the sultan’s memory is more perpetuated by this building than that of his favourite, for every one who saw it would involuntarily ask who erected it.  The names of the architect and builder are unfortunately lost.  Many ascribe it to Italian masters; but when it is seen that there are so many other admirable works of Mahomedan architecture, either the whole must be considered foreign or this must be admitted to be native.

The monument stands in the centre of a garden, upon an open terrace of red sandstone, raised twelve feet above the ground.  It represents a mosque of an octagon form, with lofty arched entrances, which, together with the four minarets that stand at the corners of the terrace, is entirely built of white marble.  The principal dome rises to a height of 260 feet, and is surrounded by four smaller ones.  Round the outside of the mosque extracts from the Koran are inlaid in characters of black marble.

In the principal apartment stand two sarcophagi, of which one contains the remains of the sultan, the other those of his favourite.  The lower part of the walls of this apartment, as well as both sarcophagi, are covered with costly mosaic work of the most beautiful stones.  A marble lattice-work, six feet high, surrounding the two sarcophagi, is a masterpiece of art.  It is so delicate and finely worked, that it seems as if turned out of ivory.  The graceful columns and the narrow cornices are also covered, above and below, with jasper, agate, etc.  Among these, I was shown the so-called “goldstone,” which has a perfect gold colour, and is said to be very costly, even more so than lapis-lazuli.