The Sultan Akbar passed several hours every day in the Hall of Justice, and gave audience there to the meanest, as well as the most important of his subjects.  A single column, standing in the centre of the hall, was the divan of the emperor.  This column, the capital of which is marvellously executed, becomes broader towards the top, and is surrounded by a beautifully worked stone gallery, a foot high.  Four broad stone passages or bridges lead into the adjoining apartments of the palace.

The sultan’s palace is less remarkable for size than for its sculptures, columns, ornaments, etc.  Every part is over-richly furnished with them.

I found less to admire in the famous Elephant gate.  It is, indeed, loftily arched, but not so high as the entrance gate in the fore-court of the mosque; the two elephants, which were very beautifully executed in stone, are so much dilapidated, that it is scarcely possible to tell what they are intended to represent.

The so-called Elephant’s Tower is in a better state of preservation.  In some descriptions of this, it is stated that it is constructed only of elephants’ tusks, and even of the tusks of those elephants only which were taken from enemies during Akbar’s time, or had been captured by him in hunting.  This is, however, not the case; the tower, which is sixty feet high, is built of stone, and the tusks are fastened on from top to bottom, so that they project out from it.  The Sultan Akbar is said to have frequently sat upon the top of this tower, occupying himself by shooting birds.

All the buildings, even the enormous wall, are of red sandstone, and not, as many affirm, of red marble.

Many hundreds of small green birds have formed their nests in the holes and crevices of the buildings.

On the 19th of January I left the famous town of Agra, in the company of Mr. Law, in order to visit the still more celebrated city of Delhi, which is 122 miles from Agra.  There is an excellent post-road all the way.

The country between Agra and Delhi continues tolerably unchanged; there is no elevation to be seen.  Far and wide, cultivated land alternates with heaths and sandy moors, and the miserable villages or small towns which lie on the road, excite no desire to delay the journey even for a moment.

A long and handsome chain bridge crosses the Jumna near the town of Gassanger.

On the 20th of January, at 4 in the afternoon, we reached Delhi.  Here I met with Dr. Sprenger, a very kind and amiable countryman.  Dr. Sprenger, a Tyrolese, has won for himself, by his remarkable abilities and knowledge, a considerable reputation, not only among the English, but throughout the whole learned world.  He holds the position of Director of the College in this place, and but a short time since was requested by the English government to go to Lucknau, for the purpose of examining the library of the Indian King of Lucknau, to make known the valuable works, and put the whole in order.  He is a perfect master of the Sanscrit, the ancient and modern Persian, the Turkish, Arabic, and Hindostanee languages, and translates the most difficult of them into English and German.  He has already made the most valuable and interesting contributions to literature, and will still continue to do so, as he is an extremely active man, and scarcely thirty-four years of age.