manner, then prostrating himself according to the Muhammadan custom, and, finally, after the ritual of the Hindus.  One of the Christian congregation having died about this time, he granted permission for the funeral procession to pass through the streets of Fatehpur with all the ceremonies of the Catholic faith.  Many of the inhabitants, both Hindus and Muhammadans, attended the funeral.  Akbar was never persuaded to become a convert to Christianity, nor does there appear to be any ground for the belief that one of his wives was a Christian.

THE DIWAN-I-AM.—­The west side of the Diwan-i-am (Hall of Public Audience) and its cloisters coincide for the whole length with the east of the palace quadrangle.  The description already given of the Diwan-i-am at Agra will explain the functions for which this building was intended.  The throne, or judgment seat, of Akbar was placed between two pierced stone screens in the verandah in front of the hall.

THE PANCH MAHAL.—­This curious five-storied pavilion is nearly opposite to the Diwan-i-am.  It is approached by a staircase from the Mahal-i-khas.  Each story was originally enclosed by pierced stone screens; this, and the fact that the whole building overlooked the palace zanana, make it tolerably certain that it could only have been used as a promenade by Akbar and the ladies of the court.  The ground-floor, which was divided into cubicles by screens between the columns, may; as Keene suggests, have been intended for the royal children and their attendants.  The building is chiefly remarkable for the invention and taste shown in the varied designs of the columns, in which the three principal styles of Northern India, the Hindu, Jain, and Saracenic, are indiscriminately combined.

MIRIAM’S KOTHI.—­Another doorway in the west side of the palace quadrangle leads to Miriam’s House, a very elegant two-storied building showing marked Hindu feeling in the design.  The Rama incarnation of Vishnu appears on one of the carved brackets of the verandah.  It seems to have derived its name from Akbar’s Hindu wife, Mariam Zamani, the mother of Jahangir.  Her name literally means “Mary of the age,” a common designation used by Muhammadan women in honour of the Mother of Jesus.  This has led to the fable that the house was occupied by a Christian wife of Akbar.  The whole building was originally covered with fresco paintings and gilding, and was hence called the Sonahra Makan, or “Golden House.”  The frescoes are supposed to illustrate Firdousi’s great epic, the Shahnama, or history of the Kings of Persia.  As in the Kwabgah, the fragments which remain have been covered with varnish as a preservative, which has had the effect of destroying all the charm of colour they once possessed; and will eventually, when the varnish turns brown with age, obliterate them altogether.  The paintings are all in the style of the Persian artists who were employed by Akbar to illustrate his books and to paint the portraits of his Court.  Over the doorway in the north-west angle of the building is a painting which the guides, perhaps misled by the suggestion of some uninformed traveller, point out as “the Annunciation.”