The sentence appeared unfinished, and one or two words were probably
required to complete the sense, but from similar existing records
there could be no difficulty in filling in the missing syllables.
It was curious, however, to reflect what the feeling could have been
that stayed the writer's hand, and prevented him from finishing his
graceful tribute to the mighty dead.
Mumtaz, from whose name the word "Taj" is derived (the letter "z"
being incapable of being pronounced by many natives except as a
"j"),was the daughter of the famous Noor Jehan's brother Asoph
Khan. Shah Jehan followed his queen in A.D. 1665, and was laid in the
building which he had himself originally designed in her honour alone.
With Noor Jehan and Jehangeer the case was reversed. The conqueror
of the world ended his career in A.D. 1627, and the partner of all
his Cashmerian wanderings, and many adventures, who wore no colour
but white after his death, finally rejoined him in a tomb which she
had raised to his memory at Lahore.
Having paid due homage to the beauty of the far-famed mausoleum, we
went to the Fort, and, after visiting the Ram Bagh, the Ikmam Dowlah,
and the various palaces built by Akbar Shah, once more took the road,
and were soon again galloping through the dust, morning bringing us
to the bungalow of Bewah. From this we again made for Ghoorsahagunge
and Cawnpore, and by rail to Allahabad, there completing a circuit
of travel extending to between two and three thousand miles:
"In heat and cold
We'd roved o'er many a hill and many a dale,
Through many a wood and many an open ground,
In sunshine and in shade, in wet and fair,
Thoughtful or blithe of heart as might befall
Our best companions, now the driving winds,
And now the trotting brooks and whispering trees,
And now the music of our own quick steps
With many a short-lived thought that passed between
And disappeared."
And now but one day more remains of our six months' leave. The 31st of
October sees us again fairly in the hands of the authorities. Brothers
in arms, who during our absence have been having "all work and no
play," receive us with warm and disinterested welcome. The Q.M.G. is
hauled away in triumph by a swarm of fellow black-legs to glad the
squaw-like partner of his sooty bosom. The last remnants of the
expedition are fairly broken up, and already the days when we went
gipsying have passed away "a long time ago."
