It Has A Flight Of Some
Twenty-Four Or Thirty Steps To The Gate, Which Is, In My Opinion, One Of
The Loftiest And Handsomest In The World, Having A Great Number Of
Clustering Pyramids On The Top, Very Curiously Disposed.
The top of this
gate may be distinctly seen from the distance of eight or ten miles.
Within the
Gate, is a spacious court curiously paved with stone, about
six times the size of the exchange of London, with a fine covered walk
along the sides, more than twice as broad and double the height of those
in our London exchange, supported by numerous pillars all of one stone;
and all round about are entrances into numerous rooms, very ingeniously
contrived. Opposite the grand gate stands a fair and sumptuous tomb,
most artificially inlaid with mother-of-pearl, and inclosed by a stone
ballustrade curiously carved; the ceiling being curiously plastered and
painted. In this tomb is deposited the body of a calender, or
Mahometan devotee, at whose cost the whole of this splendid mosque was
built. Under the court-yard is a goodly tank of excellent water; none
other being to be had in the whole extent of the city, except brackish
and corroding, by the use of which so great a mortality was occasioned
among the inhabitants of this city, that Akbar left it before it was
quite finished, and removed his seat of empire to Agra, so that this
splendid city was built and ruined in the space of fifty or sixty years.
The name of this place at first was Sykary, signifying seeking or
hunting: But on his return from his pilgrimage to Ajmeer, and the
subsequent birth of his son Selim, the present emperor, Akbar, changed
its name to Futtipoor, or the city of content, or heart's desire
obtained. Without the walls, on the N.N.W. side of the city, there is a
goodly lake of two or three coss in length, abounding with excellent
fish and wild-fowl; all over which grows the herb producing the
hermodactyle, and another bearing a fruit like a goblet, called
camolachachery, both very cooling fruits. The herb which produces the
hermodactyle, is a weed abounding in most tanks near Agra, which
spreads over the whole surface of the water. I did not observe its leaf;
but the fruit is enclosed in a three-cornered hard woody shell, having
at each angle a sharp prickle, and is a little indented on the flat
sides, like two posterns or little doors. The fruit while green is soft
and tender, and of a mealy taste, and is much eaten in India; but, in my
opinion, it is exceedingly cold on the stomach, as I always after eating
it was inclined to take spirits. It is called Singarra. The
camolachachery, or other fruit resembling a goblet, is flat on the
top, of a soft greenish substance, within which, a little eminent, stand
six or eight fruits like acorns, divided from each other, and enclosed
in a whitish film, at first of a russet green, having the taste of nuts
or acorns, and in the midst is a small green sprig, not fit to be eaten.
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