A TWO-STORIED CAMEL WAGON AT AGRA
This is almost like a house on wheels, isn’t it? There seem to be two stories in the wagon or carriage. We can see someone sitting in the upper part, and the lower floor appears to be filled with all sorts of things. How proud and haughty the camels look, with their noses up in the air!
In what country would you expect to see this carriage? Yes, it is in India, at Agra, a very beautiful city. There are such wonderful buildings in Agra that we should want to stay there a long time and admire them. One is called the Moti Musjid, or Pearl Mosque, and travellers say that it is exquisite. It is all of marble and has three beautiful domes like immense bubbles floating in the air.
The gem of Agra, though, is the Taj Mahal, a big tomb built centuries ago by one of the rulers, Shah Jehan, for his wife, whom he dearly loved. Just think, this building is standing now, after all these hundreds of years, and is still perfect! It has a beautiful big dome and a number of little ones, besides minarets and towers, and it looks like a marvellous dream building or a palace made by the fairies. Every little part of it is as perfect as a bit of jewellery. There are flowers inlaid in many colours, and exquisite mosaic work in different patterns; and in the dome is a wonderful echo that repeats a note again and again until it sounds like fairy music. Wouldn’t you like to visit this wonderful place?
Two-story Camel Wagons at Agra, India
From Stereograph, Copyright, 1904, by Underwood & Underwood, New York