In an alley4 of the bazaar5 girls were lounging in hammocks hung to nails outside the windows, smoking and spitting down on the world below.
A delightful6 surprise was a museum of Indian art, the first I had seen, a fine collection and admirably arranged;[A] but the natives who resorted hither to enjoy the cool shelter of the galleries talked to each other from a distance, as is their universal custom, at the top of their voices, which rang doubly loud under the echoing vaults7.
The ancient palace of the kings of Lahore. Amid the ruins there is a mosque8 of red stone flowered[Pg 236] with white marble, the cupola of a material so milky9 that it might be jade10; and the structure is mirrored in a pool of clear water, dappled with sun-sparks over the rose-coloured stones at the bottom.
Another mausoleum is of lace-like carving11 in marble, the roof painted with Persian ornament12; and the whole thing is uninjured, as fresh as if it had been wrought13 yesterday, under the broad shade of theobromas and cedars14 that have grown up among the ruins.
Behind a ponderous15 wall, dinted all over by shot, and showing broad, light patches once covered by earthenware16 tiles, is the palace of Runjeet Singh, inlaid with enamelled pictures in green, blue, and yellow of tiger-fights and horse-races, mingling17 with flowers and garlands of boughs18. The durbar, the hall or presence chamber19, opens by a verandah on a forecourt paved with marble; in its walls are mirrors and panels of coloured glass over a ground of dull gold, agate-like tints20 iridescent21 with a nacreous, silvery, luminous22 lustre23.
In one vast hall were ancient weapons, swords and pistols, enriched with precious stones; suits of armour24 damascened with gold, guns with silver stocks set with pearls, and a whole battery of field-pieces to be carried on camels' backs and spit out[Pg 237] tiny balls—enormously, absurdly long, still perched on their saddle-shaped carriages. And in a window bay two toy cannon25 made of gold and silver, with which Dhuleep Singh used to play as a child before he lost his realm.
At two or three leagues from Lahore, in a city of ruins, opposite a tumble-down mosque which is strewing26 a powdering of rose-coloured stones on its white marble court, stands the tomb of Jehangir, splendid, and more splendid amid the squalor that surrounds it.
The sarcophagus rests in the depths of a vaulted27 crypt lighted only by narrow latticed loopholes, and it is shrouded28 in a mysterious glimmer29, a mingling of golden sunbeams and the reflections from the marble walls inlaid with precious stones.
On the tomb, in elegant black letters, is this inscription30:
"Here lies Jehangir, Conqueror31 of the World."
As we returned to Lahore the palace rose before us among trees, a strip of wall, uninjured, covered with sapphire32 and emerald tiles; a fragile minaret33 crowning a tower bowered34 in flowering shrubs—and then the vision was past. The carriage drove on for[Pg 238] a long way by ruins and vestiges35 of beauty, and re-entered the town, where lanterns were being lighted over the throng36 that pushed and hustled37 about the fair.
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1 jolting | |
adj.令人震惊的 | |
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2 bogs | |
n.沼泽,泥塘( bog的名词复数 );厕所v.(使)陷入泥沼, (使)陷入困境( bog的第三人称单数 );妨碍,阻碍 | |
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3 scattered | |
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的 | |
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4 alley | |
n.小巷,胡同;小径,小路 | |
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5 bazaar | |
n.集市,商店集中区 | |
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6 delightful | |
adj.令人高兴的,使人快乐的 | |
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7 vaults | |
n.拱顶( vault的名词复数 );地下室;撑物跳高;墓穴 | |
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8 mosque | |
n.清真寺 | |
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9 milky | |
adj.牛奶的,多奶的;乳白色的 | |
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10 jade | |
n.玉石;碧玉;翡翠 | |
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11 carving | |
n.雕刻品,雕花 | |
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12 ornament | |
v.装饰,美化;n.装饰,装饰物 | |
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13 wrought | |
v.引起;以…原料制作;运转;adj.制造的 | |
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14 cedars | |
雪松,西洋杉( cedar的名词复数 ) | |
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15 ponderous | |
adj.沉重的,笨重的,(文章)冗长的 | |
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16 earthenware | |
n.土器,陶器 | |
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17 mingling | |
adj.混合的 | |
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18 boughs | |
大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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19 chamber | |
n.房间,寝室;会议厅;议院;会所 | |
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20 tints | |
色彩( tint的名词复数 ); 带白的颜色; (淡色)染发剂; 痕迹 | |
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21 iridescent | |
adj.彩虹色的,闪色的 | |
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22 luminous | |
adj.发光的,发亮的;光明的;明白易懂的;有启发的 | |
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23 lustre | |
n.光亮,光泽;荣誉 | |
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24 armour | |
(=armor)n.盔甲;装甲部队 | |
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25 cannon | |
n.大炮,火炮;飞机上的机关炮 | |
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26 strewing | |
v.撒在…上( strew的现在分词 );散落于;点缀;撒满 | |
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27 vaulted | |
adj.拱状的 | |
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28 shrouded | |
v.隐瞒( shroud的过去式和过去分词 );保密 | |
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29 glimmer | |
v.发出闪烁的微光;n.微光,微弱的闪光 | |
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30 inscription | |
n.(尤指石块上的)刻印文字,铭文,碑文 | |
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31 conqueror | |
n.征服者,胜利者 | |
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32 sapphire | |
n.青玉,蓝宝石;adj.天蓝色的 | |
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33 minaret | |
n.(回教寺院的)尖塔 | |
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34 bowered | |
adj.凉亭的,有树荫的 | |
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35 vestiges | |
残余部分( vestige的名词复数 ); 遗迹; 痕迹; 毫不 | |
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36 throng | |
n.人群,群众;v.拥挤,群集 | |
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37 hustled | |
催促(hustle的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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