Bright and early the next morning the three were out of their beds and ready for a tour of the place. They drove to the most famous buildings of Lucknow, and were shown through them by the custodians or by the guide that accompanied them from the hotel, and in a little while their heads were full of palaces and Oriental gold and glitter, till Fred thought he would have a good deal of difficulty afterward in remembering "which was which." [Illustration: THE IMAMBARA AT LUCKNOW.] The most gorgeous of all the edifices they saw was the Imambara, and they spent twice as much time in it as in any other. It is considered the finest of all the palaces of Lucknow, and its reputed cost is a million pounds sterling. The story is that it was begun in a time of famine to give employment to a starving population, and its construction required nearly ten years. It was not finished till 1783, so that it is quite modern by comparison with other public buildings of Lucknow. The king who built it invited architects to compete for the design, and stipulated that it should not be a copy of any existing building, and should surpass in beauty anything of the kind ever built. At the time of the capture of Lucknow the English troops destroyed a large part of the interior decorations, and since the reoccupation of the city the Imambara is used as an arsenal. It stands on a hill overlooking a considerable extent of country, and the visitor who climbs to the top has the greater part of Lucknow at his feet. There is a large court-yard in front of it, and this yard is adorned with mosques and other Moslem structures, and also a miniature lake in the centre, with a bridge over it. There is very little wood work about the building, and it was evidently the intention of the architect and the king that the Imambara should stand unharmed for centuries. Frank and Fred confessed their inability to describe the building in words, and wisely purchased photographs to enclose to their friends, as the easiest way out of the difficulty. "But the photograph can't show the size of the building," said one of the boys, "and so we must make a few notes." They did so with the following result: Length of Imambara 303 feet. Breadth " 163 " Height " 63 " "The central room," said Frank, "is 163 feet long by 53 wide, and it is 49 feet high, with walls 16 feet thick. Then there is an octagonal room 216 feet in circumference, with walls of the same thickness as the other room, and it is 53 feet high in the centre. If this doesn't take away your breath you may think of another room, 54 feet square, and the same in height, and you must remember that this whole building was finished with stone carving, as though it had been intended for ornamenting a parlor." [Illustration: THE MARTINIERE.]