The mosaic work of the interior is the finest to be found in any eastern country. Precious stones are used unsparingly--jasper and agate, carnelian and chalcedony. Marble lacework of wonderful lightness screens the windows and doorways. In the center are the tombs of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan; but their bodies, according to the Indian custom, lie in a vault beneath the building. Shah Jahan had begun a tomb for himself on the opposite side of the river, which he never finished because Aurantzeb, his son, rebelled against him and took away the empire. He was therefore buried by the side of his beloved wife. Shah Jahan was a cold and haughty man; but he ruled India well, and his pride was softened in later life by the death of his wife. It is said that during his reign he brought India peace and prosperity by putting all his rivals to death. Besides the Taj Mahal, two other famous buildings, the Pearl Mosque at Agra and the great mosque of Delhi, which were built by Shah Jahan, have made his reign one of the most memorable in Indian history. The emperor's treasury must have been practically unlimited; for the peacock throne, made during his reign, was estimated by Tavernier to be worth sixty million dollars. The festival at his coronation alone cost eight millions. There is a legend that when he had finished the Taj Mahal, Shah Jahan ordered the architect to be thrown over the cliff into the River Jumna, for fear he might plan another building as beautiful as the Taj. [Footnote: PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR. VOL. I, No. 33. SERIAL No. 33 COPYRIGHT. 1913. BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION. INC.] [Illustration: THE ALHAMBRA--COURT OF THE LIONS] _The Alhambra_ TWO The people about Granada have always held that the Palace of the Alhambra was built under a magic spell. To their minds human workmanship and the power of wealth are too feeble for the erection of a structure so enduring and magnificent. Indeed, great architects can hardly conceive the skill that balanced those halls and gardens and towers one against the other with perfect symmetry, or the patience that worked out each interlaced design without error in either the art or the chiseling. Pains and expense were not spared in the construction, and it is no wonder that the Spaniards should have thought the work supernatural. Slim pillars of the rarest white marble give grace to every court of the palace. The carvings and designs are everywhere gilded, and where these are painted between the gilding, blue, red, and yellow, the purest colors only are used. The blue is ultramarine, made from a precious stone, the lapis lazuli of the Egyptians, which never fades.