[18]
It is said to have taken forty-four years in building, and formed the
left of two 'minars' of a mosque. The other 'minar' was never
raised, but this has been preserved and repaired by the liberality of
the British Government.[19] It is only 242 feet high, and 106 feet in
circumference at the base. It is circular, and fluted vertically into
twenty-seven semicircular and angular divisions. There are four
balconies, supported upon large stone brackets, and surrounded with
battlements of richly cut stone, to enable people to walk round the
tower with safety. The first is ninety feet from the base, the second
fifty feet further up, the third forty further; and the fourth
twenty-four feet above the third. Up to the third balcony, the tower
is built of fine, but somewhat ferruginous sandstone, whose surface
has become red from exposure to the oxygen of the atmosphere. Up to
the first balcony, the flutings are alternately semicircular and
angular; in the second story they are all semicircular, and in the
third all angular. From the third balcony to the top, the building is
composed chiefly of white marble; and the surface is without the deep
flutings.
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