"we reached the town, which almost entirely consisted of temples, and had few inhabitants but grim and ghastly Yogis, with their hair in elf-knots and their faces covered with chalk, sitting naked and hideous, like so many ghouls, amid the tombs and ruined houses. A narrow winding street led us though these abodes of superstition, under a dark shade of peepul trees, till we found ourselves on another steep ascent paved with granite and leading to the palace. We wound along the face of the hill, through, I think, three gothic gateways, alighted in a large moss-grown quadrangle surrounded by what seemed to be barracks and stables, and followed our guides up a broad and long flight of steps through another richly-ornamented gateway, into the interior courts of the building, which contain one very noble hall of audience, a pretty little garden with fountains, and a long succession of passages, cloisters, alcoves and small and intricate apartments, many of them extremely beautiful, and enjoying from their windows, balconies, and terraces, one of the most striking prospects which can be conceived. The carving in stone and marble, and the inlaid flowers and ornaments in some of these apartments, are equal to those at Delhi and Agra, and only surpassed by the beauties of the Tage-mahal. My companions, none of whom had visited Umeer before, all declared that, as a whole, it was superior to the castle of Delhi. For myself, I have seen may royal palaces containing larger and more stately rooms, – many, the architecture of which in a purer taste, and some which have covered a greater extent of ground, (though in this, if the fortress on the hill be included, Umeer will rank, I think, above Windsor,) but for varied and picturesque effect, for richness of carving, for wild beauty of situation, for the number and romantic singularity of the apartments, and the strangeness of finding such a building in such a place and country, I am able to compare nothing with Umeer; and this, too, was the work of Jye Singh! The ornaments are in the same style, though in a better state, than those of his palace at Jyepoor, and the size and number of the apartments are also similar. A greater use has been made of stained glass here, or else, from the inaccessible height of the window, the glass has remained in better preservation. The building is in good repair, but has a solitary and deserted aspect; and as our guide, with his bunch of keys, unlocked one iron clenched door after another, and led us over terraces and up towers, down steep, dark, sloping passages, and through a long succession of silent courts, and dim vaulted chambers, seen only through coloured glass, and made more gorgeously gloomy by their carving, gilding, and mirrors, the idea of an enchanted castle occurred, I believe, to us all; and I could not help thinking what magnificent use Ariosto or Sir Walter Scott would have made of such a building. After all we saw only part of it."