Contributions to Physical Geography. 



instance. Indeed, whoever notices, while at sea, the atmo- 

 spheric phenomena of these southern latitudes, will be struck 

 by the deformity of objects as they pass through this medium : 

 what the sailors term a fog-bank, is the first stage of our see- 

 Tcote. I observed it on my voyage home ; but more especially 

 in my passage out. About six o'clock on a dark evening, 

 while we were dancing on the waste, I perceived a ship bearing 

 down with full sail upon us so distinctly, that I gave the alarm 

 in expectation of a collision ; so far as I recollect, the helm 

 was instantly up, and in a second no ship was to be seen. The 

 laugh was against me — I had seen the " flying Dutchman,'* 

 according to the opinion of the experienced officer on deck ; 

 and I believed it was really a vision of the mind ; but I now feel 

 convinced it was either the reflection of our own ship in a pas- 

 sing cloud of this vapour, or a more distant object therein re- 

 fracted. But enough of this subject: I will only add, who- 

 ever has a desire to see one of the grandest phenomena in na- 

 ture, let him repair to the plains of Mairta or Hissar, and 

 watch before the sun rises the fairy palace of Hurchunda, in- 

 finitely grander and more imposing than a sunrise upon the 

 alpine Helvetia, which alone may compete with the chittrdm 

 of the desert. — Col Tod's Rajastlian. 



4. A farther Account of the Cave of Booban.^ 



Having already laid before our readers an account of this 

 remarkable cave, we shall now give an account of a recent visit 

 to it made by Mr Walters in December 1828. 



Leaving Sylhet on the 8th, he reached the mouth of the 

 cave about noon next day. I'he mouth of this cavern is 

 in the side of the great limestone mountains, and faces the 

 south-west. The entrance hardly attracts notice, and few 

 would suppose that such a small hole is the portal to such 

 magnificent chambers. One person only can enter at a time. 

 " On entering the cave we descended about thirty yards over 

 large broken pieces of rock, some of them difficult to climb 

 over, and reached a level. After preparing our torches, and 

 getting every thing in order, we followed our Cosseah guide, 

 and leaving a large cavern unexplored on the left, took a pas- 



■ See this Journal, No. xv. p. 54, and No. xvii. p. 51-54. 



