VALLEY OF THE SOANE. 87 
pying a pretty undulating ground of limestone hills; amongst which 
several streams flowed from the amphitheatre to the Soane. 
During my two days' stay here, I had the advantage of Mr. Davis's 
society, a gentleman to whom I am indebted for a great deal of excel- 
lent information, and whom I heartily wished we could have induced to 
join our march up the Soane. As it wás, he kindly became our guide in 
our rambles hereabouts, and there was not a subject connected with the 
place, upon which he could not enlighten me. Such a companion is 
rare in the Indian jungles, indeed, I may say, anywhere. 
At noon, we started to ascend to the palace, on the top of the spur, 
Mr. Haddon, my old companion of Paras-Nath, I regret to say, was 
suffering under an attack of fever, and could not accompany us. On 
the way we passed a beautiful well, with a flight of steps to the bottom. 
This was about twelve feet square, and sixty deep, with a fine Fig-tree 
growing from out the stone-work of the mouth, and shading the deep 
profound. ‘The descent was by an easy flight of steps, covered with 
weeds, luxuriant Acanthacee, and herbaceous Composite : one or two of 
these I had previously only found at the top of Paras-Nath, and subse- 
quently on the same day on the top of Rotas, the coolness of the well 
and the moisture no doubt compensating for the altitude. At the bot- 
tom, the temperature was 74°, 6° below the air at the surface: the water 
60°, was deliciously cool. The roots of the Ficus formed a singular 
feature, enveloping two surface-walls of the well, with a beautiful lace- 
work of stout fibres, which at the high-water mark (rainy season, when 
the well is fullest) suddenly divided into thousands of brushes of roots, 
descending through the water to the earth below. It was really a 
pretty place; whether you looked up the well to the green branching 
Fig overhead, or along the vista of flowering herbs and climbing plants 
which choked the steps, to the burning sky above. 
The ascent of Rotas is over the dry scrub and brushwood of the 
limestone (now fossiliferous) to a crest, where are rude defences. The 
limestone is succeded by the sandstone cliff, cut into steps, which lead 
from ledge to ledge of the strata, and up to a gap, well guarded with 
walls and an arch-way of solid masonry. Through this you pass onward 
to the flat summit of the Kymaon hills, covered with grass and low 
sparse forest, intersected by paths in all directions. The ascent is 
about 1,200 feet, a long pull in the blazing sun (of February !). The 
turf consists chiefly of Spear-Grass and Nardus (vapéos), which yields a 
