113 



Unfortunately Mahommedau vandalism has mutilated most of 

 the figures, but the caves even in their present imperfect condi- 

 tion are a striking record of early religious feeling. Through- 

 out India, as in Europe, the remarkable decadence of art as 

 showu in the modern temples and shrines is only too evident. 

 It was a bright sunny afternoon and brilliant butterflies were 

 flitting over the herbage. The number of species however, was 

 not great. This scarcity of species is noticeable throughout 

 the plains of India. Vegetation there is very scanty, and it is 

 to the hilly and wooded districts of the Nilghiris, and of Sikkim, 

 Assam, and Burma that the collector turns for entomological 

 treasures. 



It was soon time to leave Bombay, and we ascended the 

 Ghats by one of the mountain railways so successfully carried 

 out in India. As we went slowly up the steep gradients, we looked 

 back on beautiful and varied scenery. Around us was a tangled 

 mass of trees, bushes and flowering creepers. In the distance 

 were the outlines of the strangely truncated hills, while far 

 below was an occasional peejo of a smiling valley, with its 

 rice fields, roads and little hamlets, and here and there a few 

 natives and oxen engaged in ploughing or other agricultural 

 work. I was forcibly remit. ded of similar valleys on the 

 Senimering Railway between Vienna and Gratz. There was 

 however, this important difference that in Austria at the time 

 of my visit a thick layer of snow covered the ground, while 

 on the Ghats everything pointed to the fact that we were in a 

 tropical climate. 



Half way up the ascent we stopped for a few minutes at a 

 reversing station, and when the necessary change had been made 

 we passed two or three small stations used as sanatoria for the 

 troops, and by those who wish to escape for a short time from 

 the heat of Bombay. Wo soon afterwards emerged on a fine 

 expanse of table-land, and entered Poena. 



The people of Bombay are fortunate in being able to regu- 

 late their temperature more accurately than is usually the case 

 in India. When the weather is too hot in Bombay there is an 

 exodus to Poona, and when even Poena becomes insupportable 

 ihey go higher to Mahableshwar. 



Poona possesses a fine College of Science under the super- 

 intendence of Dr. Corike, who most courteously showed us all 

 his class-rooms, museums, and workshops Here every branch of 

 technical science is taught, and students are prepared for the 

 examinations of the University of Bombay, In one part o£ the 

 buildings is a complete iron foundry, where casting is done and 

 complicated machinery made by the students in a way which 

 compares favourably with work in Euro^Je, A v.'ell equipped 



