and judgment are piovcrLia! with all 

 classes of natives, and whose impar- 

 tiality is acknowledged by all branclcs 

 of tiie public service. 



ELEPHANTA. 



On quitting Butcher's Island, called 

 by the natives Deva Devi, or Island of 

 the Gods, not far up the bay stands the 

 celebrated Eiephanta Island. It is of 

 considerable elevation, and famous for 

 its caves hewn out of the solid rock from 

 the face of the mountain ; they are con- 

 sidcrablv injured by time, 



Whom stone and brass obey. 

 Who giv'st to every flying hour 

 To vpork some new decay. 



These caves are very much injured 

 by the action of the sea-breeze, and 

 from not having drains cut on the top 

 of the mountain, to carry ofl' the rain 

 water; nor has any care been taken to 

 have trenches made at the foundation ; 

 so that in the periodical rains they are 

 often inundated, and abound with rep- 

 tiles, particularly snakes. From their 

 vicinity to Bombay, they are frequently 

 visited by parties of pleasure ; and, to 

 preserve them from wilful injury by 

 casual visitors, a wall with a gate has 

 been lately erected in front, and left in 

 charge of an invalid serjeant, with a few 

 invalid Siphauees, to protect them. The 

 old man has a gooij house adjoining, 

 and has a comfortable sinecu.re of it, as 

 most visitors do not forget his long 

 stories, and the accommodation for re- 

 freshment which his house affords. The 

 view from the caves is very fine, as they 

 are situated about 350 feet above the 

 level of the sea. Here is the famous 

 colossal figure of the Trimnrti, Brahma, 

 Vislmii, and Siva, the creating, pre- 

 serving, and destroying, powers of the 

 Hindoo mythology. The cave is large, 

 l>ut by no means equal to the large tem- 

 ples of Karii, or the far-famed ones at 

 £lora. 



TRAVELLING. 



After a pleasant evening with my 

 friends at Panwell, at daybreak my 

 b''Sg'»S'' moved on. As the cavalcade 

 may be new to the English reader, I 

 subjoin a list. Three bullocks to carry 

 a tent, twelve feet square, consisting of 

 inner shell and outer ily, and two walls; 

 three bullocks for clothes, provisions, 

 books, &c. ; two porters for camp-eot 

 and writing desk ; one ditto for break- 

 fast utensils, &c.; one tattoo, or pony, 

 for head servant; two ditto belonging to 

 m> serv;uits, of whom I linil four with 

 tne. There was an escort of six 

 Sipbauccs and a corporal. Several 



Selys Wonders of Elora. *77 



native travellers accompanied my peo- 

 ple for their own security, as the country 

 was sometimes infested with robbers. 



Intiie rainy season, with the execrable 

 state of the roads, rivulets, or nullahs, 

 running impetuously, and large rivers 

 without bridges, the miseries of travel- 

 ling, regulated by a heavily lailen ox's 

 pace, are most intolerable. An Eng- 

 lishman, accustomed to tlie celeiily of 

 mail-coaches, the comforts of an inn, a 

 dry skin, fine roads, and a bcaulifnl 

 country, would be almost driven mad. 

 The iwtives of India never possess much 

 energy or action ; and on a heavy moni- 

 soon day, when well drenched with 

 rain, they are nearly inanimate : if to this 

 be added journeying in an enemy's 

 country, every blade of grass burnl up, 

 the wells poisoiied, the villages destroyed 

 and deserted, and jou for security's sake 

 obliged to keep close to your baggage- 

 cattle, that are walking at a rate of not 

 above two miles in (he hour, or hardly 

 that, and the rain falling in torrents for 

 davs together; I think an English tra- 

 veller would lament a little his hard 

 fate. 



While sojourning after his fatigues on 

 muddy ground, his baggage wet 

 through, and his servants exhausted, 

 the most lonely hedge ale-house in 

 Cornwall would appear to him a palace. 

 If travelling by himself in tlie fair sea- 

 son, or N.E. monsoon, with " all appli- 

 ances to boot," it is but a melancholy 

 thing; there being but little on the road 

 to interest or gratify the traveller, ex- 

 cepting in some large city, where the 



pride and vanity of a great man may 

 have erected a splendid mos(|ne or 

 pagoda, or dug a fine tank, or for de- 

 fence budt a large fort : the intermediate 

 country is the scene of poverty, wretch- 

 edness, and oppression. 1 speak of the 

 countries of the native powers; our pro- 

 vinces present a very different aspect. 



WAR. 



The population is very scanty, the 

 country not yet having recovered from 

 the long and desolating wars of Hulkar, 

 Scindiah, and other princes, particularly 

 of the former, so late as 1803. 'J'ho 

 annihilating effects of Mahratta warfare 

 are well known, and may be summed 

 up in these words: viz. exterminating 

 the people, and burning every thing. 

 These horrid outrages were, if possible, 

 aggravated by the ruinous sjsteni of 

 defence established by the Pooiih go- 

 vernment, in remorseless exactions and 

 conscriptions in their own tcnilorirs, 

 while every public ofliccr sci/.td ihc 

 aflliutin<; 



