Lieut. Alexander's Visit to the Cavern I'empks of Adjunta. 3(13 



After travelling ?ome distance along a stony road, and passing several 

 cairns, near which were many bushes covered with rags, pointing out the 

 spot where unfortunate travellers had been destroyed by tigers, we suddenly 

 found ourselves at the top of the precipitous gliat or pass. The scene which 

 now opened upon us was magnificent in the extreme. The vale of Can- 

 desh was stretched beneath our feet, extending far into the blue distance, 

 and enclosed by wooded mountains. Jungle, small lakes, and streams scat- 

 tered in every direction diversified the face of the valley ; and here and 

 there, amongst the trees, appeared the pointed top of a Hindu pagoda, or 

 the white dome of a Moslem shrine. Near us, over the face of the hills. 



The bosom-folds of mist, the morning breeze 

 Wreathed gracefully ; 



and bore with it the balmy incense of oriental flowers. We now dismounted, 

 and leading our horses down a precipitous pathway to the left of the pass, 

 found ourselves at the bottom among sweet-smelling kuskus grass. Direct- 

 ing our steps towards an opening between the deeply serrated hills, we 

 arrived at the debouclte of the glen, and fell in with a mountain stream, 

 along whose banks lay the pathway to the caves, leading through low under- 

 wood interspersed with trees and water-grass fifteen feet in height; amongst 

 which, not long before, three tigers had been killed. 



We had not advanced far up the glen, when a low whistling was heard 

 above us to the left, and was quickly repeated from the opposite cliffs. This 

 proved to be Bheels intimating to one another tiiat strangers were approach- 

 ing. The guide evinced strong symptoms of fear ; but on being remon- 

 strated with, and encouraged with the hope of a handsome present, he pro- 

 ceeded onwards. Some of tiie Bheels shewed themselves, peeping out from 

 behind the rocks. They were a most savage looking race, perfectly black, 

 low in stature, and nearly naked. They seemed to be armed with bows and 

 arrows. The principal haunts of these Bheels are in the Northern Deccan, 

 along the course of the Nerbuddah. They live entirely in the jungles, are 

 in a state of great barbarism, and subsist by hunting, rapine, and plunder. 

 They sometimes ajiproach the towns and villages in the neighbourhood of 

 their haunts, and lurk about the outskirts to attack individuals. Whilst in 

 the caravanserai at Adjunta, a Muselman came to me for bandages for 

 his left arm, which had been cut off at the elbow the night before. He lived 

 outside the walls of the town in a garden, which the Bheels entered by a 

 hole they dug under the wall ; and the Muselman, in defending his pro- 



