370 Lieut. Alexander's Visit to tJw Cavern Temples of Adjunta. 



clambered up on our hands and knees, till stopped by a precipice; and not 

 having ropes, we were unable to reach the caves from above : we therefore 

 gave up the attempt in despair, and after we had partaken of a slight repast, 

 and a chilum had been smoked in one of the best lighted and finest excava- 

 tions, we returned to the horses, and rode back to the town of Adjunta. 



Though it was but a rapid and unsatisfactory glance (unsatisfactory in as 

 much as my time was limited, from my leave being nearly expired) that I 

 had of these imperishable monuments of antiquity, 



Quse non imber edax non aquilo impotens 

 Possit diruere, aut innumerabilis 

 Annorum series, 



yet I was highly delighted with my excursion ; and although many are 

 the caverned temples which I have explored, and many which I wish to re- 

 visit, yet to none would I sooner return than to those of Adjunta. Several 

 of them I was unable to examine ; but the paintings alone, in such as I had 

 an opportunity of examining, would render them much more interesting to 

 those who might desire to become acquainted with the appearance of the 

 ancient inhabitants of Hindustan, than the grotesque, though beautifully 

 sculptured deities of Ellora. 



Royal Military College, Sandhurst, 

 August 1828. 



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