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" The highest peak cannot be more than five hundred feet above 

 " the verge of the escarpment ; the eastern and south-eastern sides 

 " have a gibbous configuration, and are perfectly easy of ascent, the 

 " horizontal positions of the stratified rock forming it into steps. 

 " When half way up we sat down my companion with his pencil 

 " to take a view of the romantic recess of the Koondahs, and I to 

 " gaze around me. Fearing giddiness, I did not attempt to walk 

 " to the brink of the precipice, but I crawled for the last twenty 

 " yards, and when near the Swamy, which stands at the very pin- 

 " nacle of the cone, I sat down ; and, after a few minutes' rest, I 

 " crept on all fours to the brink, projecting my head only beyond 

 " the precipice. 



" How can pen describe the horrific confusion at the bottom of 

 " this awful abyss ! Huge masses, portions of mountains I should 

 " say, lay scattered, or heaped up, in frightful disorder, at the foot 

 " of the parent mountain, which rises, like an enormous column, 

 " hiding its lofty summit in the clouds. 



" I could not gaze at this frightful scene more than two or three 

 " minutes ; and I retired creeping back to the Swamy, where we 

 " enjoyed again the sight of the recess of the Kooudahs. We regret- 

 " ted that the clouds, which began rolling along the plains of Mala- 

 " bar, soon deprived us of the pleasure of admiring the mountainous 

 " scenery and the plains at the same time. 



" After a few minutes we began our descent, and had a few more 

 " glimpses of the recess, according as the cloudy curtain was, every 

 " now and then, withdrawn. We went round the base of the peak 

 " to the northern gorge at its foot, and, from this place, the vertical 

 " facade of the peak is seen to great advantage. The apex of the 

 " cone appears to overhang the base/and the face is rather concave. 

 " From this place I could at ease contemplate and admire, without 

 " fear of giddiness, the romantic scenery before us. 



" From this altitude we occasionally looked towards the east at 

 " the Cantonment, of which we could distinguish some of the houses, 

 " and to our tents, the way to which appeared, from such a height, 

 " quite easy and smooth facilis descensusso that, instead of 

 " retracing our steps, we choose to descend the side of the hill (N) 



