92 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL IXDLi. 



young fellow of eighteen or twenty, and an ardent 

 sportsman, who was afterwards my guide over the 

 whole of this wonderful mass of mountains. AYe were 

 out nearly all day, the succession of fine views from 

 the different heights and bluffs luring me on and on, 

 till what was meant for a stroll ended in a pretty hard 

 day's work. 



I found that the plateau had something of a cup-like 

 shape, draining in every direction from the edges into 

 the centre, where two considerable brooks receive its 

 waters and carry them over the edge in fine cascades. 

 The general elevation of this central valley is about 

 3,400 feet, the ridge surrounding it being a few hundred 

 feet higher, and here and there shooting into abrupt 

 peaks, of which the three I had seen the evening before 

 attain a height of 4,500 feet. The area of the plateau 

 is altogether about twelve square miles, some six of 

 which, in the centre, resemble the jDortion I had before 

 passed through, and consist of fine culturable, though 

 light, soils. Everywhere the massive groups of trees 

 and park-like scenery strike the eye ; and the greenery 

 of the glades, and various wild flowers unseen at lower 

 elevations, maintain the illusion that the scene is a bit 

 out of our own temperate zone rather than of the 

 tropics. Though the ascent on the side I had come up 

 was generally gradual, 1 found that in all other direc- 

 tions the drop from the plateau was sudden and pre- 

 cipitous. There are three other pathways by which 

 a man can easily, and an unladen animal with difiiculty, 

 ascend and descend, (Subsequently we took lightly 

 laden elephants (which, when there is room for them, 

 are the most sure-footed of all creatures) up and down 

 both of the passes leading to the south ; but the eastern 



