334 TO THE KHASIA MOUNTAINS 



so simple that he justly remarks that it would require two 

 natives to accompany them, in order that they should afford 

 any degree of instruction to the public. 



Dacca, which now has been restored to the position of a 

 provincial capital, in 1850 presented ' the aspect of a tolerably 

 well preserved and most extensive ruin,' still richly adorned, 

 for 



all the houses are, or were, white-washed and stuccoed, 

 much decorated, even the humblest ; columns, friezes and 

 arabesqued pediments, often extremely pretty, are every- 

 where seen ; their ornaments strangely recalling what 

 upholsterers and architects term Byzantine at home. I 

 took for granted that this style was introduced by the Mussul- 

 man conquerors from the West ; for Dacca rose to glory 

 under Aurungzebe ; but I am afraid that it is all borrowed 

 from the ancient Hindoo Capital of Eastern Bengal, of which 

 but a single street remains, twelve miles distant, and now 

 buried in jungle. Certainly, I have neither met nor read 

 of anything like it in India, for here there are none of the 

 ugly variously constructed pillars, nor those of bulging form, 

 or twisted like a rope yarn, which to my untrained eyes, 

 seem typical of Hindu architecture. Nor are you offended 

 with the gaudy colours. Peacocks, Elephants and vile defor- 

 mities which appear on the friezes, capitals and every part 

 of the Hindu temples. Grotesque figures are rare, and the 

 running patterns and scrolls are elegant and quite similar 

 in general character (so far as I can judge) to the Greek. 

 The ruins of the more strictly Mohammedan buildings — 

 Mosques and Tombs — are picturesque, and the damper climate 

 does not accelerate their falhng to dust, as in Western Bengal. 

 Grass and climbers quickly bind and conceal the heaps of 

 rubbish ; while shrubs and Ferns spring from the shattered 

 walls. 



The Khasia mountains presented a great contrast to the 

 Himalayas in other respects as well as in their small elevation 

 of some 6000 feet. The long table-topped ranges were very- 

 precipitous, with roaring cataracts pouring over their scarped 

 flanks, which rose from the plains like walls, the valleys receding 

 in amphitheatres of cliffs. On the ascent from Punduah, 



I 



