440 THE PALACE. Chap. XXVI. 



of fortification, into a courtyard. A second archway leads 

 into a second small court, where there is an elaborately 

 carved pagoda to Ganesa. A third archway opens upon the 

 princij)al courtyard of the fort, one side of which is occupied 

 by the Kajah's palace, a long barrack-looking building, with 

 an upper story and projecting tiled roof. The officers of a 

 native regiment are quartered in the palace. To the left is 

 the English chiu'ch, and to the right there is a dark dungeon 

 under the rampart, A\'here the late Eajah kept his prisoners. 

 He used to allow one at a time to run out, and try to escape 

 by the archway, while he picked them off with a rifle from a 

 window of the palace as they ran. There are two full-sized 

 models of favourite elephants, built of brick and chunam, in 

 the courtyard. The huts of the native regiment are clustered 

 in a little valley close under the south wall of the fort. 



The palace is entered by an archway, over which there is 

 a balconied window supported by two white horses. The 

 inner court is surrounded by a corridor of stone pillars, with 

 a roof entirely of copper ; and in the centre of the court 

 there is a tank paved with stone flags, now dry, with five 

 steps down to it, on two sides, and a carved stone tortoise in 

 the centre. 



On the other side of the small valley filled with soldiers' 

 huts, there is a parade-ground, and a small amphitheatre dug 

 out of the solid rock, where elephants and tigers fought for 

 the diversion of the Ixajali. Beyond the parade-ground the 

 ridge on wliich Mercara is built abruptly terminates, and the 

 land sinks down into a wooded valley. Here the late Eajah 

 had built a little brick and chuncan summer-house, whence 

 the land descends precipitously to the road leading down the 

 Mangalore ghaut. From this point there is one of tlie most 

 glorious views to be found in India, and we could sit on the 

 grassy edge of the clifls for hours, without ceasing to enjoy 

 it. Right and left there is a wide expanse of forest-covered 



