THE MAHADEO HILLS. 89 



mentioned before (p. 26), as forming so singular an outlier 

 far to the west of the line which otherwise limits the range 

 of that tree in Central India. It fills this valley of the 

 Denwa, almost to the exclusion of other vegetation, and, 

 creeping up the ravines, has occupied also the south-eastern 

 portion of the plateau itself. 



A remarkable feature in the configuration of the plateau is 

 the vast and unexpected ravines or rather clefts in the solid 

 rock, which seam the edges of the scarp, some of them reach- 

 ing in sheer descent almost to the level of the plains. You 

 come on them during a ramble in almost any direction, open- 

 ing suddenly at your feet in the middle of some grassy glade. 

 The most remarkable is the Andeh-K6h, which begins about 

 a mile to the east of the village, and runs right down into the 

 Denwa valley. Looking over its edge, the vision loses itself 

 in the vast profundity. A few dark indigo-coloured specks at 

 the bottom represent wild mango trees of sixty or eighty feet 

 in height. A faint sound of running water rises on the sough 

 of the wind from the abyss. The only sign of life is an 

 occasional flight of blue pigeons swinging out from the face 

 of either cliff, and circling round on suspended pinion, again 

 to disappear under the crags. If a gun is fired, the echoes 

 roll round the hollow in continually increasing confusion, till 

 the accumulated volume seems to bellow forth at the mouth 

 of the ravine into the plain below. If tradition be believed, 

 no mortal foot has ever trodden the dark interior of the 

 Andeh-K6h. I myself never found an entrance to it, though, 

 with the aid of ropes, I got once at the easiest place within a 

 few hundred feet of the bottom. I may say, however, for the 

 benefit of adventurous explorers, that a way in may pro- 

 bably be found by going round behind the M&hadeo peak, 

 and following down the bed of the stream which issues from 



