99 



WESTERN H I N D O O S T A N. 



the rich braid of pearl; all refembling, in fome degree, the 

 fantaftic variety in the head-dreflfes of the Roman ladies, v/ith- 

 out the left trace of oriental fallrion. 



I SHALL conclude with faying, that the cave of Elephanta 

 takes its name from an elephant, with a leffer on its back, cut 

 on the outfide of the cave ; and in a paflage is the rncle figure of 

 a horfe, called that of Alexander the Great, to whom the Indians 

 attribute thefe mighty works, as we V/elJJj do every thing ftu- 

 pendous to our favorite Arthur. I mention this tradition to 

 fliew its great antiquity, as well as that of the excavations them- 

 felves. Arrian^ in his Periplus maris Erytbrm, ii. i66, fays that 

 there were near Barygaza, foundations of camps, antient cha- 

 pels, altars, and <p^ixT<x. ^^ytga, great wells, all attributed to the 

 Macedonian hero. 



The idols mentioned here are quite diminutive to fome in 

 the Soobahjljip of Cajljmere, in recefies excavated in the moun- 

 tain, which are called (fays the^^^;z, ii. 208) Surnmii, and are pre- 

 tended to have been the winter retreat of the antient inhabitants ; 

 one of the figures was eighty ells high ; there was a woman of 

 fifty, and a child of fifteen. In one of thefe Surmnii was found 

 a tomb, and in that a coffin ; in which was a corpfe preferved 

 by medical preparations : one would fuppofe that the cuftoms 

 of the lartars had been obferved in this place, and burning the 

 bodies at that time not in ufe. 



The method of travelling which begins at Surat, .and is con- Tr^AVELLiKG 



IN India. 



tinued through mofl parts of India, is by oxen. The ox fup- 

 plies the ufe of the horfe ; the fmaller fort ferve as pads, the 

 larger are ufed in drawing a kind of carriage called a hackerie. 



O 2 The 



