SIX WEEKS IN A TOWER. 51 



how curiously the old Border ballads came to mind, 

 and how forcibly the fact was impressed upon me 

 that I was in a position to realise the charms of the 

 state of society which they depict ! For several days, 

 however, I slept in safety under the shadow of that 

 Bela tower, and wandered unharmed among tribes 

 as lawless and marauding as ever blessed the Scottish 

 Border. 



Perhaps, strictly speaking, it was not so much a 

 tower as a tomb in which I passed many pleasant 

 days beside the caves and rock-temples of Ellora; 

 but it had the position, with the appearance, of a 

 tower ; and the Mohammedan buried beneath never 

 disturbed the white invader. Stretching beneath 

 like an ocean was rich land bearing the traces of 

 former cultivation, but at that time with scarcely a 

 culinary fire to mingle its smoke with the pillars of 

 rain and cloud which the Indian monsoon whirled 

 over it. Close by were dwellings once occupied by 

 troglodytic monks vast caves and temples of solid 

 rock, filled and carved over with strange figures, 

 some of half-human, half-bestial shapes, and others 

 of lordly and beautiful forms of races which have 

 now passed away. Above and around these was the 

 Wilde the more savage powers of nature, encroach- 

 ing on the remains of ancient civilisation ; for huge 

 creepers, grass, and prickly euphorbias crept over 

 the finely-chiselled lines ; the tiger and hyena slunk 

 in the dusk round the sculptured columns ; the 



