A RUN THROUGH KATIIIAAVAI!. 291 



absorbed in apparent meditation to take the slight- 

 est notice of you. Every peak, except the dread 

 Kalika, has its own peculiar saint perched on its 

 windy summit. They crawl out of little caves and 

 rude stone huts, and from behind waterfalls ; they 

 are in all varieties of costume, so far as paint, earth, 

 and ashes can disguise the natural Adam ; they are 

 in all varieties of physical health, from round-limbed, 

 muscular, savage -looking maniacs, to shrivelled- up 

 doting atomies ; and they present all sorts of mental 

 states, from total ignoring of your existence, as of 

 every other earthly object, to one indicated by a 

 maniacal gleam in their eyes, which really would 

 make it not surprising if they suddenly clasped you 

 in their arms, dug their teeth in your shoulder, and 

 leaped with you over a precipice ; but they never do 

 so, so far as I am aware. 



At the height of about 2700 feet above the sea and 

 2500 feet above Junaghar, and after passing up many 

 steep stone staircases on the face of the precipice, I 

 reached the series of Jain temples and put up for the 

 night, as also for several nights, at the first building 

 Avhich presented itself, the Khengar Palace. It must 

 be distinguished from the Khengar Palace of Colonel 

 Tod's engraving, which is not on the edge of the cliff, 

 and is a temple. This building, which is anything 

 but a palace at present, and also the most of the Jain 

 temples, are on a sort of ledge on the mountain im- 

 mediately above the great precipice, with its terrific 



