318 TKAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



a considerable portion of the middle classes in Eng- 

 land and America, and which finds its counterpart 

 among the lower classes in their affection for Claim- 

 ants and Dr Kenealys. The great difference is, that 

 people in the "West work themselves out of their delu- 

 sions in a short time ; whereas, in the East, they no 

 sooner find a new delusion than they erect temples to 

 its honour, found a new religion upon it, and remain in 

 it for centuries. It is said that great treasure is con- 

 cealed in this vault of the Amijhara, and such may 

 be the case for all I know to the contrary ; but no 

 indications of any receptacle for it appeared. 



Mr Burgess has translated the word Amijhara as 

 " nectar-drop " ; and the guardians of the temples said 

 that the term came from the perspiring qualities of 

 the statue from its exuding Amrit, or the nectar of 

 the gods. But Indian words relating to religious 

 objects are always very near the Sanscrit ; and 

 "dhara" being the word in that language for a drop, 

 the compound would have been "Amridhara" had 

 the above derivation been correct. An eminent orien- 

 talist has suggested to me that the second part of the 

 compound must be the Sanscrit " jhara," which means 

 a well or stream, or a springing up, or exuding. Thus 

 the word would originally be " Amritjhara." The 

 only difficulty is as to the elision of the r and the t 

 in Amijhara, but that might occur naturally enough, 

 and especially in Giizerathi mouths. 



When I ascended from the Amijhara I found that 



