326 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, ASD SPORT. 



to remain there over the night, or to a.ttempt Kalika, 

 because to do so would make him too late for the 

 obsequies of his brother-in-law. My Portuguese 

 servants also refused to accompany me, though they 

 seemed almost equally to dislike the idea of being 

 left in the Khengar temple ; but Y. V. and the Man 

 of Pleasure came after doing their best to advise me 

 against the enterprise. 



After passing the Mother of Gods again I first 

 visited the two principal peaks lying between that 

 and Kalika. The first of these is the Gorukhanatha, 

 and is. much less difficult of ascent than the other? 

 Its height is about 3500 feet above the sea, and it 

 commands a very good view of the mountain - mass 

 of Girnar, and also of a vast circle of country round. 

 The other peak is very nearly the same height ; and a 

 steep descent of about 400 feet has to be made from 

 the base of Gorukhanatha before the ascent of it com- 

 mences. This Datatrya, or Xeminath, peak is quite 

 an aiguille, and is trying to the nerves as well as the 

 muscles. Stone steps have been cut out of or marked 

 into this rock -needle, but they are very high and 

 narrow, without any protecting balustrade ; and if 

 giddiness seized the climber, down he would go to 

 utter destruction. In fact it not unfrequently hap- 

 pens that pilgrims climbing this peak do lose their 

 footing, and are dashed to pieces. This is not to be 

 wondered at, considering the half-starved exhausted 

 state in which many of them are ; the wonder is 



