ADVENTURES IN CAMP AND JUNGLE. 251 



Acting on the advice of a brother in Ceylon, I caused an 

 iron trap for panthers to be constructed. It was like a huge 

 rat-trap, but was furnished with springs at both ends, and 

 weighed about 60 Ibs. I caught several hyaenas, and two in- 

 cautious natives, but though it was on one or two occasions 

 sprung by panthers, none were caught. One evening, when 

 camped with Ward near Kode in the Dhar district, we baited 

 this trap with a dead dog, and set it near a road leading to 

 the village. Next morning the trap had been dragged away 

 to some distance, and between the jaws we found the forefoot 

 of a hyaena. 



Soon after this I visited Mandoo, a grand though now 

 ruined and deserted city on the crest of the Vindyah moun- 

 tains, overlooking the province of Nimar. According to 

 Ferishta, Alif Khan (the son of Dilawur Khan), who became 

 celebrated under the name of Hoshung Shah, removed the 

 seat of the government of Malwa from Dhar to Mandoo, A.D. 

 1404. Mandoo lies fifteen miles south-east of Dhar, and had 

 been irregularly fortified, according to Hindoo accounts, by 

 a prince named Jey Sing Deo, who, according to Hindoo 

 fable, was assisted in accomplishing his work by the pos- 

 session of the Parus Puttur, or philosopher's stone, which 

 was found during his reign by a grass-cutter. Its properties 

 were discovered by a blacksmith, who carried it to Jey Sing 

 Deo, who, after using it to make gold enough to defray the 

 expense of building Mandoo, is said to have given it to the 

 priest of his family, who, displeased at receiving a stone, threw 

 it, before its value was explained to him, into the Nerbudda. 

 When sensible of what he had done he sprang into the 

 river, in the vain hope of recovering it, but his efforts to reach 

 the bottom were in vain. Credulous Hindoos believe that at 

 the place where this occurred the Nerbudda became and con- 

 tinues unfathomable. 



