234 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES 



or mere indentation — there is a " rao," and the size and 

 form of the "rao" is always in proportion to the 

 smallness or magnitude of the recess. 



The raos at the mouths of the valleys and larger 

 gorges are wide and shallow, and along them a stream 

 trickles, or even a small river flows. On the other hand, 

 the raos before the mere indentations are deep and 

 narrow, and, except after a fall of rain in the mountains, 

 their beds are dry. 



At the immediate base of the mountains the small 

 raos are very numerous ; I should say — speaking, how- 

 ever, merely from memory — that one occurs at a 

 distance of every two or three hundred yards. These 

 smaller raos, however, rapidly unite, and eventually 

 merge into the larger raos ; and these larger raos, after 

 traversing the slope of the valley, merge into the beds 

 of the rivers which flow along the length of the Doon 

 to east and west, and empty their waters into the 

 Ganges and the Jumna. 



The narrow raos, though usually dry, occasionally, 

 especially during the rainy season, carry along an 

 immense body of water, for after a storm in the 

 mountains the rain that has fallen on miles and miles 

 of steep hillside is suddenly poured into the rao at 

 the base ; and owing to the slope of the land, this 

 volume of water is borne along with extreme force 

 and rapidity. Dashing alternately from side to side, 

 it eventually cuts portions of the banks away ; these 

 narrow raos are in consequence continually widening. 



They widen in a singular manner : the torrents do 

 not so much cut away the banks as undermine them. 



