DESERTED CITIES OF THE JUNGLE. 125 



time which remained before dark, the party con- 

 tinued on their way towards the bear's resting 

 place. But as it was yet distant, the subject of the 

 old jungle-buried towns was discussed by Norman 

 and Hawkes. 



The latter considered that the fact of there being 

 only one well was indicative of the smallness of the 

 place which it had furnished with w r ater. But his 

 companion reminded him that many more might be 

 concealed in the tangled brushwood ; this one alone 

 having been preserved to satisfy the requirements 

 of those who occasionally trod the wild path, 

 which, little used though it was, was the most direct 

 means of communication between some of the 

 villages lying in the heart of the hills and those in 

 the plain. 



They had heard of the existence of such extensive 

 remains as are to be seen at Chunderwattee or 

 Chundrautee, near the foot of mount Aboo, in 

 Kajpootana, with its white marble temples still 

 partly standing, rearing their mined heads midst 

 the undergrowth. Other deserted cities they had 

 seen, too, and read of ; so that it seemed by no 

 means improbable that many towns, as Manajee had 

 asserted, lay buried in the jungle. 



They reminded them of the deserted cities of 

 Central America, the sole relics of an extinct or 



