UP A HILL. 



By W. F. Sixxclair, I.C.S. 

 {Read before the Bombay Natural History Society, 21st December, 1892.) 



On former occasions I have asked you to suppose yourselves 

 *' personally conducted" tlirougli scenes not far from Bombay, but 

 yet beyond tbe range of a mere weekl}^ holiday ; and so^ to-night, 

 I propose to describe the ascent of a hill not more remote than 

 ' Mahableshwar, and, indeed, in sight of Arthur's Seat. I think that 

 no one here to-night has ascended the old mountain metropolis of 

 Raigarh, but several of us have gone {;o Mahableshwar rid Dasgaum. 



About five miles east of Dasgaum, just before reaching the town 

 of Mhad, the gorge of the Savitri suddenly opens out into a wide 

 valley, and we ford its little estuary, the Gandhari, close to their 

 junction. Halfway through the town, our present route turns to 

 the left or north by a cross street, and presently brings us out upon 

 the plain, with the Pali Caves visible on the left, and a low range of 

 hills, the remnant of a huge trap -dyke, right ahead. Through a 

 notch in these, we come upon one of those formerly lacustrine valleys 

 so common in the Konkan, now drained by the Gandhari through 

 another notch close by. The range, which we may name after the 

 Pali Caves, runs from 800 to 1,300 feet above the western bank of the 

 Gandhari, and, as the sun sinks, its shadow gives a sort of twilight 

 to the valley. To the right front, a great hill called Guhiri ter- 

 minates and masks another range. After passing the pretty village 

 of J^ate, perched over the river amongst thick set trees, the valley 

 narrows, and the made-road ceases, while, from behind Guhiri, there 

 comes into sight a hill of equal size, but distinguished by its more 

 massive form, somewhat like that of the well-known Prabhal, south 

 of Matheran, but a trifle loftier and more pudding-headed. 



Nate is a usual camping place. A mile or two below it we have 

 left the estuarine region, which, indeed, has begun to pall upon the 

 traveller by the Bankot route. Sedge and tamarisk abound in the 

 river bed. These, and some rice-fields north-east of the camp, 

 usually hold a few snipe and teal, and the fields, especially near the 

 river, a handful of quail, — in the cold season be it understood. At 

 Nate itself, I once saw the small grey Hornbill. This is not a 



