CHAPTER XXVIII. 



Adjoining the Zinore purgunna, and equally under my juris- 

 diction, was a little district called Chandode, to which the brah- 

 mins attributed peculiar sanctity; the town, situated on the lofty 

 banks of the Nerbudda, was intersected by ravines and water- 

 courses, formed by heavy rains and encroachments of the river: 

 as these inundations subsided, they left deep hollow-ways, and 

 steep precipices overhung by trees entangled with under-wood 

 and jungle-grass, affording an impenetrable cover for tigers, hyenas, 

 serpents, and noxious reptiles. 



Immense groves of the ficus religiosa and indica, overshadow- 

 ing numerous Hindoo temples, and spacious lakes, cast a more 

 than common gloom on this venerated spot. 



" What solemn twilight, what stupendous shades 

 " Enwrap those sacred floods ! Through every nerve 

 " Unusual horror thrills ; a pleasing fear 

 " Glides o'er my frame. The forest deepens round; 

 " And more gigantic still., the impending trees 

 " Stretch their extravagant arms athwart the gloom. 

 " Are these the confines of some fairy world, 

 " A land of Genii ?" Armstrong. 



