246 



and pleasant. The thermometer at sun-rise is frequently under 

 60°, sometimes considerably lower, and at noon, until the warmest 

 time of the day, seldom exceeds 70°; during the hot winds in the 

 succeeding months, although the morning may be tolerably cool, 

 the thermometer gradually rises from 70 to 100°, and on the plains 

 of Nairangseer, near Cambay, I have seen it 116 in the soldiers' 

 tents. 



On leaving Baroche and its extensive suburbs, we travelled 

 twelve miles near the banks of the Nerbudda, to our first encamp- 

 ment, under Cubbeer-Burr, (ficus lndica) one of the most magni- 

 ficent banian-trees in India, forming a canopy of verdant foliage 

 impenetrable to a tropic sun, extending over a circumference of 

 two thousand feet. A dreadful storm and sudden swell of the river 

 had, a few months before, diminished its beauty and reduced the 

 number of its trunks, which formerly exceeded thirteen hundred 

 and fifty, all traced to one parent stem. 



The birds, monkeys, and serpents abounding in Cubbeer-Burr 

 are w r ell known. The enormous bats which darken its branches 

 frequently exceed six feet in length from the tip of each wing, and 

 from their resemblance to that animal, are not improperly called 

 flying-foxes. Bats of this magnitude are a kind of monster, ex- 

 tremely disagreeable both in smell and appearance. They must 

 have been the harpies mentioned by Virgil. 



" When from the mountain-tops with hideous cry, 

 " And clattering wings the hungry harpies fly ; 

 " They snatch the meat, defiling all they find ; 

 " And parting, leave a loathsome stench behind." 



These large bats, like the rest of their species, suspend them- 



r* 



