1865.] Notes of a tour in the Tributary Melials. 23 



from the sea, not less than 2000 feet above the plain, or appearing in 

 the distance, from the parallel markings on the face of the rock, like 

 huge casemated batteries protecting the coast. 



The country teems with architectural remains of a race who 

 appear to have left no other trace of their existence. On the 

 banks of the Rehur, in great heaps of carved stones, shafts, bases, 

 capitals, friezes, architraves, he the ruins of numerous temples of a 

 very ancient type. (The Rajah's cousin, Lall Mohessuree Persad Singh, 

 on whose estate they he, is very irreverently using them up in the 

 construction of a spoiling lodge). The fragments ajDpear to have been 

 put together as children build with wooden bricks, all in parallel 

 courses, with nothing but their weight and adaptation of the parts to 

 keep them in their position ; and thus their overthrow, which from the 

 studied mutilation of all the idols could not have been accidental, was 

 easily effected. There is no indication of any kind of cement or of 

 iron bindings having been used in the structures. 



Amongst the isolated hills mentioned above, the most conspicuous 

 is that of Rama or Ramgurh, which rises from the plain about 8 miles 

 west of the Mynepat. From one distant aspect, the upper portion of 

 the hill alone appearing above the Sal forest, its resemblance to a 

 monster fort with a cupola roof is very striking, so regular is its form 

 and so abruptly precipitous are its sides. Approaching it, however, it is 

 seen to have a variety of outworks of its own. 



The ascent commences from the north side, proceeding up and along 

 narrow ridges of one of these outworks, till you reach nearly to the 

 base of the great rock itself, and there are the ruins of a very ancient 

 stone gateway. The lintel now lying on the ground is adorned with 

 the image of ' G-unesh' as the Janitor. Inside, between the gate and 

 the rock, there is a level path both east and west. Proceeding westward, 

 you come to an ample space of level ground affording room for a small 

 encampment, in deepest shade, under a perfectly perpendicular portion 

 of the huge rock, reminding one of the description of ' Sinai,' the 

 mount that could be touched with the hand but must not. The ap- 

 proach to this spot from the gateway was originally protected by a 

 stone breastwork now fallen, and the importance of pi'otecting it is 

 obvious, as here the rock sends out a jet of perfectly pure water, just 

 such as one could suppose to have issued by Divine command at the 



