30 WANDERINGS OF A 



CHAPTEE III, 



Departure for Soinde, Western Ghauts again^Kandala — A Man drowned — 

 Discomforts of the Sea Voyage — Cholera — Kurrachee — Scenery — Familiar 

 Bii'ds — Climate — Flora — Pearl-oyster — Caucasian Ibex — Pelicans — Game 

 Birds — ^Woodpecker — Bush-thrushes — Bulbul — Serpent-eagle — Insects 

 — Crocodile Pond — Indus — Scenery — Alligators— Audacity of the Go- 

 vind-Kite — Sutluj — Ferozepoor to the Himalayas. 



On the road between Poonah and Bombay there is much to 

 interest and delight ; at Kandala the traveller is surrounded 

 by a varied fauna and flora. What finer sight than that 

 which greets him at day-dawn on some cool November 

 morning, as he wends his way through the defiles, or by the 

 sides of the little rice-fields ? — 



" See how at once the bright refulgent sun, 

 Rising direct, swift chases from the sky 

 The short-lived twilight ; and with ardent blaze 

 Looks gaily fierce through all the dazzling air." 



The roads are covered with heavy-laden waggons, toiling up 

 the steep ascent, while groups of natives are enjoying their 

 hookahs by the road-side, imder the grateful shade of the 

 mango and banyan* The mountain-breeze is cool, even in 

 the heat of summer. The European houses are situated on 

 the sides of the great ravines, with shady avenues and path- 

 ways winding through the groves and aro\md the rocky 

 ridges. Kandala is a little highland paradise, and a fitting 



* The author refers to some sixteen years since, before any railways existed 

 in India. 



