42 SOANE VALLEY. Chap. II. 



succeeded by the sandstone cliff cut into steps, which led 

 from ledge to ledge and gap to gap, well guarded with walls 

 and an archway of solid masonry. Through this we passed 

 on to the flat summit of the Kymore hills, covered with 

 grass and forest, intersected by paths in all directions. 

 The ascent is about 1200 feet — a long pull in the blazing 

 sun of February. The turf consists chiefly of spear-grass 

 and Andropogon muricatus, the kus-kus, which yields a 

 favourite fragrant oil, used as a medicine in India. The 

 trees are of the kinds mentioned before. A pretty octa- 

 gonal summer-house, with its roof supported by pillars, 

 occupies one of the highest points of the plateau, and com- 

 mands a superb view of the scenery before described. 

 From this a walk of three miles leads through the woods 

 to the palace. The buildings are very extensive, and 

 though now ruinous, bear evidence of great beauty in the 

 architecture : light galleries, supported by slender columns, 

 long cool arcades, screened squares and terraced walks, are 

 the principal features. The rooms open out upon flat roofs, 

 commanding views of the long endless table-land to the 

 west, and a sheer precipice of 1000 feet on the other side, 

 with the Soane, the amphitheatre of hills, and the village 

 of Akbarpore below. 



This and Beejaghur, higher up the Soane, were amongst 

 the most recently reduced forts, and this was further the 

 last of those wrested from Baber in 1542. Some of the 

 rooms are still habitable, but the greater part are ruinous, 

 and covered with climbers, both of wild flowers and of 

 the naturalised garden plants of the adjoining shrubbery ; 

 the Arbor -tristis, with Hibiscus, Abutilon, &c, and above 

 all, the little yellow-flowered Linaria ramosissima, crawling 

 over every ruined wall, as we see the walls of our old 

 English castles clothed with its congener L. Cymbalaria. 



