1837.] 



Bombay Islands. 



169 



From the summit of the hill the prospect is very fine, the east view 

 being bounded by those extraordinary trap mountains whose configu- 

 ration is so well expressed by their names, Funnel Hill, and the Queen 

 of Mahratta's Castle, with the connecting ridge of the ghauts. While, 

 to the south, the harbour and islands of Bombay appear as if at the 

 feet, and to the north, the dull high land terminates the prospect, the 

 foreground being enlivened by the rich foliage of the tamarind (Tama- 

 rindus Indica) and lofty palmyra, (Borassus flabelliformis) and the 

 more humble, though not less elegant jungle, consisting of the Ixora 

 (Ixora coccinea), Euphorbia (E. neriifolia), and Lawsonia (L. in- 

 ermis). 



On the north-eastern side of the strait which separates Salsette from 

 the continent, a low basaltic ridge extends for four or five miles parallel 

 with the ridge of 'Salsette, and with the ghauts, presenting, wherever 

 the rock is uncovered, a columnar structure, and in three places, clus- 

 ters of columns rise up, some of which are fifty feet high and twenty 

 inches in diameter, the shafts being variously four or seven sided.* 



Elephanta Island. 



The form which this island presents at a distance is somewhat pyra- 

 midal, but on a nearer approach it is found to consist of two distinct 

 hills, with an intervening valley. This vale is profusely studded with 

 trees and bushes, as we\\ as the hills, which are clothed with wood from 

 the water's ejige to the summits. Many of the trees are tall and state- 

 ly, as the brab or palmyra, while others are covered with the densest 

 foliage, as the tamarind, with its rich green leaves and elegant blos- 

 soms. In the dry season the island exhibits the best appearance from 

 the summits of the hills, or by approaching it from the sea, for at that 

 time the earth is dry, parched, and as if baked, being crossed in every 

 direction with fissures, which greedily suck up the rain whenever it 

 happens to fall, and, of course, is destitute of that rich vegetable car- 

 pet which covers it during the prevalence of the monsoon. Then the 

 soil is one mass of verdure ; not a spot is naked ; the paddy ground 

 being enlivened with the presence of the rice crop, and the forest waste 

 adorned with grasses and elegant flowers. The rice ground is very 

 limited, and is situated at the lower part of the vale, in the immediate 

 vicinity of the village of Gallipooti. It is divided into parterres, or 

 small inclosures, fenced with impervious hedges of pricklypear 

 {Euphorbia neriifolia and terucalli). The whole island is one mass 

 of rock, and the thin scattering of soil which hides but scanti- 

 ly the main constituent of the island, is merely derived from 



Ann, of Philosophy, yii. 309. 



