im.] 



Account of Mamallaipur. 



1 



some of these excavations &c. were executed so lately as the 

 Seventeenth Century, by a prince denominated Sinhama- 

 nayadu. The supplementary paper by Walter Elliot Esq. 

 relating to the remains at Salvan Cuppa m 3 serves to suggest a 

 much earlier date than the latter for certain of these remark- 

 able productions which he therein specifies. 



Works of this nature have been executed in all parts of 

 the world during the earlier stages of civilization. Rocky 

 caves formed by nature offer a congenial shelter for the gloomy 

 rites of a dark superstition, a ready defence from the attacks 

 of enemies or the inclemency of the weather, and supplied 

 appropriate receptacles for the remains of the dead. In the 

 most ancient times the Holy Scriptures speak of caves as 

 places of residence and refuge, as well as of sepult ure. Many 

 of these natural recesses were greatly enlarged and ren- 

 dered more commodious, or better adapted for the pur- 

 poses of shelter and defence by human labor and art. This 

 may still be traced in several countries of the East. Maun- 

 drell has described a cave near Sidon, whose sides contain two 

 hundred smaller caverns. Sir R. iK. Porter has given an in- 

 teresting account of a cavern or labyrinth in the mountain of 

 Kerefto, in Eastern Courdistan. Similar excavations are 

 found according to the same authority at Maraga in Media ; 

 in the mountains near the lake Sivan, and near the site of 

 Artaxata, the ancient capital of Armenia. The sepulchral 

 caves of Egypt have been admirably illustrated by Belzoni. 

 Sir Alexander Burnes has given an interesting account of 

 the sculptures and caves at Bameean. Those at Elephanta and 

 Eliora are well known in India : and such as are interest- 

 ed in these remarkable records of past times, should not 

 overlook the description and beautiful sketches of Petra by 

 Laborde. Amongst the savages of North Western Australia, 

 Captain Gray has discovered sculptured rocks and painted 

 caverns. In this way nature appears to have suggested to 

 mankind the earlier efforts of art. 



