34 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
the least staggered my belief in the oral tradition of 
the Bramins, respecting the former existence of a city 
on the spot where this pagoda now stands. 
At some little distance above the sculptured rock 
there is a remarkable mass of unfractured granite., 
which has been so nicely poised by nature upon a 
pointed base, forming an obtuse inverted cone, that it 
may be easily rocked by a single arm, though a hun- 
dred would not dislodge it from its ancient bed. If it 
were squared, judging of course from a very imperfect 
admeasurement, I should imagine that it would form 
a cube of at least twenty feet. It resembles the crom- 
lechs to be found in Cornwall and other parts of 
Great Britain. During our stay at this extraordinary 
place, a very melancholy circumstance occurred. The 
man who was charged with the tappal or post-bag, 
while on his way from a neighbouring town, had been 
assailed by an alligator, as he was crossing a sheet 
of water which intersected his route. The creature 
attacked him in the middle of the stream, and though 
he escaped being devoured by the successful energy 
of his struggles, he was nevertheless so severely bitten, 
that he died a few minutes after he gained the land, 
which he managed to do with extreme difficulty. His 
body was dreadfully lacerated. The tappal was after- 
wards found in the water. 
We spent several days at Mahabalipuram, examin- 
ing all the extraordinary monuments of art in its 
neighbourhood, which abounds with objects of natural 
as well as of artificial interest. Mr. William Daniell 
took the opportunity, during our stay, of making 
several very accurate and finished drawings; and 
