27 0 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
CHAPTER XX. 
SALSETTE. ELEPHANT HUNT. 
Our next excursion was to Salsette, an island 
eighteen miles long and thirteen broad, united to 
Bombay by a causeway built while Mr. Duncan was 
governor of the presidency. The island of Salsette was 
formerly a place of great sanctity, having numerous rock 
temples hollowed out of its hills, two or three of which 
are of great splendour. About the centre of the island 
is an artillery station, beyond which the country, be- 
fore dull and uninteresting, becomes more picturesque. 
The greater part of the land is covered with a thick 
jungle, from which numerous hills arise, chiefly com- 
posed of granite, without order or uniformity, and 
imparting an agreeable variety to the otherwise mono- 
tonous prospect. The forests abound with tigers and 
other beasts of prey, so much so that solitary travel- 
ling in this island is at all times dangerous. In conse- 
quence of the valleys being narrow, enclosed by lofty 
hills, and covered with a thick forest, Salsette is very 
unhealthy. It was here that the seeds of that fatal ma- 
lady were received which deprived Jacquemont, the 
French naturalist, of his life, and science of a valuable 
labourer. 
The hamlets are chiefly composed of a few mise- 
