272 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
Gay songs and cheerful tales deceiv’d the time, 
And circling goblets made a tuneful chime ; 
Sweet was the draught, and sweet the blooming maid, 
Who touch’d her lyre beneath the fragrant shade. 
We sipp’d till morning purpled every plain, 
The damsels slumber’d, but we sipp’d again : 
The waking birds that sang on every tree, 
Their early notes, were not so blithe as we.” 
On the following morning we proceeded to the 
mountain in which the celebrated caves are excavated ; 
these are so numerous, that the principal hill is lite- 
rally perforated like a honeycomb. The road was so 
rugged and narrow as to render the progress of our 
palenkeen-bearers slow and difficult. 
Although obliged to proceed singly all the way, we 
were amply repaid in the issue for the difficulties and 
toil of our journey. The excavations in this hill are 
not only numerous, but likewise remarkable for their 
rich and elaborate decorations. One of the caves, a 
large chamber nearly square, and covered with mag- 
nificent carving, is called the durbar ; — no doubt from 
its appropriation to certain purposes of state during the 
time that this island was under the Mahomedan domi- 
nation. 
The principal temple in the series is really a splen- 
did thing of its kind, and was converted by the 
Portuguese into a place of Christian worship. You 
ascend to the entrance by a few steps, when you 
advance into a lofty portico bounded externally by a 
richly carved parapet. On one side is a high pillar 
surmounted by three lions rudely carved, but still in 
good preservation. The main props of the roof of the 
vestibule are two square thin columns, the shafts of 
