THE COADUWAR GHAUT. 
7 
much less mild than the elephant, it is far more for- 
midable when exasperated, on account of its greater 
activity and more desperate ferocity. The voracious- 
ness of this creature is extraordinary : it will consume 
as much as an elephant. A young one, only two 
years old, sent from Bengal in 1739, cost a thousand 
pounds sterling for food, including the expenses of its 
passage. 
Before we entered the pass of the mountains which 
separates them from the plains, we were obliged to 
obtain permission from the Rajah of Serinagur to 
visit his capital. This permission was readily grant- 
ed, though it caused some delay, as the formalities 
even of a petty Rajah’s court are invariably more 
numerous than agreeable ; we nevertheless contrived 
to spend the intervening time pleasantly enough 
in the valleys through which our route lay to the 
Coaduwar Ghaut. The Rajah sent an escort with 
two hirkarrahs* to conduct us from this place, where 
the mountains began to close in upon our path, ex- 
hibiting to our view that grandeur of form and majesty 
of aspect for which this mighty range is so preeminently 
distinguished. At this pass, upon the summit of a 
tabular hill which is ascended by steps cut in the 
rock, is built a small neat village, flanked by a 
strong barrier and gateway. The walls on either side 
the portal are very massy and the entrance nar- 
row. The valley by which the hill is immediately 
bounded is protected towards the plains by a rapid 
stream, which taking a circular direction nearly en- 
closes it on two sides, rushing down into the lower 
* A hirkarrah is a messenger. 
