14 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
gulfs which arrested our gaze as we passed them, re- 
quired no ordinary steadiness of brain, and the road 
by which we had to descend was frequently so steep 
that we were obliged to cling to the jagged projections 
of rock or to the few stunted shrubs that appeared 
here and there in our path in spite of the asperity 
of the stony surface through which they with diffi- 
culty forced their way. The prospect between those 
lofty eminences which every now and then rose in 
solemn grandeur before us, was sublime beyond concep- 
tion : glens so dark and deep that the powers of vision 
were baffled by their profundity, and the tall spires 
which towered majestically above them, hooded by 
light feathery clouds, presenting a contrast at once the 
grandest and most picturesque, exhibited altogether a 
scene of singular and wild magnificence. So awful is 
the impression made by these stupendous objects, 
that, were it not for the occasional relief afforded by 
the gentler livery of vegetation which sometimes so 
beautifully displays itself on these gigantic hills, the 
traveller would find it almost impossible to proceed. 
Impediments began now to multiply upon us : we 
were obliged occasionally to wade through the nullahs 
as high as our hips, and found it no easy matter to 
keep our footing on account of the impetuous rush- 
ing of the waters, while the circular stones with 
which their channels abounded rendered them gene- 
rally anything but easy to pass over. It is scarcely 
possible to imagine the difficulty of crossing these 
mountain-streamlets, and this is much increased by 
the danger; the least slip would be attended with 
imminent peril, for such is the force of the torrents. 
