INDRA, 
21 
mountains shortly dispersed and there soon appeared 
not a vestige of the late storm. 
Evening was now approaching and its shades were 
already beginning to deepen upon the surrounding 
landscape. Before we had proceeded far, the setting 
sun in his descent assumed a fiery glow that tinged 
with the same vivid hue every object from which his 
beams were reflected. The clouds which had gathered 
on the horizon opened before his track, and through 
the interval his rays streamed with the most dazzling 
intensity: they were arrested by the tops of the 
mountains and even the dark glens beneath caught a 
portion of their departing radiance. The whole pro- 
spect was for the moment brilliantly irradiated by the 
same fiery beam. We were surrounded by mountains 
that towered above each other to a prodigious altitude, 
while the effect of the deep glow of the setting sun 
upon these gigantic objects, contrasted with the clear 
placid light of the snowy range, which was distinctly 
visible, was as striking as it was beautiful. 
Indra, god of the elements, is a deity highly vene- 
rated in these hills. The various transformations of 
this Hindoo Jupiter are related with great gravity by 
the mountaineers. He is one of the chief heroes of 
their mythology ; and where hurricanes are so frequent, 
no wonder, according to their creed at least, that he 
“ Who guides the whirlwind and directs the storm” 
should be an object of especial veneration. One of his 
incarnations is beautifully alluded to by Sir William 
Jones in his spirited hymn. 
