208 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
ing enemy. It would, indeed, be a matter of no or- 
dinary difficulty to bring artillery to play upon them, 
and they form a defence impregnable to any com- 
mon mode of assault ; they have, however, yielded 
to the skill and perseverance of a superior foe. 
On reaching the first gateway, the chief guide 
stopped before the portal, and with a significant air of 
ceremony silently unwound his turban ; then, putting 
one end of it into the hand of a companion, and placing 
himself at the other extremity, which he held, the two 
men stood on either side of the doorway, across which 
they drew the turban about three feet from the 
ground. Our obsequious guides then told us that it 
was customary for travellers to pay toll before entering 
the portal, as a propitiatory offering to Pollear, the 
protecting deity of pilgrims and travellers, who with- 
out such an oblation might bring us into mischief, 
Their logic was conclusive ; therefore, upon the strength 
of an appeal so irresistible, we deposited the cus- 
tomary tribute in the outstretched palm of the pe- 
titioner, and passed under the gateway into the gorge 
of the mountain. We entered several similar portals 
before we reached the summit, which gave us an ex- 
alted idea of the former possessors of this strong-hold, 
who had displayed great sagacity and skill in for- 
tifying a place so well adapted by nature for the pur- 
pose of affording an almost perfect security against in- 
vasion. At length we entered the fort, which is gain- 
ed by a flight of winding steps through a gateway, 
flanked on either hand by a wall of vast thickness 
that abuts each side upon a precipice. This wall 
is built of large masses of a most durable stone so 
