BASWESHWAR. 
205 
armed at every inch with fish-hooks to hook the passer by. 
Why were thorns created, or how were they developed ? 
What is their use, their purpose, or the end of their being ? 
But I will keep that question for another day. 
Once again we were climbing a hill, and this was worse 
than the other. We were forced at last to call a halt and 
sit down for ten minutes. Then we set forward again. 
For a moment we stopped to admire a magnificent poon 
tree, whose trunk, at least nine feet in circumference, rose 
up before us like Satan’s spear. And in truth this grand 
tree has furnished the mast of many a “great ammiral.” 
A single poon is said to have fetched over Rs. 1,000. 
At last we reached the top of the hill and walked on 
level ground once more. Of course there were still a few 
supplementary ascents to make, and it was some time 
before we reached the traces of artificial stone steps which 
marked the final stage. At the top of this we emerged 
from the forest and stood under a great perpendicular 
wall of rock, washed clean by the monsoon rain. A 
portion of this rock near the top was yellow and friable, 
and huge boulders lying about us, with fresh edges, gave 
evidence of a very recent fall, while a gaping fissure 
plainly foretold another. 
