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The summit of this wonderful mountain commands an exten- 
sive view; the island of Salsetle appears like a map around the 
spectator, presenting a fine champaign of rice fields, cocoa-groves, 
villages, and cattle; woody hills and fertile vales: the surround- 
ing mountains form a fore-ground of grey rocks, covered with 
trees, or hollowed into gloomy caverns, the haunt of tigers, ser- 
pents, bats, and bees, in immense swarms; the horizon is bounded 
on the south by the island of Bombay with the harbour and ship- 
ping, east by the continent, north by Bassein and the adjacent 
mountains, and west by the ocean. In various parts of Salsette 
are romantic views, embellished by the ruins of Portugueze 
churches, convents, and villas; once large and splendid, but suf- 
fered to decay since the Mahrattas conquered the island. 
The enjoyment of the picturesque and fertile scenery of Sal- 
sette is interrupted by the tigers which infest the mountains and 
descend to the plains : they not only prey upon the sheep and oxen 
near the villages, but sometimes carry off the human species. 
During our short stay, a poor woman gathering fuel on the skirts 
of a wood, laid her infant on the grass, when a tiger sprung from 
the cover and carried it to his den, in sight of the wretched 
mother! 
Another of these ferocious animals prowling in a garden near 
Tannah, the capital of the island, suddenly put his head and 
fore-feet through the small window of a summer house where a 
friend of mine was sitting. Alarmed at his danger, he kept his eye 
stedfastly fixed on the enemy, rightly judging that the aperture 
was too small for the admission of his body; the gentleman then 
ran speedily to the house, and returning immediately with two or 
