20 
CAVES OF KANAREH. 
hands up, and twisting them about; at others covering the head totally 
with the shawl. Here was no leaping from the ground, no capers, no 
pirouettes, all was languor and apathy; and so unlike was it to our 
ideas of dancing, that one of our company, a gentleman newly arrived 
from England, after having sat an hour looking at this sight, gravely 
asked. When would the dancing commence ? Olearius has almost 
described what we saw, in the narration of a dance in Russia. He 
says, “ Les homines et les femmes dansaient d’une meme fa9on, 
chaqu’un apart faisant bien des grimaces et des gesticulations; les 
mouvemens des mains, des epaules, et des hanches etant plus violens 
que ceux des pieds, dont il ne font que trepigner, ne bougeant presque 
point de la meme place.”* And it may be remarked, that such a de¬ 
scription is characteristic of almost all the dancing in the East. The 
performers, both dancers and musicians, sang the odes of Hafiz; 
but what threw the Indian audience into seeming ecstasy, was to us a 
tiresome succession of monotonous whining, now and then varied by 
violent screaming. 
During our stay at Bombay, we visited the caves of Kanareh, on the 
island of Salsette. We departed at sunrise, and our road led through 
some of that enchanting scenery, which renders the island of Bombay 
one of the most beautiful spots in Asia. A causeway, nearly half a 
mile in length, connects it with Salsette. Here travellers alight and 
walk, as it is too narrow to admit two carriages abreast. We travelled 
in wheeled conveyances as far as the village of Viyar, (which is about 
seven miles from the caves) where we mounted our horses, and entered 
upon roads inaccessible to carriages. This part of the country some¬ 
times abounds in tygers; for it has been remarked that one year is 
more productive than another, and generally at intervals of six or seven 
years. 
The hill upon which the caves of Kanareh are situated, is seen some¬ 
time before reaching it, and they are to be distinguished from the valley 
* Voyages en Moscovie, &c. Wicquefort cd. fo. p. 23. 
