tion, and deserving all the praise which has been lavished on it. For its details I again refer to Mr. Erskine, merely noticing that, though my expectations were highly raised, the reality much exceeded them, and that both the dimensions, the proportions, and the sculpture, seemed to me to be of a more noble character, and a more elegant execution than I had been led to suppose, Even the statues are executed with great spirit, and are some of them of no common beauty, considering their dilapidated condition and the coarseness of their material.

At the upper end of the principal cave, which is in the form of a cross, and exceedingly resembles the plan of an ancient basilica, is an enormous bust with three faces, reaching from the pavement to the ceiling of the temple. It has generally been supposed, and is so even by Mr. Erskine, a representation of the Trimurti, or Hindoo Trinity, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. But more recent discoveries have ascertained that Siva himself, to whose worship and adventures most of the other ornaments of the cave refer, is sometimes represented with three faces, so that the temple is evidently one to the popular deity of the modern Hindoos alone. Nor could I help remarking, that the style of ornament, and proportions of the pillars, the dress of the figures, and all the other circumstances of the place, are such as may be seen at this day in every temple of Central India, and among all those Indian nations where the fashions of the Mussulmans have made but little progress. Those travellers who fancied the contrary had seen little of India but Bombay. From these circumstances, then, nothing can be learned as to the antiquity of this wonderful cavern, and I am myself disposed, for several reasons, to think that this is not very

remote.

The rock out of which the temple is carved, is by no means calculated to resist, for any great length of time, the ravages of the weather. It evidently suffers much from the annual rains; a great number of the pillars, (nearly one-third of the whole,) have been undermined by the accumulation of water in the cavern, and

the capitals of some, and part of the shafts of others, remain suspended from the top like huge stalactites, the bases having completely mouldered away. These ravages are said to have greatly increased in the memory of persons now resident in Bombay, though for many years back the cave has been protected from wanton depredation, and though the sculptures, rather than the pillars, would probably have suffered from that vulgar love of knick-knacks and specimens which prevails among the English, more than most nations of the world.

A similar rapidity of decomposition has occurred in the elephant already spoken of, which, when Niebuhr saw it, was, by his account, far more perfect than it now is. But if thirty or forty years can have produced such changes in this celebrated temple, it is hardly reasonable to suppose that any part of it is so old as is sometimes apprehended. It has been urged, as a ground for this apprehension, that the Hindoos of the present day pay no reverence to this temple, or its images. This is not altogether true, since I myself noticed very recent marks of red paint on one of the lingams, and flowers are notoriously offered up here by the people of the island. It is, however, certainly not a famous place among the Hindoos. No pilgrims come hither from a distance, nor are there any brahmins stationary at the shrine. But this proves nothing as to its antiquity, inasmuch as the celebrity of a place of worship, with them, depends on many circumstances quite distinct from the size and majesty of the building. Its founder may have died before he had completed his work, in which case nobody would go on with it. He may have failed in conciliating the brahmins; or, supposing it once to have been a place of eminence, which is a mere gratis assumption, since we have neither inscription, history, or legend to guide us,-it is impossible to say when or how it may have been desecrated, whether by the first Mussulman invaders, or by the Portuguese in the sixteenth century. From the supposed neglect of the natives, therefore, nothing can be concluded, inasmuch as, from the exact similarity of mythology between these

sculptures, and the idols of the present day, it is plain that this neglect does not arise from any change of customs. It has been urged that the size and majesty of the excavation compel us to suppose that it must have been made by some powerful Hindoo sovereign, and, consequently, before the first Mussulman invasion. This would be no very appalling antiquity; but even for this there is no certain ground. The expence and labour of the undertaking are really by no means so enormous as might be fancied. The whole cavern is a mere trifle in point of extent, when compared with the great salt-mine at Northwich; and there are now, and always have been, Rajas, and wealthy merchants in India, who, though not enjoying the rank of independant sovereigns, are not unequal to the task of hewing a huge stone quarry into a cathedral. On the whole, in the perfect absence of any inscription or tradition which might guide us, we may assign to Elephanta any date we please. It may be as old as the Parthenon, or it may be as modern as Henry VIIth's chapel. But though the truth probably lies between the two, I am certainly not disposed to assign to it any great degree of antiquity.

We accompanied the Governor and a large party on a tour through Salsette on the 25th, 26th, 27th, and 28th. This is a

An excursion to Salsette to see the cave temple of Kennery, together with some interesting places on the island, had for some time been in contemplation, and we set out on the 25th to join Mr. Elphinstone and a large party at Toolsey. On leaving Matoonga, an artillery cantonment about the centre of the island, the country became interesting as well from its novelty as from its increased beauty. The road lay principally through a valley formed by hills of a moderate height, covered, wherever the rocks allowed of its growth, with underwood to their summits, while the valleys were planted with groves of mangoes and palms, with some fine timber trees. A very shallow arm of the sea divides Bombay from Salsette, and on an eminence commanding it is a fort, apparently of some strength, built originally as a defence against the Maharattas, and still inhabited by an European officer with a small guard; the islands are now connected by a causeway. The mountains in Salsette are considerably higher than those of Bombay, but covered with thicker jungle, while the valleys are more shut in, and consequently less healthy. We saw but few traces of inhabitants during a drive of eight miles, passing but one small village consisting of a most miserable collection of huts.

At Vear we left our carriages, and proceeded on horseback and in palanqueens through the

very

beautiful island, united with the smaller one of Bombay by a causeway, built in the time of Governor Duncan, a work of great

jungle to Toolsey, the place of our encampment. This lovely spot is surrounded by mountains of considerable height, forming a small wooded amphitheatre, in the centre of which grows a fine banyan-tree. Here our tents were pitched, and I never saw a more beautiful scene than it afforded. The brilliant colours and varieties of dress on innumerable servants, the horses bivouacked under the trees with each its attendant saees, the bullocks, carts, hackeries, and natives of all descriptions in crowds, the fires prepared for cooking, the white tents pitched in the jungle, together with the groupes formed by the different parties on their arrival, altogether formed a coup d'œil which I can never forget, and which can be only seen in a tropical climate.

Our tent was pitched close to a tyger-trap, then unset; there are a good many tygers in the island, and one was killed a short time previous to our arrival. This was the first night I had ever slept under canvass, and but for the heat, which was intense, I could not have wished for more comfortable quarters; but Toolsey, from its peculiar situation, is reckoned one of the hottest places in India.

Early the next morning the Bishop and I mounted our horses, and took an exploring ride among the rocks and woods; some rain had fallen in the night, which had cooled and refreshed the air. The morning was delightful, a number of singing-birds, among whose notes I could distinguish those of the nightingale and thrush, were performing a beautiful concert, while the jungle-fowl were crowing merrily all around, and monkeys, the first which I had seen in their natural state, were sporting with their young ones among the trees; I enjoyed the ride exceedingly, and left the rocks with regret, though, from the sun being clouded over, we had been already enabled to stay out till eight o'clock.

After breakfast, at which meal we all assembled in the public tent, some Cashmerian singers, with one Nâch man, dressed in female clothes, amused us with their songs and national dances. Some of their tunes were very pretty, and the dancing was more energetic than any which I had seen in Calcutta, and generally accompanied the singing; at the end of each verse the performer made a pirouette, and squatted down, forming with his clothes what, in our counties, is called a Cheshire-cheese.

At four o'clock in the evening we set out, some on horse-back, and some in palanqueens, to the caves, with which the hill is literally perforated. ... It was late before we returned. Our path wound along the sides of the rocks, and was hardly wide enough in places for a palanqueen to pass. The effect of so large a party proceeding in single file, with torches, occasionally appearing and disappearing among the rocks and woods, with a bright Indian moon shining over-head, was picturesque and beautiful in the highest degree. I happened to be the last, and had a full view of the procession, which extended for nearly half a mile. In northern latitudes one can form no idea of the brilliancy of the moon, nor of the beauty of a night such as this, rendered more enjoyable from the respite which it affords from the heat of the day.

April 25.—We left our tents early the next morning, Mrs. Macdonald and I, with most of the gentlemen of the party, on horseback, to proceed to Tanna, a town with a fort, on the eastern coast of the island. From thence to Salsette we went in a bunder boat, and there