to be the work of the Buddhists when driven from Karli. Many of these rock temples were no doubt originally natural caves. Being carved in the living rock, and not built up with stone, they remain just as they were at

The Kennery caves

Dr. Wilson enumerates no

the beginning, and have not been altered or repaired. bear date about the fifth century of our era. fewer than thirty-seven groups of these cave temples in the Bombay Presidency, the greater number being of Buddhist origin. Those of Elura

were the first, then followed the Karli caves, and the latest imitations of them are the Jain excavations. Of all these rock-temples the finest perhaps are those of KARLI, about eighty miles by railway from Bombay. The great Chaitya cave here is hewn in the face of a precipice, two-thirds up the side of a thickly-wooded hill. In front of it stands the Lion Pillar, a monolith of exquisite architectural proportions, with four stone lions back to back in its capital. The doorway is through a screen carved with colossal figures. The

It is

cave itself looks like an oblong church, with a nave and side aisles. forty yards long by twelve yards wide, and has a semicircular apse behind the shrine. The roof is dome-like, ornamented by a series of wooden rafters and resting on forty pillars, each having a richly-moulded capital on which kneel two elephants, each bearing two figures. The chaitya, or dagoba, is a dome on a circular drum surmounted by the remains of a wooden chattar, or umbrella. The only light which is admitted from without comes from a horseshoe window, and falls on this object with great effect. The sculptures

represent the aboriginal tribes doing obeisance to Buddha. From inscriptions that have been deciphered, the date of this Buddhist temple is about B.c. 78. There is nothing in ancient Buddhist architecture that so closely resembles mediaval Christian building. Not the least wonderful here are the reservoirs of ever-cool water, some of them of great depth and cut out of the living rock. The finest cathedrals of Europe do not always excite such emotions as the Karli temple dedicated to Gautama Buddha. It bears this inscription: By the victorious and most exalted king, this rock mansion has been established, the most excellent in India."

Leaving Bombay by the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, two hours will find us at Narel, fifty-three miles distance, and within six miles of MATHERAN, a healthy hill station about two thousand five hundred feet above the sea, where we find ourselves away from the noise and heat of the city, in the midst of lovely scenery and a pure and buoyant atmosphere, with the scent of wild flowers and the songs of birds. There are fine views of the Ghats from Garbut Point, and Panorama Point commands the wide expanse of the Konkan, with the sea beyond. On the east of the hill is a noble grove, where magnificent trees are to be seen festooned by gigantic creepers. Many Bombay merchants come out hither daily during the hot months. Resuming our railway journey, we now ascend the BHORE GHẤT, which is two thousand feet above the sea level. Here the mountains are precipitously scarped, and the railway wends its way, round precipices and in zigzags, to the summit of the tremendous ravine. At one point the angle is so sharp that trains cannot turn, and they reverse their direction on a level terrace. This range was considered the key of the Deccan in the early wars of the English with the Mahrattas, and a proposal was made to fortify it. Better far is the traversing of it first by an excellent road, and next by a railway, which surmounts the barrier, and brings Poona within six hours of Bombay.

POONA is one of the old capitals of the Mahratta, or "Great Kingdom," as the word signifies, the other two capitals being Satura and Kolhapore. Here the Peishwa ruled till his defeat in 1818; and since that time the city has not been so flourishing. It is situated in a wide-stretching treeless plain. and is divided into seven quarters, called by the seven days of the week. The inhabitants are chiefly Hindus, and there are many Brahmans, fat and sleek, to be seen in the streets. The shrine of Parvati is on an eminence overlooking the town. Here are the Government English Schools, the Sanscrit College, and the military headquarters for Western India. Seventy miles journey south by a good but hilly road brings us but hilly road brings us to MAHABLESHWAR, a glorious sanatorium, four thousand seven hundred feet above the sea, and the Simla of the Bombay Presidency. It is now more easily approached by steam from Bombay to Dasgaum, and thence by the new Ghât road through Poladpur and Warra. Perhaps the best description of this charming resort

MAHABLESHWAR.

is from the pen of the late Rev. Dr. John Wilson, who had a bungalow here for many years. He says: "I am at present sojourning on the most lovely spot that you can imagine. The scenery around is the grandest, the most beautiful, and the most sublime which I have yet witnessed during my earthly wanderings, extensive though they have been. The Mahableshwar is part of the Great Western Ghâts, and four thousand seven hundred feet high, a loftiness surpassing the highest of Caledonia's mountains. The vegetation partakes of the magnificence of the tropics, but is enchanting to the dwellers in the climes of the sun, as in some respects resembling that of our beloved native land. The matériel of the heights is of the trap formation, which, by its basaltic masses and columns and precipitous scarps, affords the most wonderful and diversified specimens of Nature's architecture, and by its valleys

and ravines, of her gigantic excavation. The province of the Konkan, with its hills and dales, and exhaustless forests and fruitful fields, stretches below. At a distance the ocean is seen as a vast mirror of brilliancy, reflecting the glory of the sky. The clouds baffle all description. Their various and changing hues, and multifarious forms and motions, as they descend to kiss the mountain brow, or remain above as our fleecy mantle, or interpose between us and the luminary of heaven to catch its rays, and to reveal their coloured splendour, fill the mind with the most intense delight. . . Satara, in my opinion, is the most lovely station in our Presidency. The valley of the Yena, with its abundant cultivation, and that of the Krishna, which partly appears, and the mountains to the west, and the hills to the north and south, presenting, with their basaltic masses, and layers, and columns, and scarps, and

towers, the most interesting specimens of Nature's architecture, have a very striking effect on the eye of the spectator. The fort is curiously formed on the summit of one of the highest elevations; and it is associated with all the interest and romance of Mahratti history. The native town is spacious, busy, and regular, to a degree seldom seen in this country.

JEWESSES, BOMBAY.

The camp is

very agreeably situated; and the Residency has a beautiful neighbourhood."

No European knew the Bombay Presidency so well as did Dr. Wilson. He went out as a missionary in the year 1829, at once set himself to master the Mahratti language, and soon became eminent as a champion of the Christian religion with Parsis, Mohammedans and Hindus. He ranked facile princeps among Oriental scholars, was President of the Bom

bay Asiatic Society, wrote several valuable treatises, and was consulted upon political questions by the highest authorities in India. He travelled through every part of the Bombay Presidency; and after a life-sojourn of fortyseven years, he died esteemed and lamented

by all classes, on the 1st of December, 1875. The Free Church Institute stands a monument of his labours in the city. I went through the several classrooms with deep interest and surprise, and addressed the senior class of native students, who spoke English fluently, and greatly astonished me with their intelligent questions. I also visited the Jews' School, in which Dr. Wilson took deep interest, for there are many Beni-Israel, as they are called, in