not only of Brahminical but of Buddhist worship. The Rajmahal hills stand in a detached cluster, containing, perhaps, as much ground as Merionethshire and Carnarvonshire. They are bounded on all sides by a plain, or nearly plain country; after which, on the west, are the Currukpoor hills, and, on the south, the very impracticable districts of Birboom, Ramghur, &c."* The whole of these clusters, Hamilton says, belong, in the opinion of the natives, to the Vindhyan mountains, which extend westward through Allahabad and Malwah, and along the northern side of the Nerbuddah, almost to the western coast.

For any accurate knowledge of the topography of these districts, we are chiefly indebted to the enterprise and antiquarian zeal of Lieutenant-Colonel William Francklin, some time Regulating Officer of Bhaugulpoor and Tirhoot; who, in 1814, animated by a desire to establish his favourite hypothesis respecting the site of Palibothra, ascended the Chundun (which he supposes to be the Erranoboas of Arrian †) to its sources in the vicinity of Deoghur, and subsequently crossed the Currukpoor hills to Sooruj Ghurra on the Ganges.

FROM BHAUGULPOOR TO DEOGHUR.

THE Chundun river, which has not hitherto been deemed worthy of ranking among the rivers of Hindostan, discharges itself by three mouths. The principal branch, which takes the name of the Gogha, terminates in what is called the Gogha-nullah, to the

Heber, vol. i. pp. 283, 4.

Its ancient epithet, he interprets, Errunbhoweh, forest-born, or flowing through a forest. Colonel Wilford gives a different

rendering of the appellative. See vol. i. p. 103.

east of Bhaugulpoor.

The north-western branch, which has not so broad a channel, falls into the Ganges at Champanagur, three miles west of Bhaugulpoor. The third branch discharges itself near Muniapoor. The bed of the river, where it forks off, is 400 yards in breadth, "sufficiently attesting what it would be in the rainy season." Colonel Francklin, in November, found the channel dry. Clear and wholesome water was, however, procured by digging pits in the sand from one foot and a half to two feet in depth. Higher up, where it receives the Andranullah, the Chundun was found 660 yards in breadth. According to the information received from the natives, this river exhibits a striking peculiarity in its rise and fall. "When it rains on the hills to the south, near its source, the river suddenly begins to rise, and soon filling, rushes onward with inconceivable violence and rapidity, carrying every thing before it in its course, and frequently overflowing its banks on either side to a considerable extent; when, after discharging its waters into the Ganges at its different mouths of Gogha, Muniapoor, and Champanagur, it as suddenly subsides, and again becomes nearly dry, in which state it remains until the return of the rainy season. It flows, for the most part, in a southerly direction, through a thickly wooded country. The cultivation on each side of the river is now in

a most flourishing state. "The attention paid by the inhabitants to the labours of agriculture, since this province was finally settled by the exertions of Mr. Cleveland and Colonel Browne, in 1778, has converted uncultivated and barren forests into a luxuriant garden, abounding in all sorts of grain of the best kind."

Having advanced up the course of the river to

Luknowandy Hât, about thirty-five miles S. of Bhaugulpoor (by the river), Colonel Francklin diverged to the eastward, and proceeded through a wooded tract to visit Mount Mandar (or Mandara), distant five miles.* This singular mount, the very rival of Mount Meru in every thing but its altitude,+ deserves a particular description. From the Author's unembellished statement, it would appear to be one of the greatest natural curiosities in India. It is the more remarkable as being apparently a mass of granite, whereas the nearer hills are of limestone.

MOUNT MANDAR.

"THE south side of this hill presents, on the approach to it, a singular appearance: it consists of a range of five distinct hills, rising one above the other, till they are terminated by the summit of Mandara, which is of an oval form, and very much resembles the Gola at Patna. The summit is surmounted with a stone mut or pagoda, called Musooden Mut; whither the idols that are seen in the plain below, at a mut of the same name, are carried at the annual poojahs,

* With these distances, as given by Colonel Francklin, we know not how to reconcile the statement at p. 68, that Mandara Hill is only twenty miles E. of S. from Bhaugulpoor.

†The fable respecting it, in the Mahabharat, assigns it an equal elevation. "There is also another mighty mountain, whose name is Mandar, and its rocky summits are like towering clouds. It is clothed in a net of the entangled tendrils of the twining creeper, and resoundeth with the harmony of various birds. Innumerable savage beasts infest its borders; and it is the respected haunt of kennars, dews, and apsars. It standeth 11,000 yojan above the earth, and 11,000 more below its surface." This is a fair specimen of the puerile exaggeration of Hindoo fable. The whole story of the churning with Mount Mandar for the amreeta, will be found in the notes to Southey's Kehama, vol. ii. p. 205.

(two in each year,) to be worshipped in the temple. At the south foot of the hill is a spacious talow (reservoir), called by the natives Pouphur, the descent to which is by a stone staircase of seven steps, each step being fourteen feet by one and a half. Near this flight of steps are great quantities of broken stones of different dimensions, mutilated idols, fragments of pillars, and other irregular masses. The circumference of the talow is four furlongs forty yards. Three sides of it are covered with trees and jungle; the fourth embraces the south-eastern base of the mountain, which is cut away in a sloping direction. A stone channel or water-course, formed from a natural fissure in the rock, runs from N.W. to S.E., along the centre of the hill, which it divides into two parts. The sides of this channel are very steep, and are formed of hard black rock, having a coal-like appearance, resembling the crater of a volcano. From this channel, in the rainy season, a torrent of water pours down, and is discharged into the tank in the plain below. It is called by the natives Puttul-kunduru.* The mountain, though, in its general features, barren and rugged, is yet occasionally interspersed with trees and jungle, growing out of the fissures on its rocky base and sides. The ascent is by a winding road or staircase cut in the rock, with landing places

• The prime minister of King Nanda is stated to have thrown his master into a beautiful reservoir near a cave called Patalcandra, which Colonel Wilford interprets, "the passage leading into the infernal regions." Asiatic Researches, vol. v. p. 265. He afterwards tells us (p. 281), that Patalcandra signifies, in Sanscrit, the crater of a volcano; and he supposes the hills that enclose the glen in which is the Mooti-jarna or pearl-dropping spring, near Rajmahal, to be the identical reservoir. Colonel Francklin contends for the probability that this at Mount Mandar is the spot. No stress can be laid on the word, which seems to mean any conduit,

of rock at intervals. Near the first staircase is a small stone image of the bull Nanda, not badly executed: the head is broken. About three hundred yards from the foot of the hill is a heap of ruins, apparently the remains of a small temple. Adjoining to this, the second staircase, consisting of sixty-seven steps, continues the ascent. All these stairs are excavated from the rock, three feet seven inches by one foot eight inches. On the right hand of the second flight is a colossal figure of Maha Kali, cut in the rock: the goddess is bestriding a demon, whom she has subdued in combat; she is armed with a battle-axe in one hand, and a sword in the other, and has three faces and ten arms, with a mala or necklace of human skulls.

"A short distance from this place, continuing the ascent, you meet with a sight extremely beautiful: a natural cascade, issuing from the spring called Seeta Koond, flows over the black and rugged surface of the rock, and discharges itself into the puttul-kunduru or channel below, whence it is conveyed to the talow of Pouphur at the foot of the mountain. From this place, you ascend the third range of stairs, being a flight of thirty-nine steps; and presently after, the fourth, which has one hundred and one steps; and then, a fifth, of thirty-five steps; the whole forming as it were a magnificent natural ladder. In our road up, we observed many images and fragments of stone lying scattered on each side of the way; the latter appearing to be the remains of small temples to be visited by the pilgrims in progressive ascent to that on the summit.......After proceeding up a sixth range of stairs, eleven in number, on turning a corner to the N.W., you come to a beautiful enclosure of mangotrees, and behold the cistern called Seeta Koond (the well of Seeta); a square enclosure faced on three sides