became more diffused, the beams lessened by degrees,
and a dark belt appeared in the luminous arch,
gradually breaking it up, and appearing to disperse
the beams, of which, however, a few faint ones continued
to appear occasionally until midnight.
Our passage through the Soane sands was very
tedious, though accomplished in excellent style, the
elephants pushing forward the heavy waggons of mining
tools with their foreheads. The wheels were sometimes
buned to the axles in sand, and the draught bullocks
were rather in the way than otherwise.
The body of water over which we were ferried, was
not above 80 yards wide. In the rains, when the
whole space of three miles is one rapid flood, 10 or 12
feet deep, charged with yellow sand, this river must
present an imposing spectacle. I walked across the
dry portion, observing the sand-waves, all ranged in
one direction, perpendicular to that of the prevailing
wind, and accurately representing the undulations of
the ocean, as seen from a mast-head or high cliff. As
the sand was finer or coarser, so did th e , surface
resemble a gentle ripple, or an ocean-swell. The progressive
motion of the waves was curious, and caused
by the lighter particles being blown over the ridges,
and filling up the hollows to leeward. There were a
few islets in the sand, oases of mud and clay, in laming».
no thicker than paper, and these were at once denizened
by various weeds. Some large spots were green with
wheat and barley-crops, both suffering from smut.
We encamped close to the western shore, at the
village of Dearee (alt. 330 feet): it marks the termiFeb.
1848. VILLAGE OF TILOTHO. 33
nation of the Kymore Hills, along whose S.E. base
our course now lay, as we here quitted the grand trunk
road for a country rarely visited.
On the 16th we marched south up the river to
Tilotho (alt. 395 feet), through a rich and highly
cultivated country, covered with indigo, cotton, sugarcane,
safflower, castor-oil, poppy, and various grains*
Dodders covered even tall trees with a golden web,
and the Capparis acuminata was in full flower along
the road side. Tilotho, a beautiful village, was situated
in a superb grove of Mango, Banyan, Peepul, Tamarind,
and Bassia. The Date or toddy-palm and fan-palm
were very abundant and tall: each had a pot hung
under the crown. The natives climb their trunks
with a hoop or cord round the body and both ancles,
and a bottle-gourd or other vessel hanging round the
neck to receive the juice from the stock-bottle, in this
aerial wine-cellar. These palms were so lofty that the
climbers, as they paused in their ascent to gaze with
wonder at our large retinue, resembled monkeys rather
than men. Both trees yield a toddy, but in tbis
district that from the Date alone ferments, and is
distilled; while in other parts of India, the fan-palm
is chiefly employed. I walked to the hills, over a level
cultivated country interspersed with occasional belts
of low wood; in which the pensile nests of the weaver-
bird were abundant, but generally hanging out of reach,
in prickly Acacias.
The hills here present a straight precipitous wall of
sandstone, very like the rocks at the Cape of Good
Hope, with occasionally a shallow valley, and a slope
o 3