of débris at the base, densely clothed with dry jungle.
The cliffs are about 1000 feet high, and the plants
similar to those at the foot of Parasnath, but stunted :
I climbed to the top, the latter part by steps or ledges
cut in the sandstone. The summit was clothed with
long grass, trees of Diospyros and Terminalia, and
here and there the Boswellia. On the precipitous
rocks the curious white-barked Sterculia fcetida “ flung
its arms abroad,” leafless, and looking as if blasted by
lightning.
On the 17th we marched to Akbarpore, a village
overhung by the rocky precipice of Rotasghur. Passing
between the river and a detached conical bill of limestone,
capped with a flat mass of sandstone, the spur of
Rotas broke suddenly on the view, and very grand it
was, quite realising my anticipations of the position of
these eyrie-like hill-forts of India. To the left of the
spur winds the valley of the Soane, with low wooded
hills on its opposite bank, and a higher range, connected
with that of Behar, in the distance. To the right, the
hills sweep round, forming an immense and beautifully
wooded amphitheatre, about four miles deep, bounded
by a continuation of the escarpment. At the foot of
the crowned spur is the village of Akbarpore, where we
encamped in a Mango tope ; * it occupies some pretty
undulating limestone hills, amongst which several
streams flow from the amphitheatre to the Soane.
During our two days’ stay here, I had the advantage
of the society of Mr. C. E. Davis, who was our guide
* On the 24th of June, 1848, the Soane rose to an unprecedented height,
and laid this grove of Mangos three feet under water.
during some rambles in the neighbourhood, and to
whose experience, founded on the best habits of observation,
I am indebted for much information. At noon
we started to ascend to the palace, on the top of the
spur. On the way we passed a beautiful well, sixty
feet deep, and with a fine flight of steps to the bottom.
Now neglected, and overgrown with flowering weeds
and creepers, I found there many of the plants I had
only previously obtained in a withered state; it was
curious to observe there some of the species of the hilltops,
whose seeds are doubtless scattered abundantly
over the surrounding plains, but only vegetate where
they find a coolness and moisture resembling that of
the altitude they elsewhere affect. A fine fig-tree
growing out of the stone-work spread its leafy green
branches over the well mouth, which was about twelve
feet square; its roots assumed a singular form,
enveloping two sides of the walls with a beautiful
net-work, which at high-water mark (rainy season),
abruptly divides into thousands of little brushes,
dipping into the water which they fringe. I t was a
pretty cool place to descend to, from a temperature of
80° above, to 74° at the bottom, where the water was
60°; and most refreshing to look, either up the shaft
to the green fig-tree shadowing the deep profound, or
along the sloping steps through a vista of flowering
herbs and climbing plants, to the blue heaven of a
burning sky.
The ascent to Rotas is over the dry hills of limestone,
covered with a scrubby brushwood, to a crest where
are the first rude and ruined defences. The limestone