is succeeded by the sandstone cliff cut into steps,
which led from ledge to ledge and gap to gap, well
guarded with walls and an archway of solid masonry.
Through this we passed on to the flat summit of the
Kymore hills, covered with grass and forest, and
intersected by paths in all directions. The ascent is
about 1200 feet—a long pull in the blazing sun of
February. The turf consists chiefly of spear-grass and
Andropogon muricatus, the kus-kus, which yields a
favourite fragrant oil, used as a medicine in India. A
pretty octagonal summer-house, with its roof supported
by pillars, occupies one of the highest points of the
plateau, and commands a superb view. From this a
walk of three miles leads through the woods to the
palace. The buildings are very extensive, and though
now ruinous, bear evidence of great beauty in the
architecture: light galleries, supported by slender
columns, long cool arcades, screened squares and
terraced walks, are the principal features. The rooms
open out upon flat roofs, commanding views of the
long endless table-land to the west, and a sheer precipice
of 1000 feet on the other side, with the Soane, the
amphitheatre of hills, and the village of Akbarpore
below.
This and Beejaghur, higher up the Soane, were
amongst the most recently reduced forts, and this was
further the last of those wrested from Baber in 1542.
Some of the rooms are still habitable, but the greater
part are ruinous, and covered with climbers, both of
wild flowers and of the naturalised garden plants of the
adjoining shrubbery; the Arbor-tristis, with Hibiscus,
Abutilon, &c., and above all, the little yellow-flowered
Linaria ramosissima, crawling over every ruined wall,
as we see the walls of our old English castles clothed
with its congener L. Cymbalaria.
In the old dark stables I observed the soil to be
covered with a copious evanescent efflorescence of
nitrate of lime, like soap-suds scattered about.
I made Botas Palace 1490 feet above the sea, so
that this table-land is here only fifty feet higher than
that we had crossed on the grand trunk road, before
descending at the Dunwah pass. Its mean temperature
is below that of the valley, but though so cool, agues
prevail after the rains. The extremes of temperature
are less marked than in the valley, which becomes
excessively heated, and where hot winds sometimes
last for a week, blowing in furious gusts.
The climate of the whole neighbourhood has of late
changed materially; and the fall of rain has much
diminished, consequent on felling the forests ; even
within six years the hail-storms have been far less
frequent and violent. The air on the hills is highly
electrical, owing, no doubt, to the dryness of the atmosphere,
and to this the frequent recurrence of hailstorms
may be due.
The zoology of these regions is tolerably copious,
but little is known of the natural history of a great part
of the plateau; a native tribe, prone to human sacrifices,
is talked of. Tigers are common, and bears are
numerous; they have, besides, the leopard, panther,
viverine cat, and civet; and of the dog tribe the pariah,
jackal, fox, and wild dog, called Koa. Deer are very