ver Chumbal,
which has here hollowed out for itself a remarkably deep bed in the
rock. Picturesque ravines and groups of rock form its shores.

The garden of the castle is so thickly planted with orange, citron,
and other trees, that there is not room for even the smallest
flowering plant or shrub.

The few flowers which the Indian gardens contain, are placed at the
entrances. The paths are raised two feet, as the ground is always
muddy and damp in consequence of the frequent watering. Most of the
Indian gardens which I afterwards saw resembled these.

The king frequently amuses himself here with tiger-hunting.
Somewhat higher up the river small towers are erected upon slight
eminences; the tigers are driven gradually towards the water, and
always more and more hemmed in, until they are within shot of the
towers; the king and his friends sit securely upon the tops of the
towers, and fire bravely upon the wild beasts.

Near the castle was a small wooden temple, which had just been
built; the principal part, however, the amiable idols, was awanting.
It was owing to this fortunate circumstance that we were allowed to
enter the sanctuary, which consisted of a small marble kiosk
standing in the centre of the hall. The temple and the columns were
covered with bad paintings in the most brilliant colours. It is
strange that neither the Hindoos nor the Mahometans should have
applied themselves to painting, for there are neither good pictures
nor drawings to be seen among any of these people, although they
have displayed such proficiency in architecture, carving in relief,
and in mosaic work.

We lastly visited a remarkably fine wood of tamarind and mango
trees, under the shadows of which the ashes of a number of kings are
preserved in handsome monuments. These monuments consist of open
temples, with broad flights of ten or twelve steps leading up to
them. At the bottom of the steps, on each side, stand stone figures
of elephants. Some of the temples are ornamented with beautiful
sculptures.

The evening was passed in all kinds of amusements. The good doctor
would have made me acquainted with all the arts of the Hindoos;
however, the greater number of them were no longer new to me. A
snake-charmer exhibited his little society, which performed very
clever tricks, and also allowed the most poisonous serpents to twine
themselves round his body, and the largest scorpions ran over his
arms and legs. Afterwards, fou