our little party were beset, as by
an army with banners.

Half a mile from this grand pagoda is situated Timal Naik's Tank, so
named after the munificent rajah who built it. He reigned at Madura from
1621 to 1657, building palaces and temples by the score. The so-called
tank is an artificial lake extending over six or eight acres, with a
temple in its centre, very picturesque in effect, and approached only by
boats. Timal Naik's palace was also visited, built some three hundred
years ago, of granite, and a very remarkable piece of solid architecture
it is for India to have produced, in that section, and at that epoch.
The principal hall of this royal residence has over a hundred stone
pillars supporting it. We were shown a grand Saracenic hall, with a
noble dome nearly a hundred feet across, called the Hall of Justice. The
whole of this grand palace is now being thoroughly restored, after
having been permitted for half a century and more to fall into partial
decay. We must not forget to mention the banqueting hall of the palace;
nothing finer of this character exists in modern architecture. The whole
was a surprise and delight, as we had not even read or heard of this
Indian palace.

Another hundred miles northward by rail brought us to the city of
Trichinopoly, where we were quartered at a government bungalow, as at
Madura, taking our meals at the dining-room of the railroad station, and
were most agreeably disappointed with both the service and the
provisions. Surely some professional cook had dropped out of the skies
and settled here. The food was prepared and served as delicately as at a
Parisian cafe. The variety of fruit and pastry was a temptation to the
most satiated appetite. Everything was neat and clean, the linen
faultless, and the glass and china were of the choicest. We often
recalled, when putting up with indifferent service and deprivations
elsewhere, the admirable entertainment which we experienced so
unexpectedly at this point. Here the famous Rock of Trichinopoly, from
five to six hundred feet high, crested with the Temple of Ganesa, was
ascended, and a group of pagodas visited of the most lofty and striking
character, similar in extent and general design to those already spoken
of. It is not long since, at the assembling of a thousand and more
pilgrims upon this lofty and exposed Rock of Trichinopoly, a panic
ensued from some unknown cause, when fully half of these pilgrims lost
their lives by bei