36

HINDOSTAN ILLUSTRATED.

with great force from a fissure in the rock, the temperature of the water is about 194°,which at that elevation is near the point at which water is converted into steam; andat the same time the mercury, when placed in the bed of the river, has been known tosink as low as 37°. The water itself is exceedingly pure, transparent, and tasteless,without any kind of sulphureous smell. There are several hot springs to be found alongthe course of the Jumna , for which, according to general belief, the traveller is indebtedto an exceedingly pious person, favoured by the gods with the gift of causing hot waterto flow whenever he found that of the river too cold for the comfortable performance ofhis ablutions.

After invigorating ourselves with a due proportion of food, we prepared to set forthupon our return. The prospect of the difficulties which it must he our fate to encounter,in getting hack to Kursalee, were rather dispiriting, being most assuredly equal, andperchance still greater, than those which we had surmounted upon our approach.In the course of the day’s journey we crossed the Jumna more than thirty times, andhaving to slide down the places which we had previously scrambled up, and to leapmany gaps which had been more easily passable on the other side, it was necessary tosummon all our energy to the task. The spots on which we occasionally rested offered,in their soft loveliness, a pleasing contrast to the rugged horrors of many portions ofthe scene—the beautiful mingling with the sublime. Sometimes we seated ourselvesupon banks of violets of the richest blue, and surrounded by luxuriant vegetation offruit and flowers, the strawberry spreading itself far and wide, and raspberry, black-berry, and black-currant bushes, forming a perfect garden. Another turn of an anglebrought us almost in immediate contact with the snow, which in some places liessmooth and hard, unbroken and glittering in its unsullied purity; while in others itoccurs in rougher masses, darkened by stains of earth, and, anon, we traced its coursein long tracks descending in the nullahs and valleys below.

SHUHU R, — J E Y P 0 R E.

Jeypore, a Rajpoot state, and one of the central [provinces of India , although notboasting the picturesque beauty and abundant fertility of some of its neighbours, isrich in objects of curiosity, both natural and artificial. The fortress of Shuhur, risingboldly on a rocky ledge, one of those picturesque eminences which intersect the plainsof India , varying their monotony, presents an object of feudal grandeur, which trans-ports the European stranger hack to the ages of chivalry.

Colonel Tod, in his admirable work upon Rajasthan , has traced the strong resem-blance between the institutions of the northern nations, and those of the warlike statesof India , and we cannot travel through any portion of this interesting country withoutmeeting with some object to call up recollections associated with the crusades, the