Given the choice under ordinary conditions, I had rather walk ten miles than ride an elephant over two; bad as he is, however, the motion of a camel is a thousand times worse. There may be camels and camels, but agonizing are the best.
The stockade having been swept and garnished for the reception of the men detailed for this especial garrison duty, and friendly relations having been established with the natives, the elephants conveyed our equipage over a ford, and the pedestrians crossed the bamboo bridge, to a point on the other side of the river, where the camp would remain a few days preparatory to our final departure. This was a diplomatic test of how our friends would fare when we had marched off altogether.
The surroundings were still more wild and picturesque, the hills were also more broken, often almost perpendicular, and covered with very fine timber.
One glen in particular was extremely interesting from the number of images of Gautama perched on every available rock, it was evidently a place of resort for the pious aspirants to the true Nirvana, where they could contemplate in the midst of primæval nature, and far from the madding crowd. At the same time, I never saw a more likely-looking spot for a tiger; which would, for a true disciple of Buddha, constitute rather an advantage than otherwise, affording a good chance of another transmigration!
There were also a few temples, and excavations, which led—goodness knows where! Buddhists have at all times shown a preference for underground temples, as well as a special aptitude for constructing them.
A huge tree might be seen here and there, or rather its configuration in white ash. For some purpose or other—most probably cooking—a fire had been lighted at its base, spreading to the tree and rapidly consuming the decayed wood. The fire would thus smoulder on, until trunk and branches were consumed and the ash fell in situ.
There were other prostrate trunks so completely petrified as to be hard as adamant; and the steps leading up to one of the temples were carved out of the fossilized remains of trees. Here, then, there evidently existed a highly fossiliferous stratum; and it was a source of deep regret to the Commissioner and myself that time and opportunity did not admit of further exploration in that interesting locality.
It was interesting to see how silica or iron pyrites can particle by particle permeate through the interstices of animal and vegetable tissues, thoroughly reproducing and replacing their lineaments to the minutest particular. A transverse section of one of these trunks would present the same appearance as wood—pith, medullary rays and concentric circles, and from the last named one could obtain a fair estimate of its age.
Once organized, endowed with sap and a circulation, giving out oxygen and absorbing carbonic acid, and performing a number of other functions, it became, under special conditions, nothing but a mould for the deposit of inorganic material, which permeated its structure by some almost inexplicable molecular attraction.
Constant wear had so told on these steps, that they were slippery to a degree; and, armed as we were with heavy boots, great caution was necessary when descending them.