Transactions of the Literary Society of Bombay

of that name, which is called by the natives Gara-pori: it lies in the bay of Bombay, about seven miles from Bombay Castle and five miles from the Mahratta shore. It is nearly six miles in circumference, and is composed of two long hills with a narrow valley between them. The usual landing-place is towards the south, where the valley is broadest.

About two hundred and fifty yards to the right of the landing-place, on the rising side of one of the hills not far from a ruined Portuguese edi-. fice, stands a large and clumsy elephant cut out of an insulated black rock;—from this the island has taken its present name. The elephant has a fissure running through its back, which is separated so that the back has sunk a little downward upon the fore-flank. Captain Pyke, in his account of the Caves, written in 1712*, mentions that this elephant had a smaller one on its back. An engraving of both as they stood at that time may be found in the Archæologia; from which it appears that even then the fissure had begun to appear, and had nearly reached upwards to the top of the back. Anquetil† describes the young elephant as existing in 1760, when he visited Elephanta‡. Niebuhr§ observes, that the large drawings. This extract was made from the Captain's journal in possession of the Honourable the East India Company, by Alexander Dalrymple, Esq. F. R. and A.S. Archæologia, vol. vii. 323-332.-5. An Account of the Caves of Cannara, Ambola, and Elephanta, in the East Indies; in a Letter from Hector Macneil, Esq. (then at Bombay) to a Friend in England dated 1783. Archæologia, vol. vii. p. 251-289.-6. Zendavesta, Ouvrage de Zoroastre, &c. Discours preliminaire, tome i. part. 2. p. 419. 4to.-7. Grose's Voyage to the East Indies, 2 vols. 8vo.-8. Ives's Travels, 4to.-9. Voyages de Niebuhr, tome ii. p. 10. 4to.-10. Some Account of the Cave in the Island of Elephanta; by J. Goldingham, Esq. in the fourth volume of the Asiatick Researches.-11. Lord Valentia's Travels, vol. ii. And 12. Some Observations on Moor's Hindû Pantheon.

* Archæologia, vol. vii. p. 323.

+ Zendavesta, vol. i. p. 423.

It is remarkable that Anquetil, who claimed such a thorough knowledge of Hindu mythology, did not know that in visiting Elephanta he was visiting a Hindû temple. Many palpable instances of his ignorance of Sanscrit might be given. In vol. i. p. 368, of his Zendavesta, he says that he made the three best Sanscrit dictionaries be copied ;-one of these he calls Viakeren. Every novice in Sanscrit knows that this must have been a grammar, and not a dictionary. Anquetil's great merit was that of an enterprising traveller; as an Oriental scholar his rank is very low. The nation which possesses Silvestre de Sacy may easily resign Anquetil du Perron.

§ Vol. ii. p. 33.

elephant had on its back something which age had worn so much that it was impossible to distinguish what it was, and that the larger elephant was split, and even then (1764) expected to fall to pieces. The figure is poorly sculptured, but at a distance and seen through the brushwood may easily be mistaken for a real elephant*.

Leaving this spot and advancing up the valley, which narrows as we proceed, about the spot where the two hills approach each other, and where a steep narrow pass begins to wind between them, there formerly was the statue of a horse carved of stone, which Fryer in 1673 found "stuck up to the belly in the earth" in the valley. It still remained in

*In September. 1814 (after the above was written) the head and neck of the elephant at last dropped off, and the body of the elephant has since sunk down and threatens to fall. I had however, in the November preceding, taken an accurate measurement of all its dimensions in company with Captain Basil Hall of the royal navy, to whose friendship I owe the annexed very accurate drawing of its appearance at that time. (Plate I.) It seems to have been formed of a detached mass of blackish rock, which is unconnected with any stratum below. By applying a ladder we mounted on the back of the elephant, for the purpose of observing if any traces remained of the young elephant, said by Pyke and Anquetil to have been placed on it. The remains of its four paws, as well as the marks of the junction of its belly with the back of the larger animal, were perfectly distinct; and the appearance it offered is represented in the annexed drawing made by Captain Hall (Plate II.), who from its present appearance conjectures that it must have been a tiger rather than a young elephant; an idea in which I feel disposed to agree, in spite of the opinions of Pyke and Anquetil, who call the figure which they saw a young elephant-as well on account of the sprawling appearance of the animal, as because the back of the mother is a very unnatural situation for a young elephant; and because the supposition of its being a tiger would correspond much better with the popular legends of the Hindus.

Captain Hall's words are as follow:

"The smaller figure on the top of the elephant cannot have been a young elephant, it must have represented some animal capable of being placed in a sprawling attitude: it gives the idea of a tiger with its limbs extended so as to embrace the elephant's back, and the whole of the belly of the tiger brought in contact with the elephant. It is inconceiv able how an elephant (as it is said to have been) could possibly bring itself to this posture. "The two hind-feet present an appearance of hoofs, the right fore-foot is entirely gone; the left fore-foot is more extended-advancing, too, further towards the great elephant's head than the right. It has the appearance of a hoof with some faint indications of claws, particularly on the outer part of the fetlock-joint, which seems furnished with a spur or curved claw: there is a manifest hollow circle or smaller part at the connexion of the foot and leg."

1712, and a drawing of it appears in the Archæologia; it had however disappeared before Dr. Hunter visited the island, which must have been previous to 1784; and no vestige of it can now be traced.

Ascending the narrow path where the two hills are knit together, we at length come to a beautiful and rich prospect of the northern part of the island, of the sea, and the opposite shores of Salsette. Advancing forward, and keeping to the left along the bend of the hill, we gradually mount to an open space, and come suddenly on the grand entrance of a magnificent temple, whose huge massy columns seem to give support to the whole mountain which rises above it. The effect of the first view of this stupendous excavation is excessively hurt by a wretched wall recently built for the purpose of preserving the figures from dilaAs it is to be feared that no remains of this gigantic animal will soon be left, the following particular measurement is subjoined: :

Length from the forehead to the root of the tail
Height at the head