Page:The Annual Register 1758.djvu/349

 MISCELLANEOUS ESSAYS. S2S

nillies people to try the foffile uni- corn firft upon a dog, before it is made ufe of in medicine, becaufe he ihinks it is fometimes of a poi- fonous nature; which however is never obferved in any found in or near Hartz forell.

From Mr. Grojfe s -<jc;age to the Eajl Indies'.

Account cf a 'very rsmarkchh IJland near Bombay zn the Eafc Indies,

OVer-againft the caftleof Bom- bay, about thediftance of five miles, lies the very fmall, but fa- mous, ifland of Elephanta. Itcan at moll be bat about three miles in compafs, and confills of almoll all hill: at the foot of which, as you land, you fee, juft above the fhore, en your right, an elephant, coarfe- ]y cut out in ftone, of the natural bignefs, and at fouie iirtle diltance not impoffible to be taken for a real elephant, from the ilonc being naturally of the colour of that bead. It fiands on a platform of itones of the fame colour. On the back of this elephant was placed {landing, ano'.her young one, ap- pearing to have been all of the fame ftone, but has been long broken down. Of the meaning, or hiftory cf this lm?.ge, there is no tradition old enoaoh to give any account.

Returning then to tlje foot of the hill, ycu afcend an eafy flant, which about half way up the hill brings you to the opcniog or portal of a large cavern hewn out of a folid rock, into a magniiicent; temple : for fuch furcJy it may be termed, confidering the immenfe workmanfhip of fuch an excava- tion ; and feems to me a f;:r race

bold attempt, than that of the py- ramids of Egypt. There is a fair entrance into this fubterraneous temple, which is an oblong fquare, in length about 80 or 90 feet, by 40 broad. The roof is nothing but the rock cut flat at top, and ia which I could not difcern any thing that did not fhow it to be all of one piece. It is about ten feet high, and fupported towards the middJ*", at equi-diftancefrom the fides, and from one another, with two regu- lar rows of pillars of a fingular or- der. They are very maffivc, Ihort in proportion to their thicknefs, and their capital bears fome refem- blance to a round cufliion, preffed by the fuper-incurabent moontaia with v,-hich they are alfo of one piece. At the farther end of this temple are three gigantic figures, the f;jce of one of them is at leaft five feet in length, and of a pro- portionable breadth. But thefe re- prefentatjoas have no reference or conncdlion, either to any knowa hiftory, or the mythology of the Gentoos. They had continued ia a tolerable flate of prefervatioa and wholenefs, confidering the re- motenefs of their antiquity, until the arrival of the Portuguefe, who made themfelves mafters of the place, and in the blind fury of their bigotry, not fuiFering any idols bat their own, they mull have beea at even fome pains 10 maim and deface them, as they now remain, confidering the hardnefs of the ftcne. It is faid they even brought field-pieces to the demolition of images, which fo greatly defer ved to be fpared for the unequalled curio- fity of them. Of this Queen Ca« therine of Portugal v/as, it feems, fo feniible, that (he could not con- ceive that any traveller would re- turn from that ilde of India, with- out