DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12673#0139
120 GOA AND THE BLUE MOUNTAINS.
the main, winding through a dense mass of bright
green underwood. It was a lovely night, but the
thick dew soon compelled us to retreat under the
mats destined to defend our recumbent forms. The
four boatmen that composed the crew must have
been sadly addicted to sleeping on duty, for,
although the distance was only fifteen miles, the
sun appeared high in the heavens next morning
before we arrived at the landing-place. A guide
was soon procured, and under his direction we
toiled up two miles of a steep and rocky path,
through a succession of cocoa groves, and a few
parched-up fields scattered here and there, till at
last we saw, deep in a long narrow hollow, sur-
rounded by high hills, the bourne of our pilgrim-
age.
The appearance of Seroda is intensely that of
a Hindoo town. Houses, pagodas, tombs, tanks,
with lofty parapets, and huge flights of steps, peepul
trees, and bazaars, are massed together in chaotic
confusion. No such things as streets, lanes, or
alleys exist. Your walk is invariably stopped at
the end of every dozen steps by some impediment,
as a loose wall, or a deep drop, passable only to the
well practised denizens of the place. The town is
dirty in the extreme, and must be fearfully hot
the main, winding through a dense mass of bright
green underwood. It was a lovely night, but the
thick dew soon compelled us to retreat under the
mats destined to defend our recumbent forms. The
four boatmen that composed the crew must have
been sadly addicted to sleeping on duty, for,
although the distance was only fifteen miles, the
sun appeared high in the heavens next morning
before we arrived at the landing-place. A guide
was soon procured, and under his direction we
toiled up two miles of a steep and rocky path,
through a succession of cocoa groves, and a few
parched-up fields scattered here and there, till at
last we saw, deep in a long narrow hollow, sur-
rounded by high hills, the bourne of our pilgrim-
age.
The appearance of Seroda is intensely that of
a Hindoo town. Houses, pagodas, tombs, tanks,
with lofty parapets, and huge flights of steps, peepul
trees, and bazaars, are massed together in chaotic
confusion. No such things as streets, lanes, or
alleys exist. Your walk is invariably stopped at
the end of every dozen steps by some impediment,
as a loose wall, or a deep drop, passable only to the
well practised denizens of the place. The town is
dirty in the extreme, and must be fearfully hot