DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70302#0475
DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND OF ELEPHANTA. 429
paintings round the cornices deserve particular notice,
not for any thing curious in the design, but for the
beauty and freshness of the colouring, which must have
lasted some thousands of years, supposing as there is
every reason to do, that it is contemporary with the build-
ing itself. The floor of the apartment is generally full of
water, its pavement not suffering it to be drawn off, or
soaked up ; for after the rains the cavern itself cannot be
visited, till the ground has had time to acquire sufficient
hardness.
The vicinity of this place to Bombay affords the English
inhabitants, not only an easy opportunity of gratifying
their curiosity in visiting such a remarkable spot, but
occasionally for a very agreeable party of pleasure.
Sometimes they dine by the way at Butcher’s Island,
which is two miles nearer to Bombay, on account of the
conveniency of the officer’s house to receive them; an
ensign’s guard being kept there. Others prefer carrying
their provisions with them and dine in the cave itself;
than which in the sultry heats of summer, no cooler or
more pleasant retreat can be imagined. For though the
air be almost on fire round you, yet you no sooner enter
the cave, than you feel the most refreshing coolness; the
three above mentioned openings not only affording suffi-
cient light, but likewise a thorough draught of air; which
does not so much convey freshness into the cave, as it re-
ceives it from the constant temperature preserved by its
impenetrability to the sun, from the thickness of the
mountainous mass above it. Even the lio-ht that enters
o
at the portals loses by the way, all the force of those fiery
particles to which it gives such activity.
The island contains nothing more that is worthy of
notice. There are not more than two or three huts upon
it, which is not surprising, considering the little land
there is to cultivate, and that there is no water on it but
what
paintings round the cornices deserve particular notice,
not for any thing curious in the design, but for the
beauty and freshness of the colouring, which must have
lasted some thousands of years, supposing as there is
every reason to do, that it is contemporary with the build-
ing itself. The floor of the apartment is generally full of
water, its pavement not suffering it to be drawn off, or
soaked up ; for after the rains the cavern itself cannot be
visited, till the ground has had time to acquire sufficient
hardness.
The vicinity of this place to Bombay affords the English
inhabitants, not only an easy opportunity of gratifying
their curiosity in visiting such a remarkable spot, but
occasionally for a very agreeable party of pleasure.
Sometimes they dine by the way at Butcher’s Island,
which is two miles nearer to Bombay, on account of the
conveniency of the officer’s house to receive them; an
ensign’s guard being kept there. Others prefer carrying
their provisions with them and dine in the cave itself;
than which in the sultry heats of summer, no cooler or
more pleasant retreat can be imagined. For though the
air be almost on fire round you, yet you no sooner enter
the cave, than you feel the most refreshing coolness; the
three above mentioned openings not only affording suffi-
cient light, but likewise a thorough draught of air; which
does not so much convey freshness into the cave, as it re-
ceives it from the constant temperature preserved by its
impenetrability to the sun, from the thickness of the
mountainous mass above it. Even the lio-ht that enters
o
at the portals loses by the way, all the force of those fiery
particles to which it gives such activity.
The island contains nothing more that is worthy of
notice. There are not more than two or three huts upon
it, which is not surprising, considering the little land
there is to cultivate, and that there is no water on it but
what