That hue which haunts it to the tomb:
Expression's last receding ray,
A gilded halo hovering round decay,
The farewell beam of feeling past away!
Spark of that flame--perchance of Heavenly birth,
Which gleams, but warms no more its cherish'd earth!

BYRON.

[Illustration: SUBTERRANEAN CHAPEL, GREECE.]

* * * * *

THE FORT OF ATTOCK.

[Illustration: Letter A.]

Attock is a fort and small town in the Punjaub, on the left or east bank
of the Indus, 942 miles from the sea, and close below the place where it
receives the water of the Khabool river, and first becomes navigable.
The name, signifying _obstacle_, is supposed to have been given to it
under the presumption that no scrupulous Hindoo would proceed westward
of it; but this strict principle, like many others of similar nature, is
little acted on. Some state that the name was given by the Emperor
Akbar, because he here found much difficulty in crossing the river. The
river itself is at this place frequently by the natives called Attock.
Here is a bridge, formed usually of from twenty to thirty boats, across
the stream, at a spot where it is 537 feet wide. In summer, when the
melting of the snows in the lofty mountains to the north raises the
stream so that the bridge becomes endangered, it is withdrawn, and the
communication is then effected by means of a ferry.

The banks of the river are very high, so that the enormous accession
which the volume of water receives during inundation scarcely affects
the breadth, but merely increases the depth. The rock forming the banks
is of a dark-coloured slate, polished by the force of the stream, so as
to shine like black marble. Between these, "one clear blue stream shot
past." The depth of the Indus here is thirty feet in the lowest state,
and between sixty and seventy in the highest, and runs at the rate of
six miles an hour. There is a ford at some distance above the confluence
of the river of Khabool; but the extreme coldness and rapidity of the
water render it at all times very dangerous, and on the slightest
inundation quite impracticable. The bridge is supported by an
association of boatmen, who receive the revenue of a village allotted
for this purpose by the Emperor Akbar, and a small daily pay as long as
the bridge stands, and also levy a toll on all passengers.

On the right bank, opposite Attock, is Khyrabad--a fort built, according
to som