beast and deadly
reptile. The thoughts which such a sight suggest, have been the theme of
many a moralist, but the great lesson it teaches cannot lose any of its
importance by repetition. Yet a consideration of the littleness of man
and the utter vanity of his proudest works is, I fear, distasteful to
most of us; we cannot bear to be forced to admit our own insignificance.
We go to church and cry "what is man that Thou art mindful of him," but
the words are but empty sounds. Our preachers may tell us that life is
but a shadow, but they speak to unwilling and heedless ears, and we go
on ignoring the fact, crying peace, and stifling our conscience by a
form of religion without godliness. We are arrogant, high-minded, puffed
up in our own conceit, and though there are many that would wish to be
considered holy, how few there are that are humble men of heart, and
time continues to repeat the old, old story, filling our grave-yards,
destroying our works; creation alone remaining stable, waiting for the
end. These ruins are small in size, and their architecture rude, though
the individual blocks are certainly large and well though not
elaborately carved. But they produce a strange impression of awe by the
dreary solitude and wildness of their position which is perhaps peculiar
to themselves, although they lack both the fairy elegance of Netley
Abbey, and the massive grandeur of a Pevensey Castle. The men who
accompanied me advanced very cautiously through the thick underwood,
beating with their sticks in order to drive away the Iguana Lizards,
which they call the "bis cobra" and hold in deadly fear, believing its
bite to be most surely fatal. This belief is universal among the natives
of India, but there is no proof of its truth, and I need hardly say that
the dental arrangement of Bactrachian reptiles is incompatible with the
possession of poisonous qualities. But though science will not admit it,
it is strange that the idea is so widely spread, especially as the
natives do not fear any other species of lizard, while they believe that
every snake is armed with the fatal fang.

AUGUST 3rd.--Heavy rain prevented my departure from Wangut, at the usual
early hour, but about 9 o'clock it cleared up, and I marched on Arric
eight miles distant down a path on the right bank of the river, (I
ascended the valley on the other side.) The rain has made it very
slippery, and it was a fatiguing walk the road not being good, and
occasion