nted, and
I discerned what I should probably, under other circumstances, have at
first discovered, that what I saw before me was but a colossal statue.
I now boldly advanced, half ashamed, though laughing at my previous
fears. Its size made it appear nearer than it really was, and my
surprise was great indeed, when I at length got close up to it, to find
that it was at least fifty feet in height, and carved apparently out of
the solid rock. I had no difficulty in determining that it must be a
statue of Buddha, and that I was standing amidst the ruins of one of his
temples. Hungry as I was, I could not help examining it before I cooked
my supper, or looked out for a secure spot in which I might pass the
night.

The statue had with infinite labour been carved out of the living rock,
but so much detached from it that only two slender ties remained to
connect it with the vast mass of which it had once formed a part. It
stood on a high platform, with a large bowl before it, in which the
offerings of worshippers, I conclude, were once wont to be deposited.
On either side huge pillars rose to support the roof which once covered
it. Altogether, the mighty figure and the surrounding edifices were
more like what I should have expected to have seen in Egypt or among the
ruins of Nebuchadnezzar's once proud capital, than in that far off and
hitherto but little known region.

On every side, as I wandered on, I found ruins of what I have no doubt
were once temples, and palaces, and public edifices, some still in a
wonderful state of preservation, and others little more than shapeless
masses of debris and fallen brickwork. As I clambered over them I saw
before me some arches in the side of the rock, which I thought probably
were at the entrance of chambers, one of which might serve as my abode
for the night. I hurried on, for it was already getting so dark that I
had good reason to fear I should be unable to find the sort of place of
which I was in search before I was altogether benighted. I had cut a
stick to help me along, or I should not have been able to get over the
rough ground so well. I had gone on some way when a loud hiss close to
me made me start, and I could just discern a big snake wriggling out
from a crevice near which I had passed. I turned aside, when I was
saluted in the same way. I was about to go back, when I saw two snakes
wriggling along across the only place I could have passed. I felt that
I was i