os bowed in
worship, until the more intelligent Mussulmauns strayed into the recesses
of the deepest darkness to show the idolaters that God could not be
represented by a block of stone.

In a retired part of Kannoge, I was induced to visit the remains of an
immense building[12], expecting the gratification of a fine prospect from
its towering elevation; my surprise, however, on entering the portal drove
from my thoughts the first object of my visit.

The whole building is on a large scale, and is, together with the gateway,
steps, roof, pillars, and offices, composed entirely of stone: from what I
had previously conceived of the ancient Jewish temples, this erection
struck me as bearing a strong resemblance. It appears that there is not
the slightest portion of either wood or metal used in the whole
construction; and, except where some sort of cement was indispensable, not
a trace of mortar is to be discovered in the whole fabric. The pillars of
the colonnade, which form three sides of the square, are singular piles of
stone, erected with great exactness in the following order:--

A broad block of stone forms the base; on the centre is raised a pillar of
six feet by two square, on this rests a circular stone, resembling a
grindstone, on which is placed another upright pillar, and again a
circular, until five of each are made to rest on the base to form a pillar;
the top circulars or caps are much larger than the rest; and on these the
massy stone beams for the roof are supported. How these ponderous stones
forming the whole roof were raised, unacquainted as these people ever have
been with machinery, is indeed a mystery sufficient to impress on the
weak-minded a current report amongst the Natives, that the whole building
was erected in one night by supernatural agency, from materials which had
formerly been used in the construction of a Hindoo temple, but destroyed
by the zeal of the Mussulmauns soon after their invasion of Hindoostaun.

The pillars I examined narrowly, and could not find any traces of cement
or fastening; yet, excepting two or three which exhibit a slight curve,
the whole colonnade is in a perfect state. The hall, including the
colonnade, measures one hundred and eighty feel by thirty, and has
doubtless been, at some time or other, a place of worship, in all
probability for the Mussulmauns, there being still within the edifice a
sort of pulpit of stone evidently intended for the reader, both from it