Graham's Magazine, Vol. XLI, No. 4, October 1852Various
General
Graham's Magazine, Vol. XLI, No. 4, October 1852
Various
Literature -- Periodicals; Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals
Mount Aboo, to the north of Guzerat, is one of the most interesting
spots in the world, and also one of the pleasantest in the great eastern
peninsula. It rears its giant form amongst a group of mountains which
are surrounded on nearly all sides by the sultry plains peculiar to that
part of India. These latter are so perfectly hot, that it has become a
proverbial expression that there is only a sheet of brown paper between
Deesa and the infernal regions; and really the gently undulating sandy
expanse, destitute during the dry season of every thing like vegetation,
save a stunted milk or thorn bush here and there, presents no bad
resemblance to an uneven sheet of brown paper. Strange is the alteration
about the beginning of June; the rains set in, and after the second day
a tinge of green may be observed mingling with the dusky brown; a week
elapses, and all is a smiling meadow. Not less extraordinary is the
change in the rivers: at one time they are dry sandy channels; at
another, torrents from a hundred yards to half a mile broad, full to the
brim, and sweeping buffaloes, deer, sheep, cattle, trees, fragments of
houses, and sometimes even human bodies, hurry headlong in their course
toward the rhun of Cutch, (at that time a gulf,) where they and their
victims are alike swallowed up in the ocean. A ride of fifty miles
through a country principally jungle takes one from Deesa to the foot of
Mount Aboo; but a traveler’s bungalow is built at Goondree, as a kind of
half-way house for those who do not relish the idea of a fifty mile
morning gallop. At Apadra, a mile from the foot of the mountain, is
another traveler’s bungalow, and a village wherein reside the people
whose business it is to transport baggage, and even individuals, to the
top; for the path is such that a horse has quite enough to do to
scramble up the rugged ascent, while to a wheel carriage of any
description it is perfectly impossible. All burdens are therefore
carried up by Coolies; when not too heavy they are borne upon the head,
while the more weighty are slung upon poles by two or more men, as the
case may be. Individuals, whom laziness or illness debar from using, or
rather abusing, the muscles of their legs and backs to a degree
necessary to replace them on the summit, are carried by four men, on a
rude seat swung by ropes between two poles which rest on the bearers’
shoulders; and, as the path leads along the very edge of frightful
precipices, it is certainly a position well calculated to test a man’s
nerves, though I never heard of any accident occurring. The usual
complement of bearers to each chair is eight, four being at work and
four at rest. But one fat friend of mine they refused to have any thing
to do with, unless he employed twelve, and after the first trial, unless
he took sixteen; which to his intense disgust he was compelled to do,
for he was not fond of parting with his money. Various and very
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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