"He was at this time engaged in writing a book on the Vedic language and religion, and I travelled with him in the East for many months, passing from one place to another. We visited many of the countries in Central Asia, and whilst he was engaged in studying one of the oldest and purest forms of worship, I was busy perfecting a power which, even in the earliest times, the Vedic philosophers seemed to have reached after. Were I to describe the strange experiences through which we passed, how, disguised, we found our way into sacred shrines never before visited by Europeans, or the various dangers we encountered, in many of which we narrowly escaped death, it would occupy all the time we are likely to have together for the next six months. Aided by the sixth sense, by free use of our wealth, and by my companion’s knowledge of the various dialects and customs of the people, we were able to overcome difficulties which would have been impossibilities to ordinary travellers. One evening, however, we met with an experience which brought my travels to an abrupt termination, and in which my companion lost his life. "We had been staying a few days in a small town, and, having grown over-confident, we determined to visit a temple which was situated about five miles away. It was a foolhardy enterprise, for not only had no unbeliever ever been permitted to approach this place, but none save the priests of a special caste were allowed even to enter the sacred enclosure in which it had been built. I must, however, tell you how we came to find out this place, for it was so situated that but for an accident we might have lived for years in the neighbourhood without suspecting its existence. "The country here is of very curious formation. On either side of the city perpendicular rocks rise out of the plain forming miniature table-lands, some hardly larger than a tomb, some with room enough on them for small farms, with well-marked natural boundaries, sheer precipices varying from fifty to over three hundred feet. The surface of these rocks is very irregular, and often thickly coated with soil in which grow many tropical trees. "In a deep hollow on one of the largest and most wooded of these plateaus this temple has been built, but owing to its situation it is quite impossible to see any part of it until the top of the surrounding rock has been reached. "Now we had as a guide a high-caste Brahmin named Hinma. We had adopted a method of paying him by results, which had proved so far highly satisfactory; the more information he gave us, or the more interesting the place to which he led us, the greater the number of rupees he received at the end of the month. It so happened that for some weeks past the value of his services had been small, and when he received his pay I saw that he was dissatisfied, and read this pass through his mind: