"It is the most amazing thing in the world to observe the large expansion of this graundee when open, and, {161} when closed, (as it all is in a moment, upon the party's descent,) to see it fit so close and compact to the body as no tailor can come up to it; and then the several ribs lie so justly disposed in the several parts, that instead of being, as one would imagine, a disadvantage to the shape, they make the body and limbs look extremely elegant; and by the different adjustment of their lines on the body and limbs, the whole, to my fancy, somewhat resembles the dress of the old Roman warriors in their buskins; and, to appearance, seems much more noble than any fictitious garb I ever saw, or can frame a notion of to myself." _Mount Himakoot._--VI. p. 49. _Dushmanta_. Say, Matali, what mountain is that which, like an evening cloud, pours exhilarating streams, and forms a golden zone between the western and eastern seas? _Matali_. That, O king! is the mountain of Gandharvas, named Hémacúta: The universe contains not a more excellent place for the successful devotion of the pious. There Casyapa, father of the immortals, ruler of men, son of Marichi, who sprang from the self-existent, resides with his consort Aditi, blessed in holy retirement.--We now enter the sanctuary of him who rules {162} the world, and the groves which are watered by streams from celestial sources. _Dushmanta_. I see with equal amazement both the pious and their awful retreat. It becomes, indeed, pure spirits to feed on balmy air in a forest blooming with trees of life; to bathe in rills dyed yellow with the golden dust of the lotus, and to fortify their virtue in the mysterious bath; to meditate in caves, the pebbles of which are unblemished gems; and to restrain their passions, even though nymphs of exquisite beauty frolick around them. In this grove alone is attained the summit of true piety, to which other hermits in vain aspire.--SACONTALA. _Her death predoom'd_ _To that black hour of midnight, when the Moon_ _Hath turn'd her face away,_ _Unwilling to behold_ _The unhappy end of guilt!_--VI. p. 50. I will now speak to thee of that time in which, should a devout man die, he will never return; and of that time in which, dying, he shall return again to earth. Those holy men who are acquainted with Brahm, departing this life in the fiery light of day, in the bright season of the moon, within the six months of the sun's northern {163} course, go unto him: but those who depart in the gloomy night of the Moon's dark season, and whilst the Sun is yet within the southern part of his journey, ascend for a while into the regions of the Moon, and again return to mortal birth. These two, Light and Darkness, are esteemed the World's eternal ways: he who walketh in the former path returneth not; whilst he who walketh in the latter, cometh back again upon the earth.--KREESHNA, _in the Bhagvat Geeta_. _Indra_.--VI. p. 52.