As the Temple of Kanara served the Portuguese for some time as a church, during their occupation of the small archipelago of Bombay, the heathen sculptures which decorated the interior have naturally been mostly destroyed. This is the more to be regretted as the well-preserved and masterly-executed capitals of the mighty columns justify the belief that their artistic merit must have been worthy of the grand dimensions of the hall. The beautiful portico, however, is still richly decorated. On each side a recess contains a colossal, well-executed statue, and long inscriptions in unknown characters are carved on the square pillars of the entrance. The charms of a mysterious past thus add to the interest of this beautiful monument, the work of an astonishing patience and perseverance. The outer face of the portico, as well as the vestibule extending before it, twenty-eight feet deep, have been considerably injured by the ravages of time: many stones have started from their joints, and a multitude of creeping plants cling to the mouldering statues. Thus the efforts of man to rear eternal monuments are vain; they must necessarily yield to the living powers of nature. ‘The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve, And, like this unsubstantial pageant faded, Leave not a rack behind.’[24] Footnote 24: Shakespeare, ‘Tempest,’ iv. 1. [Illustration: ROCK-TEMPLES OF AJUNTA.] Steps are hewn in the rock to the summit of the mountain, and various intricate paths lead to smaller excavations, consisting mostly of two cells and a portico. Near each of them is a well or basin, likewise hewn out of the rock, in which the rain-water collects, affording a grateful beverage to the tired wanderer. Many of these caves are larger and more perfect than the others, and some in their general effect resemble the great temple, although far inferior in size and decoration. The whole aspect of this perforated mountain shows that a complete cave- town, capable of containing several thousand inhabitants, has been hollowed out in its flanks. The largest excavation was, beyond a doubt, the chief temple. The smaller caves, arranged according to the same plan, likewise served for devotional purposes; and the rest were dwellings more or less commodious and large according to the rank or means of their possessors, or, what is still more likely, the abode of pious Brahmans and their scholars at the time when India was the cradle of arts and sciences, while the nations of Europe were still plunged in barbarism.