From Pondamala, that is, _Mont Grand_, I proceeded to Covalàm, where I had the pleasure of conversing with Father John Maria a Santo Thoma, upon different philological subjects. To this learned man, who had resided twenty-five years in India, I am indebted for various corrections in different parts of my journal, which I employed as my guide in the present work. Gladly would I have remained some time longer with this worthy man; but, to my great regret, I was obliged to leave him after a stay of fourteen days. I now pursued my way back to Puduceri, but by a different route, in order that I might see the seven pagodas which are situated on the seacoast between Covalàm and Sadras. But how shall I describe this master-piece of ancient Indian architecture? It consists of seven temples, cut out by art in a rock of the hardest stone, in a mountain covered with trees. Never in my life did I behold a work of the like kind. The entrance fronts the sea, from which it is not far distant, and consists of a passage cut out in the solid rock, forming part of the summit of the mountain. The sides of this passage, which is about twenty Roman palms in breadth, and fifteen in height, is covered with the figures of different sacred animals cut out, of their natural size. Here I saw the elephant of _Rama_ and _Gannesha_; the tortoise of _Vishnu_; the ape of _Rama_; the wild sow, into which _Vishnu_ metamorphosed himself; the cow of the goddess _Parvadi_ and _Lakshmi_; the fish, as a symbol of water; the snake, as the symbol of life and death; and other animals, the names of which I do not at present remember[56]. The external appearance of the walls of this temple, which were totally black, clearly shews that it is no modern work, and that several centuries must have been necessary, in such a pure, serene, dry and mild climate as that of India, to cover the surface of them, as well as the sculptured figures, with a black crust. Having got to the end of the above-mentioned passage, you arrive at a final round place in the same rock, where you observe on the left a few stone steps, and on the right two passages hewn out also in the rock, each of which appeared to me to be seven palms in breadth and twelve in height. These steps and passages conduct to the temple itself, which consists of large vaulted apartments or grottos, separated from each other by walls cut out of the solid rock, but in such a manner that you can go from the one into the other. The largest are below, and the smaller above. They are all cut out in the rock, and are supported by pillars of the same. Around the walls stand a great number of very large statues, representing heathen deities, formed of stone masses, which have been also cut from the rock. Among these I observed, of Colossal size, the gods _Brahma_, _Vishnu_, _Shiva_, _Rama_, _Krishna_, _Devendra_, _Kartiguna_, and _Gannesha_; also the goddesses _Parvadi_, _Sarasvadi_, and _Lakshmi_; and the various