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Near Dusa, in the mountains of Sirinagur.

No. XVIII. NEAR DUSA, IN THE MOUNTAINS OF SERINAGUR.

Dusa stands on the banks of the Koah Nullah, a few miles, it is said, below its source. The forms of the mountains are, from this point, extremely bold, and all around the general effect is majestic. They are richly clothed with wood, and, in many parts, even to their summits; where oak, fir, with many of the forest trees of India, are produced; and the cultivation of grain is carried up their sides to a great height.

In these secluded parts, scarcely affording a single foot of level ground, and where the whole surface, tossed into confusion, offers nothing but the perpetual labour of climbing and descending, there is a considerable degree of population; and pleasant villages are scattered about among the hills, often in situations where it might be supposed eagles alone would build their tenements; for they seem accessible only to the fowls of the air, and not to man. But security is a principal source of happiness, and these regions offer few temptations to the ambition and rapacity of those exalted spirits, whose insatiable thirst of glory fills the world with mischief and misery. The peaceful inhabitants of these hills not only enjoy a secure retreat from the perils of polished society, but a luxuriant vegetation supplies them with food, and also with gums and other articles of commerce, with which, by sale or barter, they procure from the distant plains such conveniences as their moderate system of life requires.