A History of the Mahrattas v1.c7.37

v1.c7.37

In the Ghauts, and along the hills alluded to, both above and below the reat range, the summits are frequently crowned, or girded towards the top, by large massy basaltic rocks. These, with little aid from art, are capable of being formed into fortresses, which, independent of the extreme difficulty of approach, often seem in themselves impregnable. In many of them there are springs of the finest water, and in all a supply can be secured in tanks, or reservoirs, during the periodical rains from May to October. Throughout that period of the year it is scarcely possible for troops to act in the Ghaut-Mahta; as, superadded to the steep, rugged, rocky hills, and the deep, winding dells, covered like the mountains by high trees, or tangled with low impervious brush-wood, there is almost perpetual rain; most of the rivulets are then frequently swollen into impassable torrents, and there is a chilling damp in the forests, exceedingly insalubrious to persons not inured to its influence; in short, in a military point of view, there is probably no stronger country in the world.