The cliffs which now frowned over us were about 500 feet in height; a few
larches crowning the summit indicated the elevation of the country, and
almost reminded us of home, until some monkeys swinging about amongst the
branches at once dispelled the illusion.

The hills themselves consist entirely of clay mixed with sandstone, mica,
and gravel; and the effect of the mountain torrents during the rainy
season upon such soft material had been to form precipitous gullies,
along which we were now passing, while the grotesque pinnacles which
constantly met the eye reminded us of the dolomite formation of the
Tyrol. In many places were strata, sometimes horizontal, but more
frequently inclined at an angle of about forty-five degrees, consisting
of limestone, hornstone, and conglomerate.

This range is called by Hodgson the sandstone range; it does not rise
more than 600 feet from its immediate base, its elevation above the sea
being about 3000 feet. The pass itself, by which we crossed the
Cheriagotty hills, was a mere watercourse, sometimes so narrow that the
banks on each side might be touched from the back of the elephant, and so
steep and rocky that, both in ascending and descending into the dry bed
of a torrent, the animal found no little difficulty in keeping his
footing.

It was in this place that some of the severest fighting took place in
1816 during the Nepaulese war. Commanded by the surrounding heights and
crowned by the temporary stockades of the Ghorkas, it was a dangerous and
formidable obstacle to the progress of our army; but the able tactics of
Sir David Ochterlony successfully overcame it. In the very watercourse
we were now traversing the carcase of a dead elephant had, on one