This river only flows during the rainy season, at which period it runs through a deep ravine.

Majestic rocky terraces, piled one above the other by nature with such exquisite symmetry that the beholder gazes in silent wonder, overhang both banks of the stream in the form of galleries.
A silence of death brooded over the whole landscape, broken only by the footfalls of our horses echoing sullenly from the rocks, among which the poor animals struggled heavily forward.

At intervals some little birds fluttered above our heads, silently and fearfully, as though they had lost their way.

At length we turn sharply round an angle of the road,--and what a surprise awaits us! A large handsome building, surrounded by a very strong fortified wall, pierced for cannon in several places, lies spread before us near the bed of the river, and rises in the form of terraces towards the brow of the hill.

From the position we occupied, we could see over the whole extent of wall from without and from within.