Star.
London, England, 1818-09-18 00:00:00

, in a
exertions of

completing the Query in ten 'hours ; and to Lieute-
nant-Colonel Crosdill, for the excellent practice of the
guns, and mortars brought into this battery, from
day-break till dark, on the 24th ; and he begs that
.the" Officers and men of both these detachments will
accept of his warmest thanks for their cheetful and
soldier-like exertions. The conduct of the little body
of. Sappers and Miners daring the whole of the ope
rations, and the willingness and alacrity with which
they performed their duty, without. being once re-
lieved, were particularly observed, and shew what
benefit might be expected to she public service from
these men, when the corps may be completed.
" Lieutenant-Colonel Macdowall is happy to find
that the wounds Major M'Bean and Ensign Lake re-
Iceivedin occupying the old villdge near the bottam
of the precipice of the mountain, are not likely to de-
prive him long of their services, and he begs leave
to offer his best acknowledgments to all the Officers
and men employed on that occasion ; he also requestsl
that Lieutenant Gordon of the 2d 13th will convey'
to the artillerymen with the two 6-punders, the Offi-
cer and men of the party of his Majesty's 'Royal
Scots, and the party of the 2d 13th who were em•
ployed opposite the south gate, his approbation of
their cordial and manly exertions for getting the guns
so soon into battery upon the hill. The laborious
work which falls to the lot of the pioneers on these
occasions was most ably and cheerfully performed,
and entitles. Lieutenant Frew and his detachment to
the Commanding Officer's highest satisfaction and
best thanks."
The brigade under Major Eldridge, consisting of
the Bombay regiment of Foot Artillery, with heavy
train, and supernumerary auxiliary battalion, has
been remarkably successful. An intelligent con cs-
pondent informs us, in a letter dated Camp Dougur,
May '7, that " in nine days six hill forts have been
captured, each of which would have taken as many
months to have reduced had they been defended by
resolute garrisons."
Soonur and Hursur were abandoned previously to
the arrival of the brigade Chowan and Juodun stood
a few hours' shelling, and then surrendered. Hurry-
chundurghur and Koonzelghur were taken posses-
sion of by a party of the auxiliary battalion under
Captain Sykes, the garrisons flying from them as the
party commenced ascending the mountains on which
they are respectively situated. Until these forts were
captured, it was supposed the holds to the south of
Poona were as strong as any in India ; but Singhur,
Pooruandur, and Wassota, bear no comparison witl;
Soonur. Hursur and Chowan surpass Soonur, and
Juodan is absolutely impregnable, since it has bomb-
proofs for its garrison to retire to, the only requisites
wanting to render the other places equally impreg-
nable. Independent of its strength, Soonur, com-
monly known by the name of Juneer, is interesting
to the curious inquirer, from its connection with the
history of the Mussulman Government in this part of
India—from its being the occasional residence of
Sewajee—from the ruins of buildings of Mahomme-
dan origin, and from its inumerable excavations,
which, with the like productions in every part of In-
dia, are ascribed by the Hindoos to the indefatigable
industry of the god Pandoo. Soonur has seven gates
of masonry, one within the other. In the fort is a
mausoleum to the memory of the wife of one of the
Mussulman Governors, an eadgah, and a musjid, all
in good repair. The latter is built ever an amazing
reservoir for water, cut out cf the solid rock : the roof
of the reservoir has been cut into the resemblance of
beams, and pillars of a chaste design support them
at equal distance; in the fort were 28 guns, many of
them brass, and human ingenuity and caprice appear
to have been exhausted in the forms in which lave or
six of them have been cut, and in their multiplied de-
corations. One was like a bird, and in place of trun-
nions had wings ; another was like a fish with scales;
and a third had an appearance of network over it.
The excavations en the face of the perpendicular
rock on which the fort is situate, must have required
ages, and the incessant labours of the population of
is province to have finished them.
The mind is lost in a labyrinth of doubt and con.
jecture in investigating the motives which could have
occasioned the production of such surprising monu-
ments of human industry. The general form of the
excavations is that of a monk's cell, with a stone seat
round it, but many of these cells have small openings
from the floor into deep square apartments. There
is only ono excavation in Juneer-hill, in the form of
a temple, which deserves particular mention : it is
about 60 feet long by 40: the ceiling appears to have
been gilt or painted in compartments. The entrance
of the cave has four pillars, in good taste, support-
ing a gallery, the front of which is cut into lattice-
work ; above this rises a beautiful arch. In the neigh-
bouring hills are temples of greater extent than the
above described, with colossal figures sculptured-in
them. The fort of Hut sur, independent of its na-
tural strength, deserves notice only from the labour
which has been bestowed on its gates, and the road
up to it. The latter is cut into steps out of the rock:
the gates, two in number, with the connecting pas-1
sage, have not a foot of masonry about them, the
whoje being cut out of the rock ; you enter the side'
of the mountain, go up a passage, and through
another gate to the hill, and then get in the interior
of the fort, as if you were emerging from a wall.
Juodan is on the Ghauts, overlooking the Konkan.
To give an idea of its strength, it will be sufficient
to say, the last flight of steps, by which you enter
the fort, consists of 240, each step of one foot and
a half in height ; and they are placed as perpendicu-
larly, and are as difficult of ascent as a ladder usually
[is. The view from the fort is awfully grand. In the
south-west part, a stone dropped from the hand would
reach the Konkan, a fall nearly perpendicular, of at
least 2,000 feet. Midway down the mountain, On
the north-western side, a level runs out for 100 yards,
the mountain then becomes as precipitous as before ;
from the edge of this small level rises a natural pil-
lar of rock of at I,a:t 300 feet in height, nodding
over the abyss below. At sigh' o'claes. in the mot it

fall of the Trinibuck, to the brave detachment and
'.E. the command (*that gallanrOffices:
- s WRAC? BROM HET/teHSfeNT ORDERS.-
" tamp az Trialbuti, Apia 56, (Sunday;
16.) " 4. 1, Lieutenant-Colonel M.scdowall congratulates I
announce attachment he has the honours° command, in ga
fortrtss of g) in so short is time, tisaptiritssion of the imps
r the cons- stable fortress of Trimbuck:
A the lob He then attributes this fortunate occurrence, i
cute on the
great degree, to the abilities and active.exertions
the Cummanding Engineer, Lieutenant Davis,
21411111 ISVPre . . . .