Its name is possibly a
corruption. Arrian calls it Mount Meros. At its base the city of Nysa
stood in former times, and among many others fell before the arms of
Alexander. Its inhabitants, in begging for peace, boasted that they
conducted their government "with constitutional order," and that "ivy,
which did not grow in the rest of India, grew among them." City, ivy,
and constitutional order have alike disappeared. The mountain alone
remains. A little to the northward the Ramlat Pass was distinguishable.
On the right the smooth plain appeared to flow into the hill country,
and a wide bay in the mountains, roughly circular in shape and nearly
twelve miles across, opened out of the valley. The prominent spurs which
ran from the hills formed many dark ravines and deep hollows, as it were
gulfs and inlets of the sea. The entrance was perhaps a mile broad. I
remember that, when I first looked into the valley, the black clouds of
a passing storm hung gloomily over all, and filled it with a hazy half-
light that contrasted with the brilliant sunshine outside.
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