Matheran (T. Karjat; 18° 55′ N, 73° 15′ E; p. 2,808; RS.) the wooded head [ According to the Matheran Dhangars the word means the Mother's Wood. They say that the first family of Dhangars who came from the Deccan to Matheran lost their father and mother soon after they came, as the couplet says, 'Mathe pite gamavila, Matheran nav pavala: When their parents died, Matheran got its name'.], is an even-topped line of hill, about thirty miles east of Bombay, an outstanding block of the Sahyadris, its long level back stretching in marked contrast to the sharp clear-cut scarp of its neighbour Bava Malang, or the Cathedral Rocks.
As it was never either a stronghold or a place of religious resort, Matheran is almost entirely without a history. Nothing was known of Matheran till, in 1850, Mr. H. P. Malet, Collector of Thana, while camped at Cauk, strolled one evening half way up the hill by the narrow steep bed of the Varosa stream between Great Cauk and One Tree Hill. Thinking the hill worth exploring, he came back next day, took some water from the small stream that then, even in May, ran freely through the Pisarnath valley, filled a basket with earth, struck off some pieces of stone, and went back to Cauk through the Ram Bagh between Alexander's point and Little Cauk. He came again in November, lived about a month in a small hut, and cleared footpaths to several of the points. He came once more in February 1851, built a stone house now called the Byke [ Mr. E. G. Fawcett built the second house, the Hermitage; Captain Henry Barr the third; Captain C. Walker the fourth; and Mr. Arthur Malet the fifth, Stonehenge.], and, in 1852, obtained a grant of Rs. 500, and so improved the path from Cauk through the Ram Bagh forest that Mrs. Malet was able to come up seated in a chair fastened with ropes to bamboo poles. Shortly after this, Government ordered the Quarter Master General of the Army to have the hill surveyed with a view to make it a military sanatorium. The survey was carried out by Captain Ponsonby in 1852, who drew a map of the hill, laid out a road from the north to Neral, and marked sites for a church, a hospital, a barrack for two hundred men, a jail, and other public buildings. But idea of making Matheran a military sanatorium was given up as the medical authorities preferred Khandala. Next year (1853) Captain Peacock traced and cleared some fresh paths, and marked sites for private houses. When the survey was completed, a map of the hill was printed, and Government, after reserving certain plots, authorised Mr. Malet to allot sites to the public. By the end of May 1853 seventy sites had been applied for.
Between 1855 and 1858, Lord Elphinstone, then Governor of Bombay, did much for Matheran. At a cost of Rs. 10,000 the road from Neral, instead of climbing the steep valley, was brought up the gentle slope of the Neral spur. An embankment was thrown across the Maldunga stream below the modern Simpson reservoir, but was carried away in the first rains, and afterwards a double line of wall was built across the Pisarnath stream. Most of the rides and paths, leading to the different points, were laid out with admirable taste, under Lord Elphinstone's direction. He chose the site of Elphinstone Lodge, built a hut on it and laid the foundation of the present house. His staff followed his example and Matheran became fashionable. Houses rapidly sprang up and building sites were in great demand. The foundation of the Church was laid in 1858, and in three years the building was completed. Several additions, especially a fine window presented by Mr. Michael Scott, were afterwards made, and it was consecrated by Bishop Harding in 1885. A Superintendent's office, including a post and telegraph office and a small library, a new market, a sanatorium, and a rest-house for local residents had also been added, and Gymkhana, with several lawn tennis and badminton courts and a large badminton shed, added greatly to the pleasure of life on the hill.
As a crow flies Matheran is only thirty miles east of Bombay, but by railway, which sweeps south-east through Kalyan, the distance to Neral station, at the north-east foot of the hill, is about fifty-four miles, and from Neral to the centre of the hill top is seven miles by road.
Close behind the village of Neral, about half a mile to the south of the station, rises the steep bare side of Panorama Point, the northmost spur of Matheran. At its foot the plain swells into flat-topped knolls separated by the teak-clad slopes of monsoon torrents. From the lower spurs the hillside rises steep and bare with black crags and walls of rock, and, in sheltered nooks and hollows, patches of trees and brushwood. About half way up a wooded terrace runs parallel to the flat hill top. Above the terrace rises a second steep slope of grass and black rock; over this is a narrow belt of evergreen forest; and last of all a flat-topped cliff crowned with trees. From the foot of the topmost cliff a large spur stretches east towards the Sahyadris, steep and difficult where it leaves the hill, then gradually sloping, then a plateau, and finally turning to the north and sinking into the plain in a rugged knoll close to Neral.
Apart from the small gauge railway Matheran can be approach- ed by two roads. The first is via Cauk on Bombay-Poona road by foot-path and another via Neral from Central Railway line by a Kutcha District Local Board road.
The State Government with the help of the Central Government had decided to lay a motorable road from Panvel to Matheran.
The road up the hill, from Neral railway station, passes south through Neral town of stone-walled and tiled houses, and runs for about a mile along the foot of the rocky spur skirting a belt of rice lands, which, divided by the Neral stream and shaded by a few clusters of Mahuva, tamarind, and mango trees, runs up the hollows to the foot of the hill. During the second mile the hillside, in places cut into the rock winds about 550 feet up the western face of the spur. To the left, during the hot months, the black and yellow of the rocky withered upper slopes are relieved by patches of bright green bushes, rows of reddish half-withered underwood, and a stunted coppice of leafless teak [The green bushes are, karvand Carissa carandas, and kuda Tabernoemontana crispa; the half-withered underwood is davti Grislea tomentosa.]. Towards the end of the second mile and during the first quarter of the third mile, till the crest of the spur is gained, the upper slopes rise rocky and bare with a scanty sprinkling of leafless or half-clothed bushes, some stunted teak, and, in a few nooks and hollows, a deep green mango or a grey-green fig [The leafless and half-clothed bushes are, papti pavetta indica, davti Grislea tomentosa, kuda Tabernoemontana crispa, and ain Terminalia glabra.].
the Garbat ridge a succession of bare flat-topped spurs, divided by deep-cut ravines, fall into the plain which stretches withered and misty towards the dimlooking Sahyadri hills.
During the third mile, with a rise of about 550 (975.38 to 1,525.07) the road leaves the plateau and climbs a rugged hill-side, strewn with boulders and with lines of coarse withered grass, dry underwood, and bare leafless trees [The chief leafless trees, besides those already noticed, are the kunak and pangara Erythrina indica.]. Close to the fourth mile, at a height of 1,525.07 feet, the road enters the sheltered belt of the Neral wood with varied tints of green and a sprinkling of leafless grey [The chief tints are, deep green mangoes and alus Vanguiera edulis, rich fresh palas Butea frondosa, bright green karvand bushes, the hirdas Terminalia chebula, yellow-green kumbas Careya arborea, brown-tipped ains Terminalia glabra, and leafless pahirs, suirs, and varas Heterophragma roxburghii.]. In a tree-fringed glade close to the fourth mile is a small shed, and a stand-pipe and trough with water that lasts for about ten months in the year. Beyond this hollow, the road winds between the upper fringe of the wood and a bare rocky scarp, till it reaches the upper wooded plateau, where, leaving the Bherli Mad or Wild-Palm grove on the right, it skirts the upper edge of the rich Bekri Wood, overlooking a sea of waving tree tops whose bright leafage, unfrayed by wind and undimmed by dust, rises from the breach-like terrace that skirts the foot of the Garbat crag. Below this belt of green stretch the grey underslopes, and beyond the slopes lies the misty plain, its baked and withered fields, relieved by groves and ponds and by the flashing links of the slow-flowing Ulhas. To the right, with sharp steep zig zags, the road mounts the bare face of the topmost scarp, reaching at the fifth mile a height of 2,138.49 feet. A little beyond the mile stands the toll, on the crest of the neck between the high headlands of Governor's Hill to the north and Garbat Hill to south.
The hill top, which has an estimated area of 5,000 acres or about eight square miles, consists of a main central block and two smaller side ridges or wings. The central block, with an average breadth of about half a mile, stretches nearly north and south from the narrow ridge of Hart Point in the north to the rounded bluff of Cauk in the south. Parallel with the main hill, and joined to it by short necks, are two spurs, the larger, to the east, stretching about two and a half miles from Panorama Point in the north to Garbat in the south and the smaller, to the west, stretching about a mile and a half from the sharp point of Porcupine to the large bluff of Louisa Point.
The toll, at the top of the steep zig zag on the Neral road, stands about the middle of the east wing or outlying belt. From the toll the east wing runs north for about a mile and a quarter, rising into the tree-crowned crest of Governor's Hill, and, beyond a deeply-wooded hollow, stretching into the long back of Panorama Point. South of the toll, beyond the rugged deeply-wooded Garbat Head, the spur narrows to a neck, and, again broadening to about a quarter of a mile, tapers, with a high-wooded crest, nearly a mile south to Garbat Point. West from the Neral toll, through thick woods, the ground falls, for about a quarter of a mile, to the flat neck or isthmus, which between high richly-wooded banks, joins the eastern wing to the north end of the central hill.
From this neck the central hill, wooded throughout except a few glades and rocky plateaus, swells into tree-crowned knolls, and stretches south for nearly three miles to the bluff rounded cliff of Cauk. The central hill-top may be roughly divided into three parts. A north section, that, with one or two knolls, rises from the edge of the cliff to a raised plateau of rock about 2,500 feet above the sea; a middle section, that, from both sides, slopes nearly 300 feet to the bed of the west-flowing Pisarnath stream; and a south section, that, with a rocky central plateau little lower than the north plateau, and one or two outstanding knolls, stretches from the valley of the Pisarnath to the rounded bluff of Cauk. For about a mile from Hart Point to the Church Plateau, the northern section of the hill is thinly peopled, with only a broken line of houses separated by stretches of woods. On the Church plateau the houses stand closer together, and, along the edge of the eastern cliff, groups of hut-like houses and small shops cluster round the market place. The slopes of the central hollow are the thickest peopled part of the hill, rows of close-grouped houses stretching across nearly the whole breadth of the hill-top. The southern section, includes the buildings of Olympiea Hotel and Tata Convalescent Home.
From the central hill, about a quarter of a mile west of the Church plateau, a low thickly wooded neck, about 200 yards long and half a mile broad, leads to the small western wing or hill-belt, which, with bare narrow ends and a wooded central crest, stretches about a mile and a quarter from Porcupine Point on the north to ' Louisa Point on the south.
Over almost the whole hill-top there is little soil, scarcely any grass, and a thick crop of small black boulders. The topmost layer of rock is a soft porous iron-clay, through which, by the beginning of the hot season, the whole rainfall has drained, leaving in many places a leafless black underwood, glades of withered grass, and pathways deep in rusty dust. In spite of this dryness and want of soil, except some winding glades, one or two stretches of bare sheet rock, and the wind-swept shoulders of the larger spurs, the hill-top is everywhere shaded by a thick growth of brushwood, creepers, and trees. In parts, the rocky leaf-strewn ground has only a scanty undergrowth of leafless bushes, and the trees are so stunted and gnarled as to be little more than coppice. But over most of the hill top the boulders are hid by a sprinkling of seedlings and evergreen brushwood, the thicket is green with the fresh hanging boughs of well-grown trees, and, in sheltered dells and hollows, the underwood is full of leaves, long-armed climbers swathe the lower trees and bushes into masses, of green, and lofty tree-tops wave high overhead. Through all these woods and thickets narrow lanes wind up and down the uneven hill-top shaded and often overarched with trees. From outlying points, where the lane winds clear of the thicket, the wooded hill-top swells from edge of the cliff to the central ridge, a cool bank of fresh green broken by only a few of the higher house-tops. Through a screen of waving branches and tree tops, across the bay-like valleys, the hill-sides fall in steep rings of trap, each ring marked by a band of yellow grass or a belt of evergreen timber. The lower slopes are gashed with watercourses, lines of black rock dividing brown bare-topped knolls, whose sides, except some patches of evergreen brushwood, are grey with the stems and branches of teak and other leaf-shedding trees. For a mile or two further, smooth flat-topped mounds, divided by deep ravines, stretch across the brown withered plain.
Half way between Bombay and Poona rise the Matheran Hills which fulfil every need of holiday makers and of the convalescents. Situated at a height of 2,500 feet, it is a desirable health resort. Majestically situated on the outline of western ghats, Matheran commands a panoramic view of the plains which separate the mountain chains from the sea. It looks all the more beautiful on account of the permanent foliage which has earned for it the name it has today.
on a commercial basis he appointed one agent to look after the arrangements of traffic. This being the only conveyance available at one's disposal, people visiting Matheran solely depended on the management to arrange palanquins for them. It was Mr. Abdul Hussein, the second son of Sir Adamjee Peerbhoy, who pioneered the starting of railway on these hills.
A survey to lay the permanent way was carried out with the help of German engineers. After covering about 1½ miles of track, however, the project was abandoned due to some engineering difficulties. Later on, one Shri Rai Bahadur, an engineer from Punjab thoroughly surveyed the position of the track and met with success in diverting the track to the left side of the hill. This singular success was to scale the ascent of the 2,500 feet of the hill by a rail-track. To start with, four German experts on narrow gauge called for from Darjeeling set German made coaches on the track in 1907 thus realising the long cherished dream of the Peerbhoys.
With help of G. I. P. railway authorities who looked after the commercial department of the new venture Sir Adamjee Peerbhoy managed it so smoothly and efficiently that every season more and more passengers started visiting Matheran. After the death of Sir Adamjee Peerbhoy and his son Sir Abdul Hussein, however, the Neral-Matheran railway was not properly looked after as it used to be. This resulted in a serious downfall in the business. The management unable to maintain it, mortgaged it to the Maharaja of Gwalior for Rs. 4 lakhs, in 1927. Sir Abdul (grandson of Sir Adamjee), however, took the management of the commercial department from G. I. P.
In 1928, the Maharaja of Gwalior obtained a decree of the court to run this railway as a limited company subject to the management of shareholders. Eventually, three petrol-driven motors were engaged, two of which arc still going strong.
The Neral-Matheran railway continued to attract people from all quarters of the country and even from abroad. The number of visitors to Matheran, which is growing every year is enough to indicate how much the Neral-Matheran railway has contributed to the popularity of Matheran.
The six leading points or headlands are, Hart at the north and Cauk at the south of the central bill, Panorama at the north and Garbat at the south of the east wing, and Porcupine at the north and Louisa at the south of the west wing. Besides these, several smaller bluffs or capes break the winding lips of the bay-like valleys that separate the main arms or spurs of the hill. The seven most important of these smaller bluffs are, Alexander and Little Cauk in the south-east between Garbat and Great Cauk, One Tree Hill, Danger, Echo, and Landscape between Great Cauk and Louisa; and Monkey in the north-west between Porcupine and Hart. In addition to these smaller headlands, three spots in the central crest of the hill are known as points, Artist Point to the north of the Church Plateau, Sphinx Point above Alexander Point, and Bartle Point to the south of Cauk hotel.
There is considerable sameness in the leading features of these points. In most of the main points a wooded crest narrows into a bare boulder-strewn slope, and the slope dwindles into a smooth flat tongue or table of rock, ending in a cliff clean cut or buttressed by an outlying tower-like crag. From distant parts of the hill the points stand out, with stretches of black rock, white patches of sun-bleached grass, ragged copse, or a few stunted wind-worried trees.
Almost all of these outstanding headlands command views of the green swelling summit of the hill, of its black wall-like cliffs, evergreen plateaus, and steep under-slopes, and of the hazy smoke-dimmed plain, that, broken by isolated blocks of hill and brightened by ponds and wooded villages, stretches north beyond the Ulhas valley, east to the Sahyadris, south through a rugged land of confused spurs and peaks, and west, between the even mass of Prabal and the shivered scarp of the Cathedral Rocks, beyond the salt flats of Panvel, to the shimmering sea from which dimly rise the ships and buildings of Bombay. The distant bills of Salsette and North Thana, the bluffs and peaks of the Sahyadri range, and the flat ridges and isolated crests of Bor and Kolaba are seldom clearly seen. But to the south-west the sharp pillar of Visalgad stands out from the centre of a swelling plateau; to the west, from a belt of bright green forest, rise the steep bare sides of the flat tree-crowned crest of Prabal; and to the north, sweeping north-west from Panorama point, their lower slopes half hid by haze, stand, in mid air, the fantastic rocks and pinnacles of Canderi, Tavli, and Bava Malang, their scarps and crests clear cut as by the hand of man.
Beginning from the north and working east the points come in the following order: Hart, Panorama, Garbat, Alexander, Little Cauk, Great Cauk, One Tree Hill, Danger, Echo, Landscape, Louisa, Porcupine, and Monkey.
Hart Point, at the north end of the central block of hill, takes its name from Mr. W. Hart, of the Bombay Civil Service, who was Secretary to Government about 1858. Its native name is Kaleraika Pada or the Black Forest plateau. Near Hart Point the path runs along a wooded crest with fine views of the wild Bava Malang hills. Leaving the main body of the hill it winds down a rather steep wooded slope to the Point, which is a narrow windswept table of black rock with patches of yellow grass, a few stunted bushes to the west, and a row of trees fringing a sheltered crevice to the east. To the right, across the deeply wooded gathering ground of one of the branches of the Malduhga stream, rises a bare high bluff, and on the other side of the main valley runs the long high shoulder of Governor's Hill and Panorama Point richly wooded in the south and stretching north barer and more weather-worn, with straggling crannies yellow with dry grass and a few hollows and narrow ledges green with bushes and trees. North-west of Panorama Point stretch the wild fantastic peaks of the Bava Malang range. To the left, beyond the wooded hollow of Malet's spring, the bare scarps of Porcupine Point rise in a narrow flat-topped cliff. Beyond Porcupine Point are the massive isolated crag and long-wooded back of Prabal, and, in the plain, the low hills of Vanja and Morpa.
d some isolated flat-topped blocks of hill, looms the massive wall of the Sahyadris, many of whose bluffs and fortified peaks can be recognised when the air is clear. In the foreground, northwest from the end of the point, stretches the great Bava Malahg range, beginning in Peb or Pebak whose bare flat-topped head is circled with the remains of Moghal and Maratha fortifications. Behind Peb, rising, with a rather gentle slope into a rounded point and then falling in a narrow ridge, is Nakhind. Beyond Nakhind bare steep spurs rise to the foot of the massive tower-like crest of Canderi. Further off are the jagged peaks of Mhas-Mal and Navara-Navari, or the husband and wife, said to be so called because the hillside once opened and swallowed a marriage party crossing from Badlapur to Panvel. In the extreme west the range ends in a pair of great hills, to the right the long rugged outline of Tavli and to the left the sharp clear-cut pinnacles of Bava Malang or the Cathedral Rocks. To the left, with Prabal as back ground, is a fine view of the wooded ravines and bare cliffs of Hart, Monkey, and Porcupine Points.
In [The details of the distant view were contributed by Mr. F. B. Maclaran, C. E. The more distant hills can be seen only in very clear weather.] the distance, to the west or south-west, just clear of Prabal, are Great and Little Karanja (1,000). North of these lies Bombay harbour with Elephanta (568) in the centre and the long level line of Bombay in the distance. Further north, the first high land is Trombay, or the Neat's tongue (1,000). Still further north, beyond the long stretch of the Kurla marshes and rice-lands, rise the Salsette hills in three waves, each wave marking the site of one of the Bombay reservoirs, Vihar to the left, Tulsi in the centre, and the Yeur to the right. In front of the Yeur hill lies Parsik Point, pierced by the Central Railway, and, beyond Parsik, winds the Kalyan creek or estuary of the Ulhas. Over the creek to the north, between Bava Malang and Tavli, rise the peak of Kamandurg (2,160) and the table land of Tungar (2,195). Clear of Tavli, to the right, stands the high cone of Dugad, and, beyond it, Takmak, (2,616), overlooking the Vaitarna valley. North of Takmak, the Surya range, visible only on very clear days, ends in the far north in the jagged-top of the great fort of Aseri (1,689). Eastward there is little to attract the eye in the Vada hills, but, on the north horizon, over the point of Peb, may be seen the sacred peak of Mahalaksmi [ Details of Mahalakshmi are given above.]. Still further east, from the middle distance, rises the deeply-cleft ridge of Mahuli (2,815), guarded on the west by a tower-like column of basalt. Close behind the chief hill, and apparently adjoining it, is Chota or Little Mahuli. The bold distant headland, east of Mahuli, is Vatvad, the farthest visible point of the Sahyadri range. Behind Vatvad, to the east, is the famous hill of Trimbak (4,254), the sacred source of the Godavari. Still further east, and a little to the south, is Anjaneri (4,384) the hot-weather hill of Nasik, which lies fourteen miles to the east. Southward, as far as the range that separates Nasik from Ahmadnagar, the line of the Sahyadris has no striking hills. On the range that separates Nasik from Ahmadnagar are the forts of Alang and Kulang, and, among the broken tops of the neighbouring hills, can be made out the conical peak of Kalsubai (5,427), the highest point of the Sahyadris. Further south Ghatghar and other peaks form a rugged and broken range, whose most interesting feature, Hariscandragad (4,562), is hid behind the crest of the Sahyadris which here turn west to Sidgad, whose sugar-loaf peak (3,236) stands out from the main line. The twin detached hills to the north of Sidgad are Gorakh-gad and Machindragad. Further south, on the line of the Sahyadri crest, is Bhimasankar (3,434), and, in front of Bhimasankar, the detached hill-fort of Tungi (2,019), and still further south on another detached hill the fort of Peth.
The Panorama Point view of the Sahyadris ends with Peth. But the top of Panorama hill, or better still Garbat Point, commands a magnificent view of the southern Sahyadris and the Kolaba hills. Following the line south from Peth are the detached tableland of Dhak (2,808), then the famous hill fort of Rajmaci (2,710) with its wall and gateways, and still further south the Nagphani or Cobra's Hood commonly known as the Duke's Nose. East of the Nagphani are the hill-forts of Lohogad (3,415) and Visapur in Poona district, and, to the south, are Tel Bela, Dhondsa, Bhorap, and Pall. Of the South the most striking is Manikgad (1,878), like a smaller Vatvad, a few miles south of Cauk village. West of Manikgad is the well-known funnel of Karnala (1,840), a land-mark for ships entering Bombay harbour. Between Manikgad and Karnala, beyond the silver line of the Dharamtar creek, the Alibag hills complete the circle with the fortified head of Sagargad (1,164), and the sacred top of Kanakesvar (1,000).
Garbat Point, the south end of the eastern wing takes its name from the quartz crystals or gars found on the spur that runs east towards Karjat. Crossing the shoulder of Garbat hill the path sinks and runs along the eastern face of the point, forty or fifty feet below the crest of Garbat hill. The bank on the right is well-wooded and below lie the varied tints of the evergreen Bekri forest [ The deep greens are anjanis Memecylon. edule, phansis Caralli integerrima, kumblas Sapota tomentosa, and mangoes; the blue greens are pisas Actinodaphne lanceolata, and jambuls; the yellow greens arc chandaras Mecaranga roxburghii and kumbas Careya arborea; the greys are asans Uriedclia retusa, and umbars, or bare pahirs and nanas Lagerstroemia parviflora," and the browns are ruddy-tipped hirdas and helas Garcinia cambogea.]. Beyond the belt of bright-green forest, the hillsides, grey with leafless trees, fall to bare flat-topped spurs with Dhangar huts and patches of tillage. From the east side of Garbat hill, with many ups and downs, the path crosses a bare rocky hillside under a tree-crowned hill-top. A little further the point shrinks into a narrow open neck with clusters of bushes and trees. Beyond the neck it again broadens, and, for about a mile, runs round a rising slope thick strewn with small black boulders, with patches of underwood and well-grown jumbuls and russet varus trees. From a bank crowned with bushes and large weather-beaten trees, the point slopes to the south bare and boulder-strewn, narrowing to a smooth ledge of hare gravel. To the east the point falls in a steep cliff, below which the hillside, scarred with ravines and treeless except in a few hollows, stretches in long flat-topped spurs far across the plain. To the south, some hundred feet below the level of the point, a narrow flat tongue of rock runs south rising into the peak of Sondai. On the west of Garbat point this ledge or plateau runs for some distance slightly wooded and with patches of tillage. Beyond the plateau the hill-side falls into the Khatvan ravine, and again rises in the bare steep slopes and cliffs of Alexander Point and Little Cauk, to the hill-top whose thick woods are broken by a few house roofs and lines of thatched huts. The exposed western crest of Garbat Point is at first rocky and bare. Then the path passes, across wind-swept glades and through sheltered dells, to the narrow neck that leads to the inner point, where it turns sharply down a steep slope, between beautifully wooded hanks, that rise, to the right in Garbat hill, and, to the left in the swelling crest of the main hill-top.
ne easterly view of Garbat Point and Sondai peak, and a westerly view of the cliffs that run south to Little Cauk, and at their feet the deep green of Ram Bagh or Ram's Garden.
Little Cauk, the bluff or bastion at the south-east end of the main hill, takes its name from the country town of Cauk, about five miles to the south. The road south to the Little Cauk, sheltered from south-west gales, is richly wooded with a deep dell on the left and a tree-covered crest on the right. The broad level path winds through smooth open glades fringed by clusters of well-grown trees and by large black boulders. Near the point the hill top flattens, the trees dwindle into bushes, and the ground is bare and covered with black rock. Like Great Cauk it commands a wide view of the rugged south.
Great Cauk the central of the three great bluffs that form the southern face of Matheran, takes its name from overlooking the country town of Cauk. From Little Cauk the path crosses a wooded hollow, and from this the broad rounded point of Great Cauk stretches south, at first wooded though flat, then bare, thick-strewn with small black boulders with one or two stunted mango trees and many dry leafless bushes. The point commands a wide view across the plain. Under the cliff stretches the deep green of the eastern Varosa forest. Beyond the forest, on a bare flat spur, cluster the thatched roof of Varosa, and about five miles across the plain, close to the deep green line of the Panvel high road, lies the country town of Cauk. Beyond Cauk the plain is broken by many ranges and spurs. To the right, beside the pinnacle of Visalgad and the more distant funnel rock of Karnala, are many ranges of flat-wooded hills, among them Mirya Dongar above Pen, and, further to the west, the Sagargad range in Alibag.
One Tree Hill, the most westerly of the three bluffs that form the south face of Matheran, takes its name from a large battered jdmbul tree that grows on its hollow top. West from Great Cauk the road runs close to the edge of the hill side, and the hill top to the right has much stunted brushwood and trees. The western crest of the hill, open to the south-west gales, is bare except a few weather-beaten bushes. From the crest a footpath leads down a steep slope to two large rounded masses of rock, the upper rock joined to the hill by a narrow neck, the lower separated by a deep-cut cleft. It is this lower rock which, from a large but lop-sided and wind-battered jdmbul, takes its English name of the OneTree Hill and its Marathi name of Jambul Point [ The people also call it the Stream-bed Kock, Nalichi Tekdi.]. The top of the rock, rising in a steep slope to its southwest edge, yields during the rains a crop of grass rich enough to tempt grass-cutters to climb its steep sides. From the upper rock are seen, close at hand, two of the western bastions of Cauk Point, and beyond them the flat massive rock of Louisa Point. Some hundred feet below stretches a wooded plateau, part of the Varosa forest, and, to the left, rises the great flat range of Prabal. Between Prabal and Louisa Point, close at hand, are the Vanja and Morpa hills, and in the distance the rugged crags of Tavli and Bava Malang.
Danger Point, along the crest of the western Cauk cliff, gradually passing into deeper wood, a footpath strikes off the main road, and, keeping to the left, winds down a steep slope, across a rocky and bare hillside, with a few thickly-wooded dells. The open parts along the crest of the Cauk cliff command a view of the pillar of Visalgad to the south-west, and, to the west, of the steep bare sides of Prabal, with its flat tree-crowned top, ending in the north in a massive crag. In front is the small flat head of Danger Point, and, rising behind it, are the wooded crest and clean-cut cliffs of Louisa Point and the deep-wooded hollow of the hill-top above. From this the path winds through a sheltered wooded hollow and out along the edge of the cliff, with a backward view of the high scarp that runs south to One-Tree Hill overhanging the green belt of the west Varosa forest. After some sharp descents the path reaches Danger Point, a small bare terrace shaded by a few well-grown trees. To the north, Danger Point commands a fine view of the rocky scarp of Echo Point and of the green hill-top behind. Further to the west, stand the wooded crest, high cliff, and buttress-like rock of Louisa Point, and, between the point and Prabal, the valley of the Panvel river stretches to Bombay harbour. Beyond Danger Point the path sinks into the Pisarnath valley, passing on the right a deeply wooded bank in whose shade lies the shrine of Pisarnath, the guardian of Matheran.
Echo Point. Crossing the Pisarnath valley the path winds through a thickly wooded hollow, to Echo point, a bare flat terrace with one or two stunted trees and dry leafless bushes [The trees are anjanis pisar and black-leaved makudis or wild limes; the bushes arc paptis]. On the right a black cliff rises to the richly wooded hill-top.
Beyond Echo Point the path winds through sheltered copse, and again strikes the lip of the scarp at Landscape Point a flat terrace, furnished with a seat, and commanding a fine view of Louisa Point and Prabal.
From Landscape Point the path winds through a richly wooded hollow up to the tree-crowned crest of Louisa point. This, the southern end of the smaller or western wing, takes its English name from the wife of Mr. Fawcett, of the Bombay Civil Service, who was Revenue Commissioner between 1855 and 1859. Its local name is Tapurici Sond or the Pillar Head from the short isolated buttress-like crag at its point. From the crest of Louisa Point the path stretches south-west, at first under a well-wooded knoll, and then along a plateau with fewer and more stunted trees to a bare smooth table of rock. To the left is the scarp of Echo Point, and, in front, Cauk cliff stretches as One Tree Hill. To the south-west stands the solitary peak of Visalgad, and on the west, lies the straight flat mass of Prabal with its broken northern crag. Joined to Louisa Point by a short neck is a large rock or crag with a fine northerly view over the parttilled plateau of Hasa and the lower peaks of Vanja and Morpa across the plain to the Bava Malang range, the slopes of Nakhind to the right, the comb-like crest of Canderi and the rocky pinnacles of Mhas-Mal and Navara-Navari in the centre, and to the left the wild outlines of Tavli and the Cathedral Rocks.
t after crossing some bare ground, the path leads along a hollow hillside through deep evergreen groves thick with fresh underwood and climbing trees [ The chief trees are kumbas, chandaleshvars, hirdas, bombas, phansis, and kumblas; the underwood chiefly vaitis; the climbers vatolis.], to the wooded neck that joins the western spur to the main hill, through a damp dell known as the Randaca Tal or Buffalo's Hollow, adorned by some large straight-stemmed jambuls and mangoes. Further on, to the left, paths lead to Malet's and Ponsonby's Springs, while the main road passes the Gymkhana to Monkey Point, a small ledge of rock above Hart Point, with a fine view of the long cliff of Porcupine, Prabal, the Bava Malang range, the Panorama spur, and the wooded slopes about Hart Point.
Matheran is a mass of even trap-flows capped by a layer of laterite or iron clay. Most geologists hold that it was once an island in the sea that cleared the wall of the Sahyadris and washed away the Konkan lowlands. The crabs and shells that are still found on the hill-top support this view, and, in the beginning of the rains, when the valleys are full of mist, the white wool-like clouds, passing into the roots of the hill, leave the points standing like wave worn capes, and the valleys rounded in the sickle sweep of a sea beach. But in cloudless weather the stream-worn ravines, the torrent-seamed hill-sides, the points washed into narrow necks and pillar-like crags, the plateaus crowded with masses of fallen rock, and, after heavy rain, the thundering roar of landslips, seem to show that the worn and ragged form of the hill is chiefly due to the fierce buffeting of the blasts and torrents of the south-west monsoon.
The capping of highly porous and absorbent laterite or iron clay lies like a huge sponge on the top of the trap. The laterite rock occurs in many forms. Fresh cut, as in sinking a well, it is soft and yielding, with layers of bright magnetic iron ore still unmixed with clay. When the iron is being oxydized, the structure is tubular [Mr. Foote gives the following detailed description of a bed of tubular ironclay found on the top of Valabgad fort in west Belgaum. Instead of showing the ordinary horizontal or nearly horizontal vesicular cavities the summit bed is permeated by vertical tubuli running nearly through it. The upper ends of these tubuli are empty for a little distance, giving the surface a pitted appearance, but the tubes are generally filled with litho-margic clay, and have their walls lined with a glaze very like that so frequently met with in the vermicular hollows of ordinary laterites. The tubuli vary in diameter from ¼ to ¾ of an inch, but are generally less than half an inch across. Their height depends upon the thickness of the bed and the glazed sides show much statactitoid waviness of surface. In the lower parts of the bed the tubuli are less distinct. There can be little doubt that the formation of these tubes is due to the action of percolating water. This structure is not so commonly met with as the rudely-bedded quasi-stratified forms in which the vesicular and vermicular cavities are rather horizontally disposed. Mem. Geol. Survey, XII.pt. 1, 207.], and, when chemical action has ceased, the boulders have a hard polished surface and flinty texture [ The latrine or iron-clay that is found overlying the traps in Ratnagiri, Thana and the Deccan, is of two kinds, a sedimentary rock formed either in lakes or under the sea, and a rock that appears as the summit bed of trap hills, itself a trap, changed and decomposed by the action of the air. To distinguish between these two classes of rock, Mr. Foote has proposed that the sedimentary rock should be called laterite and the upper decomposed trap iron-clay. The laterite, or pluviatile rock is much less common and less widespread. It is found only in some lowlying tracts in Ratnagiri and in places in the Deccan which probably were once the bottoms of lakes. The rock that caps the Ratnagiri hills, and forms the summit bed of Matheran and of the Sahyadri and other Deccan hills, is iron-clay formed from trap by the action of the air. Mr Foote gives the following details of sections in the roads through the Amboli and Phonda passes in Ratnagiri. The basaltic rocks graduate into a moderately hard yellowish brown or brown earthy mass which closes many nuclei of the original rocks in various stages of decomposition. The upper parts of the decomposed mass, from which the nuclei have disappeared, have undergone a process of concretional solidifications from the infiltration of surface waters holding iron in solution and are assuming the ordinary lateritoid appearance and reddish colour Mem. Geol. Survey, XII. pt. I, 202.]. The terraces below the scarp are strewn with red laterite boulders, some with sharp clear-cut corners, others weathered, and rounded. The debris is in places over sixty feet deep, and, among it, are blocks of columnar basalt with corners as sharp and faces as smooth as when they took form. The laterite seems formerly to have been worked for iron, and so strongly is the rock charged with iron that a few chips of jambul wood turn the water of some of the springs black as ink. Under the capping of iron clay the hill is a mass of flows of trap, laid layer upon layer, some layers only a few feet thick, others forming high cliffs, all of them flat and even, not only in the different parts of Matheran, but with the sides of Prabal and other more distant hills. The trap though in places columnar is usually plain. Its structure is more or less amygdaloidal and in the hollows are minerals of the zoolite family. Of these apophyllite, which is perhaps the most common, when exposed by blasting, shows crystals of great beauty. Heulandite, mesotype, stilite, and natrolite as well as the crystals of quartz from which Garbat takes its name, are common. The trap weathers into soil that gathers at the foot of the different layers, sometimes in narrow ledges fit only for the growth of grass, in other places in rich plateaus bearing the largest trees.
Besides the beauty of the hill-top and of its views, a great charm in Matheran is the plateau or terrace that almost encircles the hill from two to three hundred feet below its crest. This belt has a rich soil yearly freshened by mould swept from the hill-top. In parts it lies broad and open, dotted with mango and jambul trees, and with some fields of rice or nagli round a hamlet of Thakur or Dhangar huts. Again it shrinks to a rocky path, or, at open wind-swept corners, yields only thickets of rough brambles or ragged buffeted fig bushes. But in many coves of the baylike valleys, sheltered by cliffs, from the blasts of the north-east and south-west gales, are groves of ancient evergreen trees whose stems rise straight and high, and whose small-leaved distant shade, letting in air and light, fosters the growth of evergreen brushwood and, near springs and in damp dingles, nourishes patches of grass and tufts of fern.
pahirs, and some varas; the russet or withered browns chiefly varus; the brown, pink and yellow tips chiefly helas, koshims and pahirs.].
The general features of most of these groves resemble those of the Mad Rai, or Wild-Palm Grove, which covers the plateau that stretches, from one of the zigzags on the main road about four and a half miles from Neral, northwards under the steep wooded crest of Governor's Hill and Panorama Point. From the road the path enters the forest near its eastern limit, and passing north for some hundred yards, climbs a steep thick-wooded bank to an upper terrace which stretches to the end of Panorama Point. The ground is rocky, bare of grass, and thickly strewn with leaves. There is much underwood, some fresh and green hut most either leafless or withered into yellow or brown. In the outskirts, the trees though close together, are small and stunted. Deeper in rise some straight unbroken jambul and mango stems, and one huge fig tree about fifty-two feet in girth. In another dell, where the ground is thick with green underwood, is a grove of large jambul and fig trees, interlaced by festoons of the great climbing kandvel, whose trunks, twisted like the coils of a huge serpent, are drawn to the tree tops and fall in straight heavy sprays with scattered deep-green leaves. Beyond this dell the wood is again thinner, with open plots and glades fringed by thickets of bright-green brushwood, overtopped by dark-green, blue-green, and grey-green trees, and a sprinkling of bare leafless branches [The bright green-bushes are bokhadas, gelas and karands. The dark-green trees are alus, mangoes, and jambuls; the bluish-green are pisas, aptas, and climbing vatolis ; the greyish-green are umbars and asans; and the leafless branches belong to varas, pahirs, and nanas.]. To the right the deep fringe of the wood hides the hill slopes, and, on the left, a steep wooded bank rises to the overhanging tree-crowned crest of Governor's Hill. The path, climbing the steep wooded bank, leads to an upper plateau, where, in rocky deep-soiled ground with thick green underwood, among large mangoes, jambuls, and umbars, rise the slender ringed stems of the wild palm with its long hanging seed tassels, and its leaves standing in long spikes or falling in large black ribbon-like tatters. Beyond this the grove narrows and dwindles till it ends under Panorama Point.
The hillsides of Matheran are scarred by small streams which, though dry during most of the year, bear in their clean-swept rocky channels traces of the strength of their monsoon floods. The west-marked Pisarnath drains the central section of the hill along a well-marked cup-shaped valley, which slopes about 400 feet from the church plateau on the north and the Cauk plateau on the south. To a less extent the hill-top is hollowed by the gathering ground of the Dhodambydce pani, or Waterfall Stream, between Panorama Point and the main hill; by the drainage that centres in the Malet Springs east of Porcupine Point; and by the Varosa Streams that run between Louisa and Landscape points. With these exceptions none of the streams drain any considerable section of the hill-top. The course of all is much alike. Gathering the drainage of a small section of the hill-top they either fall with one or two clear leaps, or by a long rapid rush force their way through boulders and shingle from the edge of the cliff to the lower slopes, and, winding among the spurs at the hill-foot, find their way into one of the main lines of drainage east to the Ulhas, south to the Patalganga, or west to the Panvel river.
Starting from the north and working eastwards, the chief of these streams are the Neral Water, Neralace Pani, which rises below the Governor's Hill and passing east and then north along the ravine between Panorama Point and the Neral spur, falls into the Ulhas a little to the west of Neral. The Bekri Stream, Bekrica odha, from below Garbat hill, passes east through the Bekri forest, and, entering the plain to the south of the Neral spur, flows east to the Ulhas. The Sondai or Khatvan Stream, Sondai Odha or Khatvan Odha, between Garbat and Alexander points, fed by a large share of the hill drainage, flows south along the chief of the Matheran valleys, past the town of Cauk into the Patalganga. The Little Khatvan between Alexander point and Little Cauk, after a steep south-easterly course, joins the main Khatvan under Garbat point. The Borganv Stream, Borgdnv-Odha, between Little and Big Cauk, meeting the Khatvan water, flows by Cauk town south into the Patalganga. A little to the west, between Great Cauk and the One-Tree Hill, the Varosa Stream, up whose narrow rocky bed the Cauk path struggles, runs south adjoining the Borganv and Khatvan waters, passes Cauk and falls into the Patalganga. Between Danger and Echo Points, draining the thickly wooded central hollow of the hill-top between the Church plateau on the north and Cauk plateau on the south, the Pisarnath or Bunk Stream flows west over the cliff into the Varosa river which runs south to Cauk and the Patalganga. In 1850 the Pisarnath flowed throughout the year with a considerable stream; but. for some years past, apparently from the increase of trees and brushwood on its gathering ground, it has almost ceased to flow before the beginning of the hot weather. In the corner between Echo and Louisa points, two nameless streams drain the sloping hill-top and fall over the cliff, passing west to the main stream that, draining the valley between Matheran and Prabal, flows south by Cauk to the Patalganga. Between Porcupine and Hart Point, a large area of the western hill-top and of the low neck between the central and western hill belts, drains into the stream, known either as Pipdce Pani (Odhd), the Tub Water Stream, or as Maldungaci Nadi, the Malduhga River. This flows to the northwest and then turns west to the Panvel river. Further to the east the stream that drains the hollow between the Governor's Hill and Hart Point, one of the Malduhga streams which is known as the Dhodambyace Pdni or the Waterfall Stream,-passes west into the Panvel river, through the deep-wooded valley in which are the Simpson reservoir and the remains of the ruined Elphinstone lake.
In spite of the rainfall of about 200 inches even the largest streams cease to flow soon after Christmas. This is due partly to the porous iron-clay and partly to the dense growth of timber and brushwood that covers almost the whole hill-top. In 1850, as has been noticed above, before the trees and brushwood were preserved, the Bund or Pisarnath stream, which now barely trickles during the hot months, flowed freely even in May, discharging from the cliff a stream of water over a foot wide and three or four inches deep [ Smith's Matheran, 2, 11. Dr. Smith's quotations seem to prove that the free growth of trees in the gathering ground of springs exhausts their supply of water.]. Of eleven springs only two, Harrison's on the east and Malet's on the west of the main hill-top, last throughout the year. Beginning from the north and working east, in the hollow above Simpson's reservoir, near the old Dhangar settlement, is a spring known as the Phansi or Jack-Tree Water.
nes, has a cistern which was built in 1865-66 at a cost of Rs. 1,322. The south hill has three springs, one to the south and one to the north of the Sanatorium, and a third on the south slope of the Pisarnath valley. At the spring to the south of the Sanatorium a cistern was built in 1865-66 at a cost of Rs. 1,225. Further north there are three springs in the ravine between Porcupine and Hart points, Malet spring or Tipace pani, at the head of the main ravine Ponsonby Spring or Ghaterice Pani, that is the Buffaloes' Drinking Trough, about a quarter of a mile to the north, and Robert's Spring close to Hart Point. Of these the chief are the Malet Spring, in the bed of the Maldunga, about 300 feet down a steep winding path. The water of the main spring is held in a rock-cut cistern roofed by iron sheeting and there are two smaller springs close by. The Malet Spring has never been known to fail.
For [ Contributed by Mr. F. B. Maclaran, C. E. for the old edition.] the storage of water seven reservoirs have been made, two of which have proved failures. The chief site is in the Pisarnath valley, where, in April and May 1857, Mr. West, C. E., built two dams at a cost of Rs. 3,975. The third dam in the same valley was built in 1857-58 by General Fuller, R. E., at a cost of Rs. 5,330; it was subsequently in 1866-67 raised three feet at a further cost of Rs. 1,156. These dams are all of masonry and are provided with sluice gates, which are removed at the beginning of the rains and are re-fixed in the month of November so that every monsoon the reservoirs are thoroughly flushed, and fresh supply of pure water gathered.
In 1858, to provide water for the residents at the north-east or Garbat end of the hill, Lord Elphinstone, the then Governor of Bombay, conceived the idea of constructing an earthen dam in the valley between Hart point and Panorama hill. The work was designed and carried out by the Public Works Department.
In 1873-74, as the Garbat end of the hill still suffered from want of water, it was decided to build a masonry dam on a rock foundation at a point a little below Colonel Fife's dam. The reservoir so formed, which was suggested by and bears the name of Dr. Simpson, the Superintendent, was begun in 1875 and completed in 1876 at a cost of Rs. 16,260. In spite of its distance from the more thickly peopled part of the hill, this reservoir has proved of great: service. The bed of the stream below the dam has been set apart for washing clothes, the quantity of water impounded being more than enough for this and other purposes. This is a great convenience to residents and visitors, as formerly during April and May, washermen had to take clothes to the Ulhas river near Neral. The capacity of this reservoir, which was designed and built by Colonel Maunsell, R. E., Executive Engineer, North Konkan, is 416,400 cubic feet.
Prior to the installation of the water taps in 1927, water used to be supplied in Pakhals from small tanks constructed at the sites of natural springs. When gradually Matheran attracted increasing number of visitors followed by big and petty tradesmen to cater to their demands, the supply of water fell short to meet the total need. A fresh lake was constructed in the Pisarnath Valley, to make good the shortage and named after Mrs. Charlotte Fuller, the wife of General Fuller, R. E. The site of the dam was suggested by General Fuller in 1857 and in 1880. The work of enlarging the dam was undertaken in 1950 and completed in 1956 with the total cost of Rs. 3,95,000. The total height of the dam at present is 50′, its breadth being half a furlong. Settling tanks are situated at the highest of the hill near Rugby Park. The water is pumped, settled and supplied to the town through pipes. The dams are all of masonry and are provided with sluice gates, which are removed at the beginning of the rains and re-fixed in the month of September so that every monsoon the reservoirs are thoroughly flushed and supply of fresh and pure water is guaranteed.
The porous capping of iron-clay, which has made the watersupply of the hill so scanty and so hard to improve, has, at all times of the year, in spite of the heavy rainfall, ensured for Matheran freedom from malaria. There is no marsh on any part of the hill and every stream bed is a bare rock. All material for malaria is yearly swept away, and, in almost all seasons, the thickest of the hill-top forests can be entered without risk. The grass or woodcutters do not suffer from fever, and, where fever has occurred, it has been due to dirt, not to damp. A fit of ague may be caught among the clefts of the rocks, but there is no danger in open places where the air moves. It is this freedom from malaria that makes Matheran so healthy a change to visitors. Children, especially, soon lose the pasty flabbiness they have brought with them from the plains. For the weakness caused by the rainy season in Bombay and for all mental or bodily complaints that healthy exercise and a pleasant life can relieve, Matheran has a healing power. In severe and complex ailments its influence fails.
For some time after the rains are over (October-November) the climate is pleasant. But, as the cold weather advances and the dry north-east winds grow stronger, the climate is much like the Deccan climate, and is neither pleasant nor healthy for those who have suffered from fever or from congested liver. In March and April, though the mornings and evenings continue cool and a hot night is unusual, the midday heat is oppressive. This lasts till, early, in May, specks of fleecy mist in the Pisarnath valley show that a moist air has set in from the sea. From this time, as the sea breeze freshens and the air grows moister and cooler, the climate becomes more and more pleasant, till, in the end of May, thunderstorms gathering from the Deccan, drench the hill, and the season is over. Though the first heavy rain drives away most visitors, those who can stay and are well housed, may, in spite of the wetness of the paths and the want of amusement, enjoy a fortnight or even three weeks of fresh hearty weather even when it rains, and, between the bursts of rain, bright cool days of great beauty. After two or three showers the views gain greatly in softness and colour. The hill tops are clear and purple, the grey leafless woods of the lower slopes become tipped with pink, gold, and light green, and the bushes throw out tufts of pink and purple and sprays of scarlet and gold [. The pahir, ficus cordifolia, is tipped with pink and gold, and the suir and mogri with light green, the ranbhendi bursts into tufts of bright purple, the mhaura patches of pink, and the koshim in sprays of scarlet and gold.]. The baked white and black hillsides soften into greys and browns, and a sudden greening passes over the warm rich plains. Even after heavy rain, in fair days in July and August, the hill-top is pleasant, the paths are firm and tidy, not sodden with damp or overgrown with rank grass or underwood.
en; and the light picked out the most hidden streams and burnished them into threads of molten silver. The Panvel and Nagothana rivers shone like mirrors, and the sea was scored with bars of vivid sunshine. Suddenly, at about five, the storm-rack poured over Bava Malang like a tumultuous sea, and swept into the deep valley between Matheran. and Prabal, with furious blasts and torrents, awful thunder, and flashes of forked lightning. When the clouds had filled the valley the rain and wind ceased and the storm stood still, and, in dead stillness, the thunder and lightning raged without ceasing for an hour. The thunder mostly rolled from end to end of the valley, but it sometimes burst with a crash fit to loosen the bonds of the hills. At six o'clock the storm again moved and passed slowly south over Prabal towards Nagothana, and stream grew strangely clear, the rain-filled rice-fields and rivers flashed like steel, while fleecy clouds lay on every hillock and slowly crept up every ravine. As the sun set behind Bombay the air was filled with soft golden light. Westward towards Thana the hilltops were bright with every hue from golden light to deep purple shadow, while among them, the winding Ulhas shone like links of burnished gold. Then, the moon rose, brightened the mists which had gathered out of the ravines and off the hills, and cleared a way across the calm heavens, while far in the south the black embattled storm-rack belched flame and thunder the whole night long.
The next day (Tuesday) passed without a storm. On Wednesday, the 8th, eastward towards Khandala vast electric cloud banks began to gather. At two in the afternoon, with mutterings of thunder, the sky grew suddenly black and lurid. At half-past two the storm passed west moving straight on Matheran. A mist went before the storm, thickening as it came, first into trailing clouds and then into dripping rain, with muttering thunder all the while. At three the valley between Matheran and Prabal was filled with the storm. Thunder rolled in long echoing peals, and flashes lightened the dense fog with extraordinary splendour. The fog lasted with heavy rain till 3-45, when a light wind swept it west towards Bombay, where, about four, the monsoon burst.
These appalling electric outbursts end serenely. The storm clouds retreat like a drove of bellowing bulls and their last echoes die beyond the distant hills. The sun shines again in majesty, in every dell the delicious sound of running water wakens life, and the woods are vocal with the glad song of birds. [From the Overland Mail, January 16, 1880, p. 17. ]] from the east.


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10 Signs the Pandemic Is About to Get Much Worse
New Covid-19 infections are accelerating, portending a deadly fall and winter
Robert Roy Britt
1. There's a vast reservoir of infected people
2. The viral high season has just begun
3. Young people are being infected at unprecedented rates
4. There are far more infections than we know
5. Everyone's fed up
6. The holidays will only make it worse
7. The people who are most likely to spread the virus are least able to stay home
8. A widespread vaccine is at least months away
9. We're nowhere near natural "herd immunity"
10. The economy is being prioritized over health
A teacher goes over new Covid-19 safety protocols with students in her class at Trinity High School on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2020 in Weaverville, CA. Photo: Kent Nishimura/Getty Images
The pace of new Covid-19 infections is accelerating at exactly the wrong moment in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere, alarming scientists who envision a winter of coronavirus carnage — physical, mental, and economic — unlike anything we've seen so far. In America, daily new infections are surging, which could lead to an inevitable peak that will exceed the highs seen in the spring and summer, all exacerbated by the effects of colder weather.
How on Earth Do We Manage the Holidays?
How to face the reality and make a plan
elemental.medium.com
"We face rapidly accelerating increase in Covid-19 cases across much of Europe, the USA, and many other countries across the world," according to an October 14 open letter published in The Lancet journal and signed initially by about 80 of the top infectious-disease experts in the United States and around the world, and hundreds more since. "It is critical to act decisively and urgently."
Most frustrating for infectious-disease experts: It all could have been prevented. "We should have had this virus under control already," says Michael Mina, MD, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. "We have spectacularly continued to squander any effort in the time that we've had."
"The great concern here is that we are once again at the tipping point of exponential growth of Covid-19 in the U.S. and this time coinciding with the predictable return of the flu season."
Given that the coronavirus is airborne, scientists stress that every individual effort at mask-wearing and distancing helps keep the pandemic from getting even worse. But they say the outlook is grim for health and the economy if governments don't quickly launch strong, well-funded efforts to control community spread.
Here are 10 signs Covid-19 is nearing a dire tipping point:
Mina likens the current situation to fighting forest fires. This spring, many states chose to lockdown even when there were only a few embers poised to flare up on the perimeters — in New York City and a handful of other cities. Now, with all states engulfed in outbreaks and documented new cases exceeding 50,000 each day and rising, there are sparks strewn throughout the entire forest, all ready to ignite.
"We're likely to see massive explosions of cases and outbreaks that could potentially make what we've seen so far look like it hasn't been that much," Mina told a group of reporters recently. Other experts agree.
Epidemiologists worry when the rate of new infections ratchets up from linear to exponential, doubling every few days instead of every few weeks, explains Mark Cameron, PhD, an immunologist and medical researcher in the School of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio. That's what happened in the spring and fall, with those tipping points leading to uncontrolled spread and new highs.
"The great concern here is that we are once again at the tipping point of exponential growth of Covid-19 in the U.S., this time starting from an infection level above our April peak, and this time coinciding with the predictable return of the flu season," Cameron tells Elemental. "Not good."
This Year's Flu Vaccine Could Be the Most Important One You Ever Get
You really don't want to catch both the flu and Covid-19
The high number of cases could not come at a worse time, with schools restarting, restaurants and bars reopening, and cooler weather forcing people indoors and potentially making the coronavirus itself more virulent. Scientists don't know exactly what effect colder weather will have on the virus itself, but none expect it to calm down. "I think we are in a dangerous place," Caitlin Rivers, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University, told The New York Times.
In the early stages, the pandemic swept through nursing homes and infected a disproportionate number of older people.
But since Memorial Day, the number of infections in young adults has soared, and now with in-person classes resuming, children are being infected more than ever — we don't really know how many, because they often don't have symptoms, but we do know they're able to spread what they've caught.
Because younger people are less likely to die from Covid-19, the rate of deaths per infection has fallen (improved treatment has also helped lower the death rate). But that masks the fact that more than 700 Americans are dying from Covid every day — a plateau that has held steady for several weeks. Meantime, hospitalizations have already started to tick back up, and Covid-19 deaths were rising in 23 states as of October 16.
While the official count of new daily infections is in the tens of thousands, the real count is in the hundreds of thousands, Mina says. Many of those who are infected do not know it and may never know, given a lack of symptoms or only mild symptoms. A handful of these people create superspreading events like what occurred at the White House. Expect more of these if people don't avoid crowds, maintain physical distance, and wear masks.
Everyone needs a break from all the social separation, sure. But traveling to large family gatherings is a surefire way to worsen the pandemic, scientists say.
Covid fatigue is widespread, fueled by sadness, stress, isolation, constant vigilance, and conflicting messages from political leaders that run counter to scientific advice. We all run the risk of letting our guard down, psychologists say.
"This has been so emotionally taxing, and we can only take so much," says Neda Gould, PhD, a clinical psychologist and assistant professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Medicine. "People are feeling exhausted and burned-out from having to do certain things a certain way, and then not do so many things."
Scientists fear some people might stop masking up or give in to the temptation of large or even small gatherings. The coronavirus will take full advantage of any lapse, they warn.
Already, "small household gatherings" are contributing to the rising rate of infections, Robert Redfield, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said on a call with governors October 13.
"This does not surprise me given people's Covid-19 fatigue," says Krutika Kuppalli, MD, a clinical professor of infectious diseases at Stanford University School of Medicine. "And it makes me increasingly concerned as we head into the holiday season with Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, and other religious festivals that we will see more small gatherings leading to an increase of cases."
Those most affected by the pandemic are overrepresented in crucial jobs like frontline health care, transportation, and the service industry, and many of them don't have the privilege of working from home to stay safe and help avoid spread.
This has been a problem throughout the pandemic, but with restaurants and other businesses opening back up, and schools restarting, the risk of exposure for everyone grows. Recently, it was revealed that 123 frontline workers on Capitol Hill, including police and contractors, have tested positive for Covid-19.
Even if a safe vaccine is cleared for production tomorrow (which nobody expects), it will be months before most people have access to it. Maybe April, says Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
But given the politicization of the effort and the breakneck speed of development, we might end up with multiple vaccines and people won't know which one works best — some may not work well. Expect lots of confusion as scientists and politicians wrangle over who gets the first doses. Meanwhile, an increasing number of Americans say they're unwilling to get the vaccine, according to the latest Gallup Poll.
Regardless, even a wildly successful vaccine won't dent the pandemic in 2020.
"We need to have a national plan to get control of this virus. It's not out of our reach. And this is why I'm so frustrated at the federal response."
From early on in the pandemic, a handful of scientists and politicians have proposed we let the coronavirus run wild, eventually creating natural "herd immunity," whereby enough people will have been infected and presumably protected that the virus finds few new hosts and dies out.
The latest version, the so-called Great Barrington Declaration, has been promoted within the White House by three scientists who claim the virus is not that deadly. They suggest protecting only the most vulnerable people and letting the virus run its course among younger people and others.
"This is a dangerous fallacy unsupported by scientific evidence," the infectious-disease experts argue in The Lancet letter. "Uncontrolled transmission in younger people risks significant morbidity and mortality across the whole population. In addition to the human cost, this would impact the workforce as a whole and overwhelm the ability of health-care systems to provide acute and routine care."
Somewhere between 40% to 70% of a population would have to be infected to see a significant impact of natural herd immunity, infectious-disease experts say. In the United States, some 10% or fewer have caught Covid-19 so far. Achieving natural herd immunity here would cause at least 1 million deaths, the scientists say.
Scientists are well aware that lockdowns are economically painful. They argue, however, that the economy can't be healthy if the people aren't healthy.
"We need to have a national plan to get control of this virus," Mina says. "It's not out of our reach. And this is why I'm so frustrated at the federal response." Full-on lockdowns may become inevitable if hospitals fill up, but he says we don't need to get to that point. "We have the tools, and the wherewithal, and the ability, if we actually worked as one."
Imagine, Mina muses, if the president were to change his tone and say the following: "My fellow Americans, today we're turning over a new leaf. We are going to take control of this virus. All we have to do is everyone wear a mask, and everyone social distance as much as possible within reason. But wear a mask, and be responsible."
"Those few words coming from this president, combined with all of the people who are doing that already, could really make all the difference in the world to our ability to control this virus," Mina says. "And then we could safely open the economy."
Explainer of things, independent health and science journalist, author, former editor-in-chief of LiveScience and Space dot com.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Fall Out Boy American Beauty / American Psycho
By Rebecca M. Williams
With over ten years and a hiatus under their belt, Fall Out Boy have been known to grow and change with each release. 2013's Save Rock and Roll ushered in a new era for Fall Out Boy; the pop punk that the band became known for transformed into pure radio-ready pop. The group's latest release, American Beauty / American Psycho, has expanded on the band's new sound, proving that Fall Out Boy haven't settled yet.
They lay the theatrics on thick on American Beauty / American Psycho. From the horn section on "Irresistible" to the haunting choral cadence at the end of "Twin Skeleton's (Hotel in NYC)" to Patrick Stump's vocal acrobatics throughout each track, the album is clearly meant to grab the attention of a sold-out mega-venue. "The Kids Aren't Alright" is a nod to every underdog who holds this band close; it's a Folie A Deux-esque track that builds at the chorus, evoking the desire to sing along.
The album's nadir is the title track, which is so busy and disorienting it feels like an audio assault. It's an unfortunate electronic train wreck reminiscent of lyricist Pete Wentz's flopped hiatus project, Black Cards, proof that not all experiments translate into success.
American Beauty / American Psycho might be challenging for Fall Out Boy listeners who yearn for the snark-soaked emo of Take This To Your Grave or From Under the Cork Tree, but listeners who can handle a few catchy, dance-worthy tracks will appreciate their latest creation. Fall Out Boy have honed in on an arena-rattling brand of pop that is different for sure, but likeable nonetheless. (Island)
More Fall Out Boy
Aug 24 @ 5:30PM - Green Day / Fall Out Boy / Weezer Toronto @ Rogers Centre
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Fans of Green Day, Weezer and Fall Out Boy are buzzing at the possibility of all three bands getting together for a triple-bill joint tour....


What are the benefits of Swarm?
Is it easy to setup Swarm?
Where should UUIDs be stored?
What is pure object storage?
What is elastic content protection (ECP)?
How does Swarm assure data integrity?
What is a Content Integrity Seal?
Does Swarm provide WORM storage?
What are the requirements to scale and upgrade a Swarm cluster?
What is the level of effort to administer Swarm?
How to integrate and application with Swarm?
What are the differences between block storage vs object storage?
Does Swarm support custom metadata?
Can Swarm store encrypted data?
Does Swarm provide index and searching functionality?
Can you run Swarm as a Virtual Machine?
Swarm is unified storage software, enabled by pure object storage, designed to store unstructured data also referred to as fixed content or reference information. This includes documents, e-mail, images, audio, video, voice mails, ring tones, and medical images and records.
Swarm software runs on standard, commodity server hardware (x86), which enables organizations to implement affordable clustered storage that delivers high performance, scalability and reliability. Swarm may be used to store all of an organization's content because it delivers the speed of primary storage that is secure and cost-effective enough to archive content for the duration of its useful life.
Caringo CAStor was the first software only storage product launched in 2005. In May of 2014 due to the continued innovation by Caringo in the object storage space and the introduction of interfaces that enabled unified storage on top of Caringo's pure object storage approach we changed the name of the product to Swarm but kept the version number consistent to show the maturity of the product after almost a decade of development and market hardening.
Swarm is enabled by a massively parallel architecture, also known as a redundant array of independent nodes that boot from bare metal, run completely from RAM and where each node can perform every process. All legacy technology that constrains traditional storage like file systems and OS installs are eliminated. Swarm is what makes Caringo the most efficient and easy to manage object storage solution on the planet.
What are the benefits of Swarm's massively parallel architecture?
How easy is Swarm to set up?
Swarm is designed for a simple and easy set up by booting the software form a USB or via a PXE boot server for large clusters. The software is up and running in seconds.
The easiest way to understand object storage is to use the analogy of valet parking. When you hand over your car to have it parked, you are issued a ticket with a specific number on it. In order to retrieve the car, you simply provide the ticket/number to the valet. You don't care where the car is parked, if it was moved or how it is stored as long as it is returned in the same condition.
Object storage functions similarly, but with digital content. A file is submitted/stored and a key/unique identifier (UUID) is returned to the application for future access. When that file is later requested for retrieval, the application passes the key back to the object storage system and the file is retrieved. There are no file hierarchies, folder names or disk locations associated with the stored file. If the file is moved in storage, the key never changes. The file is free to move system wide enabling highly automated system management and optimization which is the reason why object storage can scale easily in file count and capacity.
UUIDs or user-defined object names can be stored in applications, in documents or in a database. There are no restrictions as to where or how the UUIDs or user-defined object names are stored.
As with any technology there are different ways to implement technical concepts. Some object storage solutions are built on top of file systems or employ single points of failure like controller nodes, management nodes or metadata databases. Pure object storage does not have a file system, metadata database or any single points of failure. Pure object storage is the only way to provide uncomplicated, massive scale since all bottlenecks are removed and complexity is automatically managed by the software as the system grows.
Swarm protects data through Elastic Content Protection (ECP) that provides the storage industry's most comprehensive data protection functionality and enables you to match the right storage durability and SLA to individual users or apps, optimize data center footprint, and enhance data accessibility regardless of content size, capacity or number of data centers. ECP is the only data protection scheme to provide the choice and movement between replication and erasure coding, simultaneously available on the same node with automated migration from one protection scheme to the other. The result is a storage solution that dynamically adapts storage capacity utilization and object count based on your business, retention or accessibility requirements.
Erasure coding provides Enterprise protection at lower storage footprint levels and is ideal for moderately sized files (1 MB+) and large content stores.
As file sizes and data sets grow – operational resources such as data center space, power, cooling and hardware become more difficult to manage and copy based protection schemes become less efficient. The solution is erasure coding, which breaks a file into multiple data segments and computes parity segments, resulting in total segments that use less capacity and operational resources than an additional copy but still provide enterprise grade protections.
Files split into multiple data segments (k) and additional parity segments (p) based on the content of the data segments. This results in m total segments (k + p = m) being distributed to m different CAStor nodes or sub-clusters.
Replication provides Enterprise protection with faster access for small or large files and is ideal for content delivery and small files (KBs-MBs).
Responsiveness is enabled by rapid access to a file. This means that to ensure snappy response times replicating whole copies is a better solution than splitting a file into segments. In addition there is overhead associated with splitting a file into segments which is why erasure coding is less efficient for smaller files. For these use cases replication is ideal.
Replication uses copy-based data protection where complete copies of a piece of content are made and distributed across nodes or sub-clusters. Because replication stores data contiguously on disk once the first bit is identified, content is delivered rapidly and efficiently without the need for rehydration.
Swarm employs a hash algorithm that computes a digest, sometimes referred to as a digital fingerprint, based on the bit sequence for each content object (file). The digest is used by Swarm's Health Processor (HP) and runs in the background and continuously checks the content's integrity. If an object is determined to be corrupt a new replica is generated from another correct replica stored in the system. This ensures that there is always the correct number of clean replicas available and accessible in Swarm.
The hash digest is also used as the Content Integrity Seal, which is a method to prove the authenticity of a content object as an original for compliance and evidentiary purposes in an open, customer auditable data structure. Swarm separates the content address (UUID) from the digital fingerprint (digest) allowing the hash algorithm to be seamlessly upgraded if the original is compromised. This has happened with both the MD5 and SHA-1 algorithms and Swarm's patented, transparently upgradeable hash assures the long-term integrity of content.
Yes, Swarm can provide WORM storage if specified when content is written. Once specified, WORM content can never be deleted. Swarm can also manage content lifecycle information automatically and one can specify that a file cannot be changed throughout its defined life and cannot be deleted until the retention period has expired. This addresses regulatory mandates such as SEC17a4, which is the most stringent regulatory requirement defined for data storage.
Legal Hold creates a point-in-time snapshot of a specified set of objects at a specified time that are then immutably stored regardless of what happens to the original object or cluster and satisfies SEC 17-4(F).
What is required to scale and upgrade a Swarm cluster?
Capacity can be increased in a Swarm cluster dynamically while the system is running. Simply add a new node to the cluster and the available capacity is automatically added to the available pool without the need to provision or configure the new storage. Upgrading the server hardware for Swarm nodes is similarly easy. Boot the new, updated server(s) into the cluster then gracefully retire the older node(s) to be removed. All the content on the server node being retired is replicated to other nodes in the cluster and when completed its disks are wiped clean and it can be removed. All this is done while the Swarm cluster is operational and without impact to applications or data availability. Caringo calls this hot scaling.
The Swarm cluster is easy to administer. It eliminates the need to provision or configure storage when new capacity is added. Its self-healing characteristics allow the Swarm cluster to seamlessly recover from a failed node or disk without impacting data availability. If a node goes down, the cluster immediately recognizes its loss and the rest of the cluster works together to replicate all the content on the impaired node. This occurs without administrator intervention or impact to applications and data availability. The Swarm cluster is also self-balancing such that it will automatically balance stored content evenly across nodes in the cluster for optimal performance and to eliminate hot spots. All of these actions require minimal administrative overhead and a Swarm cluster can be managed from a central browser interface that is the same whether there are a couple of nodes or thousands of nodes in the cluster.
Lower energy and cooling costs with customizable power consumption for specific hardware.
Extend the life of all hardware by reducing constant use based on hardware age.
Provide more efficient operation of older hardware leading to significant reductions in overall power consumption.
Provide the operational costs of tape while maintaining fast access when content is needed.
Set specific nodes as deep archive nodes that awaken only when needed, fill disk by disk, and go back to sleep until access is required.
How does an application integrate with Swarm?
Applications integrate with Swarm using standard HTTP 1.1. Swarm uses a simplified subset of the HTTP 1.1 standard called Simple Content Storage Protocol (SCSP) as the native interface to Swarm. It is an on-the-wire protocol that will never be outdated and will never require porting. Essentially, there is no proprietary API and any application or web service can be interfaced to Swarm in a matter of hours.
CloudScaler extends the standard Swarm API with authentication and authorization functionality in addition to support for the Amazon S3 API that enables the existing ecosystem of applications that have integrated S3 support to interface directly with Swarm.
Caringo also supports traditional file and storage protocols, SMB, NFS, FTP and WebDav through FileScaler (previously named Content File Server (CFS)). FileScaler is not a classic file system. Rather it is a thin mapping layer that looks like a file system to applications, and speaks HTTP to Swarm. On the front-end it presents a standard file system interface and on the back-end it delivers a vast flat address space, massive scalability, high performance, and reliability.
How is Swarm different from traditional file systems using block storage?
Unlike file systems that ride on top of block storage devices, Swarm provides a single, flat address space to store content and information about the file is stored with the object in metadata. In file system based storage information about the file is stored in the file system while the file itself is fused to a specific hardware location through file hierarchies, folder names and physical disk location (inodes and blocks). Swarm stores files as whole objects or object segments in contiguous disk space and only needs to manage a single UUID for each piece of content. This approach virtualizes information from the hardware layer enabling the movement of objects throughout the storage system and enables the continuous evolution of hardware while maintaining the integrity and durability of information.
Yes, Swarm allows custom metadata to be defined by applications to uniquely describe content objects. Swarm stores all metadata with actual content and is persisted through its life cycle. Other metadata elements include number of replicas to be maintained, erasure coding scheme, retention period, content type, file name, originating application and others. Swarm also supports a special metadata element called the Lifepoint™.
Lifepoints are system enforced and managed content lifecycle policies. Swarm stores all operational and descriptive information needed to execute these policies with the object itself – eliminating the need for a vulnerable metadata database and associated database administration.
The Health Processor continuously runs in the background enforcing Lifepoints and ensuring optimal use of available resources system wide.
Yes, Swarm 9 supports full volume AES-256 encryption. Swarm will ensure that the information you store is exactly the same as when you stored it and has not been tampered with.
Does Swarm provide index/search functionality?
Yes, the Indexer is scale-out application that can run on dedicated hardware or a VM and provides ad-hoc querying of a Swarm cluster. Results can be viewed through the web-based Indexer portal or be delivered in raw XML or JSON for import into 3rd party analytics packages. Swarm can also be integrated with 3rd party indexing ir search engine applications.
Can you run Swarm in as a VM?
Yes, Swarm can run as a VM and has been testing in a VMware ESXi environment.


Sharing some of the types of yoga poses that I have been practicing. Some of the poses are real tough for me (e.g. Eagle pose, Locust pose) and the pose I like best……Corpose pose! So, which is your favourite pose?


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This is just a quick thought. Don't grow up. That's it! Or, rather – don't 'grow up' to the extent that you forget all that God has spoke to you and encouraged you with . . . ! Samuel was spoken to by God when he was just a boy serving Eli in the temple. Samuel grew up to effectively lead Israel as a prophet and a man who walked closely with The Lord. Samuel went to anoint a new King after Saul stuffed it up. On arriving at Jesse's house, Samuel gets out his little jar of oil and is already to anoint the eldest son Eli has – 'this must be the one' he thinks.
Why does Samuel assume that 'Gods anointed' is the kind of guy that everyone would admire? God says this, 'I look at the heart, not outward things'. How could Samuel forget that HE was also chosen when just a boy.
When he runs out of sons to anoint – he has to ask Jesse if he has anymore. David was not even worth calling to stick in the line up!
Samuel forgot how God works. Are we prone to forgetting as we get older? Do we expect a God to pick our young people for great things? Have we grown old? Don't forget the young, don't make assumptions, don't keep stuff back from a God (which is what Jesse did), throw everything in with Jesus.
We have an 'old' church in this country – we are long in the tooth. We are struggling to 'pass on' that which we have received. The challenge is not about whether or not we a WANT to pass it on – it is whether we are engaging with those who are not yet part of the church enough that they will receive what we are trying to pass on.
There. It is not a radical thought – we just to remember – if the prophet Samuel could 'forget' the fact that he was chosen when a young boy and was going after the safe bet of the 'eldest' son – then what might we forget? What might we fail to notice? Who might 'turn our heads' instead of cause is to bow our heads – in wonder again at God's economy, God's choices – God's values.
My car has been a total nightmare for about 8 weeks. For some bizarre reason half the dash board lights have stubbornly remained ON after I have turned the engine off, locked the car and walked away – illuminating the inside of the car with a pulsing glow. This is a BIG problem! No garage has been able to sort the problem, leaving it like this just drains the battery. I had an isolator switch fitted next to the battery to sort this out (every time I drive the car I have to turn this on, ever time I leave the car, it's an extra thing to remember to turn off).
On Friday, inexplicably – I turned the engine off and ALL the dash board lights went out. Plunged into darkness – it felt like a minor miracle!
I got to thinking, it's not always BAD when the lights go out! This is true in our spiritual lives too – here are three reasons it's good to be in the dark!
#1. Look Up. I used to live surrounded by light pollution, it was 'night' outside – but still ridiculously bright when I lived in London. Street lights, signs, buildings lit up like it was Christmas (only 24/7 and all year round). Now, I live in the country and I am plunged into darkness just beyond my front door! So – I spend more time looking up! When I was in London it was hard to see the night sky – now, on a clear night in the country it is breathtaking to look up and see such brightness, see so clearly an incredible array above me! When it is dark around us, it should always be a reminder to look up, the creator who put the stars there also put us (you and me) here, we are set in our place – His hand is on us. An amazing night sky reminds me of this, however dark it seems.
#3. Walk by Faith. Another advantage of the dark is that we have to rely on our other senses, in fact when it IS dark these senses often feel heightened anyway. Especially our hearing. I am amazed what I can suddenly hear when it is dark, that I don't notice when it is light. The challenge we have of the imagery of 'light' is it conveys, almost always the idea of being able to see. However, walking in the light is not just about us being able to see – it is also about being seen. Who has his gaze constantly fixed on us? Who keeps us from stumbling?
Then, as we look at those great heroes and heroines of the faith in Hebrews we are reminded again and again that though they walked 'in the light' they often set out with no idea where they were going . . . ! When it seems dark around us it can be a good place to use another of our senses that is heightened by the dark – listen! The evidence of our eyes, as we have seen can sometimes deceive us – we need to cultivate our listening! What is God saying, shouting, whispering to us when things seem dark. It CAN be good to find ourselves reliant on that voice when we cannot see the way.
So – look up today, ignore the shiny shiny and when it all feels dark – listen!


text:
Collections
===========

The consistency manager usually just handles listening to one model. However, having an array of models without a parent model is common. In this case, we actually want to listen to multiple models. There are a couple of ways to do this.

Option #1 - BatchListener
-------------------------

The library supports batch listening (see :doc:`060_otherFeatures`). This allows you to listen to multiple models at once and receive a single callback for changes. This is probably the easiest way to implement this feature and provides a single ModelUpdates object with all the models that were changed or deleted.

Option #2 - Multiple Listeners
------------------------------

Another option is to create an array of listeners, each of which listens to one model. This way, you will receive multiple update notifications if multiple rows have changed so updates won't be batched.

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text:
Q: Laravel merging configs in Laravel packages I'm writing a package on laravel that it require some packages to install.
I want to overwrite own package configuration file with the applications's published copy, and use the mergeConfigFrom method within my package service provider's register method. but it dosent work as i expect

app/config/publishedConfig.php

return [
  'dashboard_url' => 'home',
  'logout_url' => 'logout',
  'login_url' => 'login'
];

And

package/vendor/path/to/config/config.php

return [
   'dashboard_url' => 'dashboard/login',
   'logout_url' => 'dashboard/logout',
   'login_url' => 'mongodb-login'
]

Then in register method on my package service provider i use mergeConfigFrom like below to overwrite publishedConfig on run time:
public function register(){

    $this->mergeConfigFrom(
         __DIR__.'/config/adminlte-logo.php','publishedConfig'
    );
}

After that I use dd(config('publishedConfig')) helper to get result of merge But the result not changed.
expected result is :
   'dashboard_url' => 'dashboard/login',
   'logout_url' => 'dashboard/logout',
   'login_url' => 'mongodb-login'

I will appreciate anyone who solve my issue.
Thanks in advance

A: Finally i have overwrite it in --force tag way.
php artisan vendor:publish --tag=config --force

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange