MYSORE , CANARA, AND MALABAR. 593

12th May. — I went to Kingara, or Tingara, which seems to have formerly beenmuch more flourilhing than it is at prefent. The hedges, and other defences of thetown, are of much greater extent than would be neceffary for the prefent population ;and the fpace within them contains the ruins of many houfes. It is faid-to have beendeftroyed by Tippoo, in order to prevent it from being of ufe to Lord Cornwallis ,and never to have recovered the lofs which it then fultained. The inhabitants werevery inhofpitable; a Brahman encouraging them to refufe us any aftiltance, by pre-tending that my people would not pay for what they might obtain. The fort is ingood condition.

The arable land on this day’s route does not appear ever to have exceeded four-tenths of the country; and the fmall proportion of irrigated land which has formerlybeen cultivated, appears to be now wafte, owing to the decay of the refervoirs. Theuncultivated lan'd is more hilly than any between the Ghats and Bangalore . It isvery rocky and bare, and does not contain even copfe wood. Some part of our routeled by the banks of a fmall river, which contained a little running water.

It is here alleged, that Tippoo ’s regulations, prohibiting trade to the dominions ofthe Nabob of Arcot, were very ill obferved, and that paffports were privately givento traders by the principal officers of government. The Sultan’s table was fervedwith country fait, and his nobles attended the court in their native manufactures;but, among the rich at home, fea-falt, and the cloths of Europe , Bengal, and Madras,were in conftant ufe.

The country about Windy is beautiful. A fmall river runs north and fouththrough the valley, which is about a mile wide, and extends far in the direction ofthe river. It confifts of fields, fwelling like the grounds in Kent, and contains manyfcattered trees, mangoes ( mangfera ), banyans ( ficus Bengalen/is), and the like. It ison all Tides furrounded by hills, moft of them covered with wood, but fome rifinginto bare rocky peaks. If the rivulet were adequate to the other parts of the view,this would be complete ; but at prefent it contains only fmall pools of dirty ftagnantwater.

The villages are fmall and poor, and are not fortified like the others in the country ;the woods, by which they are furrounded, having probably been fufficient to keepoff the irregular troops that attend all Indian armies, and which generally are cavalry.In cafe of invafion, the inhabitants have alfo been accuftomed to take refuge in theneighbouring hill-fort called Ramagiri.

The ftrata throughout thefe hills, as well as in the country between them and theeaftern Ghats, are difpofed about north and fouth, by the compafs, and are all nearlyvertical. A very common ftratum here is white quartz running parallel to the gneifs,and difpofed between two ftrata of that rock. I have obferved thefe ftrata of quartzthree feet thick.

In both the Upper and Lower Carnatics, taking fnuff is much more common than inBengal: indeed I have never been in a country where the cuftom was more prevalent.Smoking, on the contrary, is in great difrepute. The hooka is totally unknown,except among Muffulmans. The lower claffes fmoke cheruts, or tobacco rolled upin a leaf; but a Brahman would lofe call by fuch a practice, and it is not confideredas becoming, even among the richer part of the Sudra tribe.

14th May. — I went to Chinapatam, or Chinapatana, through a very beautifulcountry, confiding of fwelling grounds, in fome places cultivated, and in many morecovered with trees, which are intermixed with fteep fantaftic rocks and hills. Thetrees here are by far the fineft that I have feen in either Carnatic , although they fall

vol. vm. 4 g very