buchanan’s journey through

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among them, I found narrow vallies winding through in all direction?. The hills arerocky and bare ; but in many places the foil of the vallies is good. In fome places thereare cocoa-nut gardens; but many of the cleared fields are now unoccupied, and a greatdeal of good ground feems never to have been reclaimed.

The view of Madhu-giri, on approaching it from the eaft, is much finer than that ofany hill-fort that I have feen. The works here make a very confpicuous appearance;whereas in general they are fcarcely vifible, being hidden by the immenfity of the rockson which they are fituated. On the fall of the Vijaya-nagara monarchy, this placebelonged to a Polygar named Chiccuppa Gauda ; but more than a century ago it cameinto the poffeffion of the Myfore family. Mul Raja built the fortrefs of Hone, whichformerly had been only of mud. Here alfo he built a palace; in the fuburbs herebuilt a large temple ; and^near it -he made fine gardens, and the handfomeft buildingfor tbe reception of travellers that I have feen in India . Unfortunately, it is now ruinous.The fortifications were improved to their prefent form by Hyder ; the place in his timewas a confiderable mart, and pofTelfed fome manufactures, having a hundred houfesoccupied by weavers. A Marattah chief, named Madi Row, held k for feven yearsof Hyder’s government, having feized it after the victory which his countrymengained at Tonuru. When he was forced to retire, he plundered the town of everything that he could carry away ; and with the exaggeration ufual in Hindu flan,the place is faid to have been fo rich, that he difdained to remove any thing Iefsvaluable than gold. The oppreffions of Tippoo had nearly ruined the place, whenthe deftruction was completed by the Marattah chief, Bulwunt Row, one of PurferamBhow’s officers. Although he befieged the fort five months, he was unable to take it.His army was numerous, exaggerated by native accounts to 20,000 men ; but theywere a mere rabble, a banditti affembled by the Polygars, who formerly were difpof-feffed of the neighbouring ftrong holds, and who then had ventured back under theprotection of Lord Cornwallis . When that nobleman gave peace to the Sultan, theferuffians had entirely ruined every open place in the neighbourhood ; but theywere immediately afterwards difperfed by the Sultan, who purfued with fo muchactivity the 500 Marattah horfe which had joined this rabble, that twenty only efcapedwith their chief. The place has ever fince been in a very languiffiing condition, butis beginning to revive. Purnea has appointed a brother-in-law of his own to be amildar,and gives the inhabitants confiderable encouragement.

The Idigas, or Idigaru, are a cafl: of Telinga origin; and, though they have loftail tradition concerning the time when they fettled in this country, they ftill retain theiroriginal language. In this they are called Inrawanlu. They can all eat in common,but keep up the purity of the breed by marrying only in certain families whofe defcentis known. Like the Shanar of Madras, their proper bufinefs is t6 extract the juice ofpalm trees, to make it into jagory, and to diftil it into fpirituous liquors; but fomefewof them have become farmers. They wiffi to be called Sudras ; but their claim to beof a pure defcent is not acknowledged by the Brahmans, and they appear never to havebeen permitted to carry arms. The Idigas can read and write accompts. Althoughthey eat animal food, they are prohibited from drinking even palm-wine. The men areallowed a plurality of wives, but can divorce them for no caufe except adultery.Adultreffes and widows cannot marry again ; they may, however, become concubines,or cutigas. All the defendants of thefe form an inferior kind of breed, called alfo-cutigas, with whom thofe who are defended from chafe mothers will not intermarry.The women fell the produce of their hufband’s labour, and manage houfehold affairs ;but never toil in the fields. Even after the age of puberty they continue to be mar-riageable,