MYSORE , CANARA, AND MALABAR. 697

abounding with that kind of bird. So far as is known to the natives, thefe hills produceneither wood nor ore of any ufe.

Belluru is a large town, and both fuburbs and citadel are ftrongly fortified with amud-wall and ditch. The walls of the citadel have been lately repaired ; but thofe ofthe fuburb are in the fame ruinous ftate in which, on the approach of Purferam Bhow,they were left by Tippoo ’s troops.

In all this part of the country it has been cuftomary, when a new village was founded,for the perfon appointed to be hereditary Gauda, or chief, to place a large done in ornear the village. This ftone is called the curuvu cullu, or calf-ftone, and is confideredas reprefenting the Grama Devaru, or god of the village. The hereditary Gaudaalways officiates as pujari, or prieft; and at the annual village feaft, after having rub-bed it with oil, offers a facrifice, with which he feafls his relations and the chief men ofthe place. -

27th Auguft.—-I went three coffes to Nagamangala. The country through whichI came refembles what I favv yefterday ; but the greater part of the heights, althoughbarren, appear as if they had been formerly cultivated. At prefent very little of thecountry is under cultivation, and it looks very bare. Within fight were many ruinousvillages.

Nagamangala is a large fquare mud fort, and contains in its center a fquare citadel,which, like that of Chica Nayakana Hully, leaves room in the outer town for oneftreet, with fliort lanes on each fide. In the inner fort are two large temples, and fomeother religious buildings, in good repair; and a mahal, or palace, a cutchery, or publicoffice, and feveral large granaries in ruins. The town and all thefe public buildingswere ereded by a Prince named Jagadeva Raya, who feems to have been of the famefamily with the Rajas of Myfore; for the two houfes had frequent inter marriages.According to tradition, Jagadeva Raya, who founded this city, lived about 600 yearsago. His dominions extended from Jagadeva-Pattana on the eaft, to the frontiers ofthe Manzur-abad Polygar and of the Ikeri Raja on the weft. They were bounded byHagalawadi on the north, and included the Belluru diftriCt. On the fouth they were'bounded by the territories of the Raja of Myfore, and of the Vir’-Raya, who poffeffesthe country that we call Coorg, and who was then proprietor of Maha-Rayana-Durga.About three centuries ago, the fuccelfor of Jagadeva Raya, dying without children,was fucceeded by his kinfman, the curtur of Myfore. This town was originally calledP’hani-pura, or the city of fnakes ; but its name has been changed into Nagamangala,which fignifies the blefied with ferpents. Before the invafion of Purferam Bhow itcontained 1500 houfes, which are now reduced to 200, that are fcattered amid theruins. At the fame time the Marattahs deftroyed 150,000 palm trees. In the wholediftrid there are only about one half of the neceffary cultivators, and they come in(lowly, the Nizam’s country being at too great a diftance. Forty houfes only have beenbuilt fince the place received cowl, or protection, from the Englilh. It poflelfes threefine refervoirs; but for the laft four years fo little rain has fallen, that very little ofthe rice-ground has been cultivated, and the proprietors have not been able to replanttheir palm-gardens.

I obferved the people fiffimg in the ftnall quantity of water that is in the refervoirs;and was told, that fmall fifties are to be found in all the tanks of the country, althoughthey frequently dry up, and have no communication with ftreams from whence theymight get a fupply. The eggs, no doubt, remain dry in the mud, and are not hatcheduntil they have been moiftened by the return of the water.

The greater part of the inhabitants of Nagamangala are what are here called Tigu-laru, or Taycularu ; that is to fay, are defcended from perfons who came from coun-vol. vnx. 4 u tries