698 buchanan’s jcwrney through

tries where the Tarmil language is fpoken. According to tradition, they left fCunjiabout 700 years ago ; but they can give no account as-to the cccafion of their anceftorSdeferting their native country. Moil; of them have loft their original language : butthey never intermarry with the native Karnatas. Soule of them can read the books iffthe Tamul language that belong to their caft.

Immediately weft from Nagamangala is a hill, which confifts chiefly of a talcofeargillite, approaching very near to a flaty pot-ftone ; the natives indeed call it by thefame name ; and they ufe it for pencils as they do the other. Its ftrutlure is flaty, andit is difpofed in ftrata much inclined to the horizon, and running north and fouth.Some of it is reddifh, and feme has a greenifli hue. Intermixed with it are feverallarge maffes of white quartz. The rock at the town is granite.

28th Auguft.—In the morning I went three coffes to Chinna. The country is morebarren than any that I have feen for fome time, and the heights rife into low rockyhills. Some parts of it are covered with low trees, efpecially with the elate fylveftris,or wild-date. Chinna is a poor ruinous place. It was formerly of fome note; butabout thirty years ago it was deftroyed by the Marattah army, then attacking Hyder,and it has never fmee recovered.

29th Auguft.—I went one cofs to Mail-cotay, or the lofty fortrefs. The country isfteep, and nearly uninhabited. There are, however, many places on the afeent thathave a good foil, and that have formerly been cultivated. The other lands are coveredwith copfe-wood.

Mail-cotay, in the Sanfkrit language, is called by the uncouth name of DakftiinaBhadarikaframam. It is fituated on a high rocky hill, and commands a noble viewof the valley watered by the Caveri, and of the hills of Myfore to the fouth ; cf thofeof the Ghats to the weft ; and' toward the eaft, Savana-Durgaand Siva-Ganga clofe theprofpeft. It is one of the moft celebrated places of Hindu worfhip, both ashaving been honoured with the a&ual prefence of an Avatara, or incantation ofVifhnu; who founded one of the temples ; and' alfo as being one of the principal featsof the Sri Vaifhnavam Brahmans, and having poffeffed very large revenues. Aboutforty years ago it contained ahnoft a thoufand houfes, inhabited by Brahmans, who didnot allow many of the Shuras to remain in the place. A few {hop-keepers and Sata-nanas compofed the remainder of the inhabitants. Soon after this period the Marattahsr.gained a victory over Hyder, and encamped for fome time on the fouth fide cf the hill.The Brahmans here were too cunning to be caught, and the place was entirelydeferted ; but even the temples of their gods did not efcape Marattah rapacity. Forthe fake of the iron-work, and to get at it eafily, they burned the immenfe woodenraths, or chariots, on which the idols are carried in proceffion ; and the fire fpread tothe religious buildings, fome of which were entirely confumed. A firfficient number,,however, ftill remain. The three principal are, a temple placed on the very fumrmtof the rock, and dedicated to Narafingha, one of the Avataras of Yiflmu ; the greattemple of Chiflapulla Raya ; and a noble tank.

The large temple is a fquare building of great dimenfions, and entirely furroundedby a colonnade ; but it is a mean piece of architecture, at leaft outwardly. The columnsare very rude, and only about fix feet high. Above the entablature, in place of abaluftrade, is a clumfy mafs of brick and plafter, much higher than the columns, andexcavated with numerous niches ; in which are huddled together many thoufandimages compofed of the fame materials, and moft rudely formed. Unwilling to giveoffence, I did not fee any of the interior parts of it. although no remonftrtynce wouldhave been made againft my entering the inner courts ; but I wiftted to get fome infor-mation-