CHAPTER II. 



THE PROVINCE OF MYSORE. 



DESCRIPTION — CLIMATE — POPULATION — REVENUE — THE LATE MAHARAJAH — CHARACTER 

 OF PEOPLE — CULTIVATION — RIVERS — CHIEF TOWNS— MYSORE BREED OF DRAUGHT- 

 CATTLE — SEASONS . 



THE Mysore country is an elevated, undulating plateau of 27,004 square 

 miles, lying between 13° 6' and 15° 0' north latitude. Its length 

 from north to south is 190 miles, and its width from east to west 230. 



Mysore is bounded on the north by the Bombay Collectorate of Dharwar 

 and the Madras Collectorate of Bellary ; on the east and south by other 

 districts of the Madras Presidency ; and on the west by Coorg, a dependent 

 province, and the Western Ghats. Its chief town, Bangalore, is situated in 

 the same latitude as, and 200 miles due west of, Madras. Mysore is a 

 native State in subsidiary alliance with the British Government. 



The general level of the country is from 2500 to 3000 feet above the 

 sea, the lowest point being 1800 feet, and it descends steeply on all sides 

 into the low country. High mountains, some 2500 feet above the ordinary 

 level of the plateau, bound it on the west : these are called the Western 

 Ghats, and extend from the extreme south of India, through Travancore, 

 Malabar, Mysore, and Bombay, to Kandeish, or about 950 miles, at a mean 

 distance of some 5 miles from the coast. They break the force of the mon- 

 soon from the west ; and the deluges of rain common in the country between 

 them and the coast are modified in Mysore into showers and temperate 

 rains. 



Bounding Mysore on the south are the Neilgherry Hills, attaining an 

 elevation of 8700 feet. Ootacamund, the chief sanitarium of Southern 

 India, is easily accessible from Mysore. Its elevation is 7300 feet. 



In the south-east are the Billiga-Kungun hills, the highest point of 



