THE CITY OF RUBIES. 17 



became permeated with moisture, and the exhalations from the ground caused 

 malarial fevers which eventually depopulated it, and which at this day pre- 

 vent its reoccupation. The sites of the chief towns are now only marked 

 by overgrown and weather-beaten earth-work fortifications, or by stone 

 temples of a solidity that has defied the ravages of time ; and all traces of 

 many smaller villages have been lost. 



The largest of the towns in the valley was Rutnapoori-korte (the City of 

 Rubies), and it is probably at least 150 years since the last inhabitants left 

 it. There are some granite slabs engraved in old Canarese characters near a 

 fine old temple which covers a large area, and these probably contain some 

 account of the founding or history of the temple. The temple is composed 

 of massive pillars and beams of solid granite, many of which have fallen and 

 lie strewn around. I learnt from the legends of the surrounding country 

 that seven sisters formerly lived in Rutnapoori. These were the concubines 

 of the rajah of the place, and each chose a site for the construction of a lake 

 in the valley. These seven tanks, three of them now breached, are named 

 after the sisters. The lowest of the seven was built by the youngest, and 

 has the advantage of catching the surplus water from the others. It is still 

 a splendid sheet of water, called Kurrigul, near the road from Mysore to 

 Manantoddy in the Wynaad country. This road passes through the lower 

 portion of the valley, running parallel with the Cubbany river ; and, as the 

 country is more open and accessible here, several large villages and patches 

 of cultivation which had never quite died out have been resuscitated, and 

 are extending. 



For the upper portion of the valley, overgrown with dense unwholesome 

 forest, nothing can be done at present. Population has long since moved 

 elsewhere, and the tract is not yet required for producing food. A few 

 hamlets spring up occasionally, as some small capitalist is tempted by the 

 richness of the land, and the easy terms on which it is obtainable from Gov- 

 ernment, to cultivate a portion. But the wretched ryots who undertake the 

 work live in a miserable condition. They are soon affected with enlarged 

 spleens, the invariable accompaniment of fevers induced by a bad climate 

 and bad water, and either give up, or decamp with the advances of money 

 they have received. These spasmodic attempts at reclamation seldom 

 last long. The capitalist finds the advantages of the soil are counter- 

 balanced by the difficulty of the position. As long as it is sought to 

 establish villages in the valley far below the level of the upper channels 

 and their cultivation, so long must failure follow, as the unhealthiness of 

 the locality is insurmountable. The only thing possible would be to restore 

 the chain of tanks in the valley, and to abandon the cultivation on the 



B 



