Electric Telegraph in India. 451 



cribing department, and in the management of the apparatus, 

 which was on Morse's system, were Hindoos, with their curious 

 marks upon their foreheads, and their old-fashioned costume ! 

 They went, however, through the duties connected with this 

 modern invention with great adroitness. The telegraph is 

 already in operation to Bombay, and in this direction has two 

 separate lines. There are, moreover, other lines in course of 

 construction, — along the coast to Calcutta, — along the coast 

 to Pondicherry by Adam's Bridge,* from Madras to Point de 

 Galle, and from Madras to Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Bellary. 

 In proceeding from the fort to the town of Vellore, which is 

 charmingly situated and regularly laid out, and is inhabited by 

 numerous pensioners of the East India Company, we must 

 cross the river Palaar (or Peliar), which, during the rainy 

 season, is a headlong dangerous torrent, while in the dry 

 season its bed, 1000 feet wide, is but a bare expanse of sand. 

 It is only by dint of strenuous exertions that the traveller is able 

 to pass this sand waste in a waggon, as it sinks at some points 

 above the hubs of the wheels. We had four buffalo oxen 

 yoked, and even then had to be propelled at certain points by 

 the assistance of some 30 coolies or Indian porters besides. 

 This serious inconvenience was shortly after our visit to be 

 remedied by the erection of a splendid bridge of solid masonry, 



* Adam's Bridge — called by the Hindoos Rama's Bridge, — is a bank extending 

 between Ceylon and the mainland of Hindostan, by the islands of ]\Ianaar and 

 Ramisseram. It is about 30 miles in length, running in a N.W. by W. du-ection, 

 about a quarter of a mile in breadth, and principally composed of shelving sand, 

 tlu-ough which are three main openings or channels, that admit the passage of boats 

 of very light di'aught. 



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