INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 135 



are 



is the same. The rivers which flow 

 separated by spurs of a high table- 

 land, rarely rising into hills, so that the country appears nearly 

 flat, except to the eastward, where it dips suddenly into the 



Carnatic. The elevation of Bellary 



Karnul 



om 



feet above the level of the sea. 



Another spur from the great peninsular chain forms the 

 southern boundary of the province, separating the district 

 of Coimbator and the basin of the Bhowani river from the 

 upper basin of the Cavery. This range, which attains gene- 



m 



om the eastern slopes of the Nilglr 



Between these two watersheds, the table-land of Mysore 

 forms a gently undulating plain, sloping downwards, from 

 4000 feet at the base of the mountains, to 3000 at Bangalor, 

 and 2400 at Seringapatam on the banks of the Cavery. 



The highlands of Mysore sink everywhere abruptly into 

 the plain of the Carnatic, except where the great rivers de- 

 bouche ; and the extremities of the broad flat-topped ranges 

 which form the table-land, when viewed from a little distance, 

 present the appearance of a continuous range of hills parallel 



as 



Karnul 



Myso 



the higher parts of the basin of the Tungabudra and the Pe- 

 nar, are usually excluded from Mysore, being known as the 

 Ceded Districts, because they were transferred from the king- 

 dom of Mysore to the Nizam after the war in 1 800, and after- 

 wards made over to the British Government in lieu of a 



payment. As they present no physical or botanical 



money 



them 



under 



Mysore, of which the Kistna will therefore form 

 boundary. 



