Sivasamudram in the Caveri River. 313 
which will be hereafter derived from it, when the bridge now under con- 
struction on the western branch of the Cdveré shall have been completed, 
may be considered incalculable. By these two bridges, the communication 
to and from the possessions of the Honourable Company and the territories 
of his Highness the Rajah of Mysore will no longer be difficult; and the 
merchant and traveller will not hereafter be liable to the dangers which 
have attended the passage of the Caveri in the unsafe basket-boats, nor to 
the inconvenience of detention on the banks of the river, when the passage, 
from its extreme rapidity and great depth, could not be attempted in such 
a conveyance. 
I had for some years been anxious to see this communication established ; 
and when the Right Honourable the Governor last year paid the island and 
this part of the country a visit, I took the liberty to express my opinions 
and wishes to his Excellency. I was in consequence directed to submit my 
plans and proposals; which I accordingly did, for the consideration of the 
Madras Government, and of his Highness the Rajah of Mysore, in the 
month of September 1829. 
My proposals were, that in consideration of certain additional grants of 
land from the Honourable Company, and from his Highness the Rajah, 
and being allowed to levy certain transit duties on merchandize, being half 
of what is now paid to the boat people, I undertook to erect at my own 
expense a bridge on the western branch of the Cdaveri, of the most solid 
materials, and as soon as might be practicable. 
The new bridge which, as a tribute of gratitude and respect to the Right 
Honourable the Governor, I intend shall be denominated, ‘‘ The Lusuine- 
Ton Bridge,” is already considerably advanced, and if nothing extraordinary 
occurs to retard its progress, will I hope be finished in the course of next 
year, or early in 1832. A plan of this bridge, shewing also the progress 
made in its erection, accompanies this memoir.* 
It will be seen that neither the Rdamshatuva Bridge, nor the one under 
construction, is carried in a straight line across the river. ‘Trusting to the 
skill and judgment of the ancient projectors of the former bridge, I followed 
the site upon which it appears to have been erected, and I have every 
reason to be satisfied of the propriety of the resolution which I adopted. 
The shape is certainly not a common one, but it seems better adapted than 
* See Plate No. 9. 
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