and on the Bansctitd Nanies qff/iosc ttegions, S57 



Mysore, from the town where its princes for some geneiations 

 resided. Having examined this and the skirts of the interior 

 of Andhra, I descended again to the low country by the southj 

 and examined the country west from Chola, which the natives 

 call Chera or Cheda, but which Europeans^ from a town in itj 

 call Coimbetore (Coiamatura). Chera as well as Chola is 

 bounded on the south by the country which the natives call 

 Pandiya, extending from near the Kaveri to the Southern 

 Ocean. The nortliern parts of this towards Chera 1 had an 

 opportunity of examining. The vegetation of all these coun- 

 tries is nearly similar. The elevation of Mysore above the 

 others, although probably about 3000 feet of perpendicular 

 height, produces no great change. The temperature is no 

 doubt somewhat lower, and more agreeable to European feel^ 

 ings ; but the aspect of the upper country is not materially 

 different from that of the lower. Both labour under a scarcity 

 of rain, so that artificial irrigation from reservoirs or canals is 

 necessary for the production of rice, which, in the low country 

 especially, is the staple article of food, although both there 

 and in the higher country the rainy season produces crops of 

 miserable small grains, (such as Eleusine Corocanus, Pa7iicum 

 Italicum, and Panicum miliacetim,) that are used by the natives 

 as a succedaneum for rice. These crops have little of an Eu- 

 ropean appearance ; nor do the orchards and gardens heighten 

 the resemblance, The fruit-trees round the villages consist 

 chiefly of the Mangifera, Citrus, Bassia, Artocarpus, Eugenia^ 

 Elate, and Borassus, while the kitchen -gardens require to 

 be watered by machinery from wells. The general appear- 

 ance of the country is sterile, the rock projecting in a great 

 many places, while during the greater part of the year the 

 grass is entirely parched up fiom want of moisture • and even 

 in the rainy season tlie grass is not longer than is usual in 

 Europe. In the woods the trees are still more stunted than 

 those of Europe, and consist in a large proportion of wild 

 prickly dates {Elate sijlvestris) and Bambusre, with trees of the 

 Leguminosa:, especially such as have prickles, and of the 

 Rhamni. Even the thickets consist clnefly of bushes of the 

 Leguminoxdc, and of the Rhamni and Caparidcs, almost all 

 armed with prickles or thorns, while the fences are chiefly of 

 naked Euphorbia; {Anfif/ncirum and Tiruralli). The most com- 

 mon trees, besides the LcgwninosfC and lUiamni, belong to the 

 %rihc oi' Eleagni and tiie genus Greivia .- and the most com- 

 mon herbage consists of small Ci/periis, Scirpus, Andropogo?/, 

 Convohn/lacetr, Acaiithuced', and Leguniinostv, esjjecially Hedy- 

 sarurn, Crotolaria, ami Indigo/ha; so that the vegetables have 

 little in common with those of Europe, especially of its northern 

 Vol. 6.0. No. 3'jrj, Mr/;/ l«'jr>. Cu parts. 



