CHAPTER VI. 



8IRCL NEELCOOND. GAIRSAPPA. 



SIRCI is a considerable town, twenty 

 miles south of Soopah, and situated in 

 a wide plain everywhere encircled by 

 the forest. The teak- tree here dis- 

 appears almost entirely, and gives 

 place to less valuable timber, though 

 the forest is still as dense as ever. 



The place was then the head-quarters 

 of the joint magistrate of Canara. My 

 friend, Mr. Samuel Neville Ward, who 

 held the office and was an excellent 

 public servant, was above all things a 



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