MYSORE RAILWAYS. 121 



of sixty feet span, across the Yac^ache river at Belur, 

 which latter, very much needed indeed, as will pre- 

 sently be seen, is to be completed in 1890. The Maha- 

 rajah's line between Bangalore and Mysore, the capital, 

 has recently been bought up by the Southern Mahratta 

 Railway Company, with a view of continuing it as far 

 as Bellary, to connect it with Bombay direct, as well 

 as with Marmagaon, by a branch line westward; a very 

 important extension, since the latter seaport is open 

 all the year round, whereas Mangalore, Tellicherry, 

 Calicut, &c., are closed during the monsoon. Railway 

 communication has been a great boon to Mysore coffee 

 planters, whose estates — at a very low ebb a few years 

 ago — have in consequence materially increased in value, 

 no doubt assisted by good crops and higher prices for 

 the berry in the European markets. 



Hassan (Plate VII.), to which I must now retrace 

 my steps, is a pretty town, and its inhabitants may 

 well be proud of its magnificent wide avenues of 

 the lofty Flamboyant [Poiisiana), clad in bright 

 scarlet flowers. It is one of the most beautiful 

 trees in the East ; only the Amherstia nohilis of 

 Burmah exceeds it in brilliant effect ; the flower 

 of the latter is scarlet and gold, and grows to a 

 height of forty feet, which the Flamboyant often 

 exceeds. 



