CiiAP. XXrV. MATEPOLIEM TO COIMBATOIIE. 391 



he swallowed the driver, and kicked the cart down again, 

 lihima, the impersonation of strength, when passing through 

 this part of the country, vohmtecred to act as driver, had a 

 desperate encounter with the giant, and killed him. The 

 dying Pukasooren cursed the whole country over which the 

 shadow of the mountain fell during the day, and it has ever 

 since been the abode of a deadly fever. It is certain that 

 the jungles at the roots of the hills are the most fever- 

 haunted districts in India, and I rode rapidly through this 

 belt of forests, and along a road bordered with cana-fiatula 

 and sapparir'iiee^,^ to the village of MatepoKem, on the banks 

 of the river Bowany, and five miles from the foot of the 

 ghaut. 



Matepoliem is twenty-three miles from the town of Coim- 

 batore, and I rode this distance on a Neilgherry pony in 

 the early morning. The road is perfectly straight, with an 

 avenue of shady trees along the whole length, and good 

 bridges over the dry sandy water-courses. The soil appeared 

 to be poor, partly waste, and partly cultivated with cholum 

 {Sorghum Vulgare^), lablab,^ and sesame. Cholum, or great 

 millet, is much cultivated in the peninsula, and used as food 

 in the shape of cakes and porridge, where rice is scarce or 

 too expensive. It grows to a height of five or six feet, and 

 cattle are very fond of the straw, which contains sugar, but 

 it soon exhausts the soil, and two crops are never taken off 

 the same land in succession. There are two villages on the 

 road between Matepoliem and Coimbatore, called Kara- 

 muddy and Goodaloor, in both of which there is a choultry 

 or native bungalow, and in the latter an Englisli post-house. 

 At Karamuddy there is a very picturesque temple, and on 



- Csesalpinia sappa)), a haridsoinc 

 tree, with curiously-shapfd potl.s. It 

 yields a valuable dye 



ill Tolugii ; yawanul, in Sanscrit ; and 

 doora, in Egypt. 



Dolidum lablnli, a kind «[' [>u\>o 



Culled jowaree, in Bvngdlcv Jonna, ' nuu-h eaten by the poor i)eople. 



