392 COIMBA^'ORE. Chap, XXIY. 



the roadside I passed several horses of earthenware, votive 

 ofteriiigs by the potters to their god. Under many of the 

 trees there are images of the elephant-headed, pot-belhed 

 god of wisdom, Ganesa, anointed with ghee, and adorned 

 with garlands of flowers. 



The streets of Coimbatore consist of long rows of red-tiled, 

 mud-walled buildings, witli no windows, and overhanging 

 eaves supported by wooden pillars, under which there 

 are raised platforms where the people sit and talk. In 

 peeping in at the doors, I could never discern any article 

 of furniture in the dark obscurity of the interiors, but they 

 generally looked clean and well swept. The houses of the 

 English officials are about a mile from the town, generally 

 surrounded by park-like compounds, but the trees and grass 

 thi-ive badly in the shallow sandy soil. Outside the town 

 tliere are two very large tanks, one nearly a mile long, which 

 irrigate some rice-fields. The view is very pretty, with these 

 extensive sheets of water in the foregTound, the cujDolas of 

 temples rising above the trees beyond, and Lambton's Peak 

 \\ ith the blue line of the Neilgherries in the distance. 



Some exertions are being made at Coimbatore, both by 

 Protestant and Eoman Catholic missionaries, and about sixty 

 natives attend the little chapel of the London Mission 

 Society. The Bible is very properly not admitted into any 

 of the Government schools, and, strange to say, educated 

 natives often inquire why this is not done, and why Clu*istians 

 are ashamed of their Shaster. But in schools unconnected 

 with the Government the study of the Bible is enforced 

 like any other class-book, and there are upwards of forty 

 Brahmin youths in Coimbatore who habitually take it home 

 to learn, with their other lessons, and never make the slightest 

 objection. Mi-. Thomas, the Collector, felt very strongly the 

 great importance of educating the women, and a girl-school 

 has been set on foot, after mu(.'h difficulty. At present the 



