Chap. XXIV. DHARAPURUM. 397 



Sir AVilliain Denison proposes to select those seeds to wLich 

 the largest fibres are attached, to be used for the next crop, 

 and so on in each successive season, the minimum length 

 being increased every year. He beheves that, in this way, a 

 permanent addition may be made to the length, and possibly 

 to the fineness of the fibre of the native cotton, which might 

 thus ultimately be able to compete in the English markets 

 with its American rival. Mr. Haywood, tlie Secretary of the 

 Manchester Cotton Comj^any, on the other hand, strongly 

 m-ges that attention should be given to the improvement of 

 American cotton. Well-directed efforts in both dii-ection& 

 will doubtless be rewarded. 



I left Pulladom in the night, and arrived at the large 

 village of Dharapurum in the following morning, a distance 

 of twenty-eight miles. Dharapurum is on the banks of a 

 small river, where there are rice-fields and cocoanut-trees ; 

 for wherever there is the means of irrigation, rice is always 

 cultivated. Great quantities of cows and calves swarm along 

 the roads, and in the open spaces of the village, where there 

 are some fine spreading peepul-trees {Ficus religiosa), one of 

 the sacred trees of the Hindus. It has a peculiarly shaped 

 cordate leaf, with a long narrow acumen one-third the length 

 of the leaf, and yellow flowers ; and it is venerated from a 

 belief that the god Vishnu was born amongst its branches. 

 Potters' horses, and images of the elephant-headed Ganesa, 

 were placed under the trees, the objects of worship by the 

 villagers, who make offerings of ghee and flowers to them. 

 Literally " an idol under every green tree." 



After leaving Dharapurum the road becomes very sandy, 

 and passes over a bleak open country covered with low 

 bushes, on the frontier between the Coimbatore and Madura 

 collectorates. A range of mountains bounded the view to the 

 south. A slow jolting journey of thirty miles brought me to 

 the village of Pulkanooth in Madura. Cholum and lablab 



