42(5 COLEROON ANICUT. Chap. XXV. 



houses belonging to Mohammedans, and the ruins of the 

 palace of the Nawahs of the Carnatic. 



Through the kindness of Mr. McDonnell, the Collector, I 

 was enabled to pass a very interesting day at the Upper 

 Coleroon anient. Passing the base of the rock of Trichinopoly, 

 and following the main street of the native town, the banks 

 of the river Cauvery are reached, where there are rows of 

 stone temples and houses with open corridors, whence flights 

 of steps lead down into the water. Near the river there is 

 a tank filled with red and white lotus-flowers. A handsome 

 stone bridge spans the Cauvery, and another of equal length 

 crosses the Coleroon, about a mile further on. The two 

 rivers form an island, and unite a few miles lower dowTi ; and 

 the upper anient is about fourteen miles up the river, where 

 Mr. McDonnell had a comfortable bungalow on the banks, 

 shaded by lofty trees. 



The Upper Coleroon anient or weir is constructed at the 

 west end of the island of Seringam, which is formed by the 

 separation of the Cauvery into two branches, namely the 

 Coleroon on the north, and the Cauvery on the south. For- 

 merly the bed of the Coleroon was continually deepening, 

 while that of the Cauvery was rising, so that there was much 

 difficulty in obtaining a sufficient supply of water for the 

 irrio-ation of the rice-fields of Tanjore. The upper anient, 

 commenced by Colonel Cotton in 1836, and finished in 1850, 

 completely answered the purpose of deepening the bed of the 

 Cauvery, so much so that another weir was made across that 

 river, sixty miles lower down ; and by means of the second 

 weir, made in 1845, and the under sluices in the upper one, 

 the water is now effectually kept under command.^ The upper 

 anient, which I visited, is broken into three parts by two 

 small islands. The south part is 282 yards long, the centre 



•* lieports connected with the duties 1 rresidency, 18-l(j, vol. ii., p. 108. lie- 

 of the Carps of Engineers of the Madras \ pert of Ca^plain Bell, p. 117. 



