16 A DESOLATED VALLEY. 



effectually forgotten than that of the people over whose traces he now 

 muses. 



Amongst scenes wliitlier my duty or jileasure led me, I always felt par- 

 ticular interest in a portion of tlie Hoonsoor jungles %Yliich lies within the 

 watershed of the Cubbany river. A chain of ancient channels liere forms a 

 wonderful system of irrigation, but they liave caused the ruin of the land 

 they once fertilised. 



Often as I sat and overlooked the unbroken stretch of jungle which liad 

 swallowed up the country did I speculate on its former condition, and the 

 causes that had led to the change. These seem evident. The whole tract 

 must have been comparatively healthy at one time, as the remains of large 

 towns testify to its former population ; it must then have been open country, 

 as cities do not spring up in jungle - encumbered tracts in India. The 

 people, however, sighed for water to increase the fertility of their land, 

 dependent upon rainfall alone, and a remarkable physical feature placed an 

 unlimited supply of the fertihsing element at their command. The valley 

 which contains the channels runs nearly due west to east, and is about 

 twenty miles long by five broad. From its upper or west end to its ter- 

 mination on the Cubbany river to the east, there is a fall of probably 500 

 feet. At the upper end, just over the watershed ridge and not more than 

 50 feet below it, flows the Lutchmenteert river, a considerable stream in 

 the rainy season, and never quite dry ; its course here is approximately from 

 south to north, and it is within half a mile of the ridge. The former inhab- 

 itants of the valley to the east had cut a channel through the ridge, and 

 introduced Lutchmenteert water into the Cubbany vale. With water thus 

 available on the top of the watershed, irrigation was practically unlimited, 

 and channels were led contouring along each side of the valley at a high 

 level for many miles. The drainage water of these was caught up again 

 and again by tanks or artificial lakes thrown across tlie valley. 



These mighty works, though in ruins, still bear testimony to the former 

 ability and industry of the inhabitants. But the fertilising element which 

 now surrounded them became the means of their extinction. Land not cul- 

 tivated must soon have been overgrown with rank jungle, nurtured by the 

 moisture. The culturable area, too, must have been gradually reduced by 

 about four-fifths, as irrigated land produces so much more valuable crops, 

 and its cultivation is so much more arduous, that a small portion of what 

 each man cultivated before as dry land would now suffice for his wants and 

 engage all his labour. 



Thus, each community in the valley found itself gradually sluit in by 

 jungle and rank herbage instead of the former open land. The wliole valley 



