THE BILLIGA-RUNGUN HILLS. 37 



but only about ten miles of the central portion is densely covered with for- 

 est, as towards the end the hills become lower and the jungle lighter. The 

 Mysore territory includes the most western parallel ; the rest of the hills lie 

 in the Coimbatore district of the ]\Iadras Presidency. A good road passes 

 through a gorge towards their southern end, and descends by the Hassanoor 

 Ghat into the Coimbatore district, which is about 1000 feet below the 

 general level of the Mysore plateau. The hills are practically unknown 

 to Europeans. A few Survey and Forest officers have been to some of the 

 most prominent points, and in former days some officers of the Mysore Com- 

 mission who were fond of sport occasionally visited them, but of late years 

 hardly any one but myself has set foot in them. The only inhabitants are 

 a few Sh51agas — a wild, uncivilised, but inoffensive race. They occupy iso- 

 lated hamlets of five or six huts. 



The Mysore range is lower than the ranges further east. It is covered 

 with comparatively small timber and bamboos, as there is no great depth 

 of soil, and crags and rocks frown here and there amongst the jungle. 

 Towards the northern end, in the YeUandoor talook, is a precipitous mass 

 of granite, facing westwards, named the " Billikul " or " Billigiri " (white 

 rock) ; and from this the whole range is geographically designated, though, 

 as is common in India, the natives of the vicinity have names for each 

 portion of the hills, and do not know the whole by any collective appella- 

 tion. The range is, however, usually known to people at a distance as the 

 Billigiri-runguns ; but this, I think, is not a correct term, and that Billiga- 

 runga, the local name amongst the common people, is the right one. Billi 

 means white in Canarese, and Izul, a rock or stone ; in Canarese BiUi-kul- 

 runga becomes Billiga-runga by euphony. Giri is Sanskrit for mountain, 

 and the union of a Canarese and Sanskrit word is unnatural. The hills 

 are generally termed " Shwetadri " by Brahmins, which is admissible as 

 pure Sanskrit, and means " white - mountain." Eunga is the name of 

 a god. 



The interior ranges, as seen from Morlay, present a splendid panorama 

 of woods and open grass downs. The hills are rounded and are all of about 

 the same elevation. The woods are confined chiefly to the hollows where 

 moisture favours their growth ; the open downs between them are covered 

 mth dense lemon -grass, which attains a height of eighteen feet. Be- 

 tween the Mysore range and the next range to the east lies a deep 

 valley, along which the Honhollay stream flows southw^ards before its exit 

 ■westwards into open country. This deep, forest -encumbered valley is 

 a tract of great interest ; and there are many places which I have pene- 

 trated where, I believe, other European foot never trod. Wild swamps 



