MANUAL OF THE NtLAQIRI DISTRICT. 231 



services of Korumbar guides, the route being intricate and embarrassed CHAP. X. 

 with grass and jungle. * * On reaching the cave I proceeded . ~~ .„ 



to measure, and found its depth 13 yards, its breadth 6, and the 



height of its entrance 40 feet, the roof sloping downwards until it 

 meets the inner walls 5 feet high. The rock in which this cave is 

 situated is perforated with several passages intersecting each other 

 and connecting the interior of the cave with the flat surface above it. 

 I explored the passage, but found nothing except an old iron ring. 

 The sides of the large cave were marked with outline intaglio figures, 

 and what perhaps were once inscriptions are now so defaced as almost 

 to defy an attempt to copy them. I however contrived to transfer 

 the more legible to paper.' On the left sides of the cave are the 

 following intaglio cuttings in the rudest style. 



" A human figure having the head of a bird with its waist encircled 

 by the fold of a snake seemingly expanding and raising its seven heads 

 behind the figure. In front of this human figui'e is a symbol having 

 some resemblance to one of the Buddhist symbols mentioned by Colonel 

 Sykes. The seven-hooded snake is frequently seen accompanying 

 images and drawings of Buddha. To the proper left of the figure 

 is, what I take to be, another Buddha or Jain symbol of a gridiron 

 form with a handle above it. To the right of the large figure and 

 snake is the rude effigy of a human being from whose head rises 

 a long shaft surmounted by a chuckrum or lotus. There is a Buddhist 

 symbol not unlike these. The same figure which seems to be balancing 

 the chuckrum has a broom in its hand, which it will be recollected is one 

 of the symbols of officers of Jain priests who use it to sweep insects 

 out of their way for fear of treading upon them. In front of the 

 figure of the Jain priest is a tree. Below this a figure kneeling, and 

 apparently intended to be placed in a square niche. * * * At 

 the bottom of the left hand side wall of the cave are some characters 

 not unlike the old Pali. Near the floor, on the right side of the 

 entrance, are some other characters. 



" Returning from the cave I copied the rock inscriptions in the 

 Belliki valley. There are three." 



Colonel Congreve thought that one was old Kanarese, another 

 old Malayalum, and the third the old Sanscrit of the third century 

 before the Christian era ; but it is difficult to understand the 

 grounds on which he hazarded this assertion. Doctor Oppert, the 

 Sanscrit Professor in the Madras University, who was kind enough 

 to examine for me both Colonel Congreve^s drawings and the 

 photographs in Mr. Breeks' book, has given it as his opinion that 

 the scratches are characters, but so rudely executed that he could 

 not identify them with those of any particular language. 



In using the words cairns, cromlech, &c., I shall, to avoid Cairns, 

 confusion, adopt the definition of them given by Mr. Breeks. 



» Photographs of the intaglios and scratches will be found in Bbeeks' Tribes 

 aind Monuments of the ^tlagiris. 



