CHAPTER XXIV. 



THE FORESTS, PLAINS, AND HILLS OF MYSORE, 



THEIR DENIZENS, AND THE FAVOURITE 



HAUNTS OF THE LATTER 



THE province of Mysore, which is under 

 native rule, is an elevated table-land, varying 

 in altitude for the most part from 2,500 to 3,000 feet, 

 its lowest point being 1,800 feet above sea-level. It 

 comprises an area of almost exactly 2,700 square 

 miles. Its chief town, Bangalore, which is a large 

 military cantonment, lies within ten or eleven hours' 

 journey by rail from Madras, and stands at an 

 elevation of 3,000 feet. 



There is, as compared with the plains of other 

 parts of India, practically no heat to complain of 

 in this climatically favoured province ; and though, 

 of course, in March, April, and May the tempera- 

 ture is high for Mysore, the fact that, even at this 

 season, punkahs are required nowhere but in dining- 

 rooms, speaks for itself. English light summer 

 tweeds form, even in the hottest weather, the 

 apparel of the European male sex in Bangalore, 



The rainfall of the province is but moderate, 

 averaging only some forty inches in the open 

 country, though on the hill ranges and in the large 



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