58 TOPOGIIAPHT. 



ridge is narrow, and generally rather rocky and bare ; on the 

 Malabar side, it presents, like the Koondahs, an almost 

 continuous line of precipices, the scenery being bold, grand, 

 and romantic. They are separated from the central table- 

 land by a considerable stream called the Pykarra river, 

 which, descending the N. face of the hills by a succession 

 of falls, joins the Mayar, and sweeping round the whole 

 N. and N. W. sides of the hills, runs into the Bowany 

 near Danaikencottah in Coimbatoor. Like all the rivers 

 on this side, its bed is intersected, every here and there, 

 by transverse ridges of sienite, having a considerable dip, 

 with soft soil in the intervals, which is worn away by the 

 force of the stream, so as to form deep pools resting on 

 the ridges. 



The scenery in the vicinity of the Pykarra, is in many 

 places exceedingly beautiful, being bordered by rounded hills 

 well wooded, and sinking alternately into green grassy 

 glades. 



The next or central division is, in extent, as in other re- 

 spects, the most important of the three. The portion of it 

 adjoining the Koondahs and Neddimulla hills, of nearly the 

 same general elevation throughout, is broken into an im. 

 mense number of little round hills, like tea-cups bottom up- 

 wards, with valleys of various dimensions interposed. Some 

 of these hills are clothed with wood to their very summits, 

 and most of them have more or less wood round their bases, 

 or in the deep hollows between them and the next hills. 

 The southern part of the table-land is highly cultivated, 

 and very populous ; there are also numerous villages on 

 the southern slope towards Billycull ; but the rest of the 

 surface, where not wooded, is entirely occupied by pasture 

 land, and is the head-quarters of the Todar population, 



