HEIGHTS IX THE PENINSULA. 163 



quite smooth, and verdant to the very' summit. Near the 

 base bursts forth a magnilicent cataract. 



Cmintry belon: the Ghauis. — On both sides of the penin- 

 sula, interposed between the foot of the mountains and 

 the coast, there is a tract named Payeenghaut, or below 

 the Ghauts ; that above these ranges being named Bala- 

 ghaut, or above the Ghauts. The country below the 

 Ghauts is composed of hilly and low and fiat countrv, va- 

 rying in breadth from a few miles to eighty or ninety. 



Height of the Land in the Peninsula. — The followincr de- 

 terminations of heights we owe to Captain Cullen of the 

 Madras artillery : — * 



^1 ithout taking into account those habitable but confined 

 tracts in the IN'hilgcrry hills, which are from 5000 to 7000 

 feet, and those on the Shervaroy or Salem hills, from 4000 

 to 5000 feet above the level of .the sea, the table-land of 

 Mysore presents the most elevated surface of the peninsula. 

 The highest part of this table-land includes the stations 

 of Bangalore, IS'undidroog, Colar, and Oossoor, forming an 

 area of sixty miles by tifty, and presenting a mean altitude 

 of about 3000 feet. There is a rapid fall thence on every 

 side ; and the mean height' of this belt may be siated at 

 about 2400 feet. The valley of Seringapatam, including 

 the town of Mysore, is also about the same height. 



TrichinopolV; the capital of the southern division, is only 

 about 250 feet above the sea ; but the ground rises to the 

 southward, attaining at one point the height of 800 feet ; 

 so that, if a line be drawn by Madura and Palamcotta to 

 Cape Comorin, it would give a mean altitude of between 

 400 and 500 feet. The country in this quarter has a 

 gradual rise from the eastern shore to the westward, 

 where it is bounded by the great Travancore chain of moun- 

 tains. 



There is, indeed, a very remarkable a«cent observable 

 throughout almost the whole of the peninsula south of 



* In Mr. Babington's paper in the 5th volume of the Geological So- 

 ciety's Trajisaciions, the height of one peak, Bonasson hill, is said to be 

 7000 feer iibove the sea ; and in a description of the'Nhilgerrj- reaion by 

 lir. Smiih young, the peak of Dodajiet. situated between II^ and 12= 

 north lat. and 7e= east Ion?., Is said to rise to an elevation of 8700 feet. 

 It is rnvuh to be regretleri that we h.ive so few pubii.^hed reports of 

 he;ghts, by ac!ual gcomtirical or baroir.elrical measurements, of the 

 principal summits iu the peninsula. 



