MYSORE DRAUGHT-CATTLE. 7 



Under European tutelage he is receiving a more liberal education than was 

 within the reach of the late Maharajah. 



The Hindoo people of Mysore are peaceful, orderly, and good-natured, 

 but lacking in enterprise. The Brahmins are intelligent and ambitious ; they 

 have always filled most of the posts in Government offices. The Mussul- 

 mans have sunk into deep poverty, chiefly through their own laziness, since 

 the overthrow of the Mussulman power in 1799. A few engage in mercan- 

 tile and agricultural pursuits ; many are enlisted in the Mysore Horse and 

 the Sepoy corps ; they also find employment as elephant and camel attend- 

 ants, and horse-keepers. The domestic servants of Europeans in Mysore are 

 all Madrassees, as the Canarese people have never taken to indoor service. 



The country is well cultivated in many parts, the wisdom of former 

 rulers having provided it with irrigation, both by channels drawn from the 

 rivers passing through it, and from tanks or lakes formed by embankments 

 thrown across the valleys. These ancient works are constructed upon such 

 scientific principles that little can be done by European engineers to 

 improve them. The lakes store the surplus rain-water for the use of the 

 land further down the valley, and the cultivation thus artificially watered 

 is called " wet" in India, in contradistinction to " dry," or that dependent 

 on rainfall alone. 



The chief rivers in Mysore are the Cauvery, Toongabhadra, Hemavutty, 

 Cubbany, and Lutchmenteert ; the latter three are tributaries of the 

 Cauvery, joining it within the Mysore province. Where it leaves the 

 plateau for the low country of Madras the Cauvery forms fine falls of about 

 200 feet in height. The falls of Gairsoppa in the north of Mysore are 

 not so widely celebrated as they deserve to be. They are on the Sharavati 

 river, and a portion of them have a sheer overfall of 960 feet. 



The chief towns in the Mysore province are Bangalore (3031 feet above 

 sea-level) and Mysore (2525 feet). Seringapatam, the celebrated fortress, 

 is situated on an island in the Cauvery, nine miles from Mysore. From 

 Bangalore to Mysore the distance is 88 miles. Bangalore is connected 

 by rail with Madras, the distance being 216 miles; of this line 48 1 miles 

 only lie in Mysore, and there is no other railway in the province. There is 

 no water carriage, as the rivers are rocky and swift. The roads, however, 

 are excellent, and the Mysore breed of bullocks is celebrated for speed 

 and endurance. Travelling is usually done by bullock-coach ; for long 

 distances from four to five miles an hour, with bullocks posted every five 

 miles, is a fair pace. Bullock-carts do all the heavy trade. A pair of 

 bullocks wHl draw a load of 15 cwt., exclusive of the cart, twenty miles 

 a-night for many consecutive nights. Post-bullocks cost 3 annas (4|d.), and 



