INTRODUCTORY. 5 



water of the Peria-ar (which drains the great plateau south of the Kam- 



bam valley) would be brought into the head stream of the Vaigai. This 



grand scheme which has quite lately been sanctioned by Government 



will enable about 150,000 acres of land to be irrigated in addition to 



what is now supplied with water, and the whole to bear two wet crops 



every year. It is needless almost to say that no greater blessing could 



be conferred on the district than the carrying out of this project. 



A somewhat remarkable hydrological feature in South-East Tinnevel- 



ly is the existence of three or four small fresh- water 

 Fresh-water lakes. 



lakes formed by the damming back of the local 



surface drainage by the great hills of red sand which form such con- 

 spicuous objects in that quarter. The most important of these lakes 

 is that of Taruvai (Thurva) shown on the Atlas sheet (63) quite 

 incorrectly as a tank with a bund on its northern, eastern, and southern 

 sides. The water is retained simply by the accumulation of sand hills 

 to the south, south-east, and north-east. In favourable seasons it forms 

 a noble sheet of perfectly fresh-water, but when the monsoon fails it runs 

 occasionally quite dry. I mention this fact on the authority of Bishop 

 Caldwell, whose mission station, Edeyengudi (Idaiyarkudi, the shepherd^s 

 hut), lies about 4 miles to the south-west. There are two small lakes 

 lying south-west of the Taruvai lake ; the more easterly of the two is not 

 shown in sheet 63, but the western one is again erroneously shown as an 

 artificial reservoir close to Sodi Kavalai (Shootee Coy vella, sheet 63) . The 

 true lake character of these basins and of two other ones to the northward 

 of Taruvai lake seems to have been completely misunderstood by the 

 topographical surveyors ^ who have mapped them as common tanks. Of 

 these last two lakes the more southerly, some.times called the little 

 Taruvai lake, lies about a mile north of the large lake. The other lake 

 lies on the north or left side of the Karameni-ar 3 miles further 

 to the north-east. The waters of these lakes are remarkable for tlie 



' The great Taruvai lake is shown on the half-inch map of the Madras Revenue 

 Sui'vey as a mere swamp, a yet far greater blunder than that of the old Topographical 

 Surveyors. 



( 5 ) 



