228 Notes, chiefly Geological, [No. 171. 



occupy the dry lands and cleared sides of the mountains (like the 

 wheat on the high sierras of Spain,) while the irrigated flats of the val- 

 lies smile with abundant crops of paddy and sugar-cane. Yearly the 

 mountains blaze with the fires of the clearers, who are obliged, like 

 the Malays, to shift from one spot to another as the soil of the clearing 

 becomes exhausted. 



The fort, it is said, was built by the Soday Rajas of Sircy, from whom 

 the Portuguese wrested it. It next fell with Ancola and Gokurn 

 into the hands of Hyder, and eventually into those of the English. 



I observed about thirty-two guns, apparently of Portuguese manu- 

 facture, lying about. 



At present (1840), Sedashegur (Siveswargur) contains about 600 

 houses, inhabited principally by Concanni Mahrattas engaged in culti- 

 vation, by Christians from Goa, Comarapaiks, and Mussulmans. Three 

 miles north commences the Konkana region, where that of Tuluva 

 terminates. Near the junction, the two languages, viz. Canarese and 

 Mahratta, are mixed. The old inscriptions on stone at Gokurn and 

 other places south of this, are mostly in the old Canarese language 

 and character. Some of the earlier ones belonging to the ninth century 

 of the Salivahana era, show that this part of the country was under 

 the sway of the kings of the Cadumba dynasty of Bunwassi ; and those 

 of the fifteenth century show the extension of the Bijanugger empire 

 to the western coast. 



Gokurn, about thirty miles south of Sedashegur, is one of the sacred 

 places of Hindu pilgrimage, ranking with Tripati, Ramisseram, Jug- 

 gernath, Sondur and Sri Sailam or Perwut. 



It is the reputed scene of Parasuram's exploits, who raised the whole 

 of the western coast from the ocean's bed to the base of the ghauts, and 

 divided the newborn territory among the Brahmans. Many subdivi- 

 sions of this tract, and other changes, are known to have taken place at 

 various historical epochs ; for instance, the tract from Honawer to Go- 

 kurn was called Haiga ; but it is probable the three provinces as they 

 now exist, viz. the Concan, (or Konkana) ; Canara (or Tuluva) ; Mala- 

 bar or Travancore (or Kerala), distinguished by the Mahratta, Canarese, 

 and Malayalum languages, were the original geographical and political 

 divisions of the western coast of India. After descending the ghauts, 



