642 Notes, chiefly Geological, [No. 165. 



laterite hill in mid air was swinging (June 16th 1837) the decompos- 

 ing body of the rebel, Bungar Rajah — the gibbet creaking in the wind. 

 His predecessor had been hanged by Tippoo for his loyalty to the Eng- 

 lish ! Areola stands on the North bank of the Comardaire, or Southern 

 Mangalore river, and is called Feringhipett, from the circumstance of its 

 being the early residence of the Concan Catholic Christians under the 

 protection of the Sekeri Rajahs, and who were latterly expelled by 

 Tippoo when he destroyed the town. The remains of the old church 

 stand on the hill, built in the usual massive Portuguese style. The tide 

 is said to come up to this place. 



Buntwal. Buntwal also lies on the N. bank of the S. Mangalore 

 river. The country between this and Mangalore is hilly, composed of 

 small hills and vallies watered by rivulets. Where rice cultivation 

 does not prevail, the surface is covered with scattered brushwood and 

 palm trees. The soil is red and lateritic. The hills are generally 

 rounded, or run in the flat- topped, crescent- shaped curves, like those 

 near Capergode. All that I had an opportunity of examining were of 

 laterite ; but hornblende rock containing a dark foliated mica, is seen 

 in angular blocks in the bed of the river at Buntwal. The river here 

 is apparently from 150 to 200 yards broad, and now (June 1837) 

 unfordable. Native boats of considerable size ascend the river from 

 Mangalore ; Buntwal and Pani Mangalore being the principal entrepot 

 with the interior. The masses of rock in the river bed are consider- 

 able impediments. 



In Buchanan's time (1801) Buntwal contained only 200 houses, but 

 then it had suffered from the forays of the Coorg Rajah. It is now (1837) 

 said to comprise 800 houses, inhabited chiefly by Moplay merchants, 

 Concanis, and a few Jains. It is also capital of a taluk, with a popula- 

 tion of about one lac, and a revenue of nearly two and a half lacs of 

 rupees. 



That curious sect the Jains, have a busti here. The charred rafters 

 and roofless walls of many of the houses attest the ravages committed in 

 the insurrection just quelled, (June 1837). 



Uperangady. From Buntwal easterly, as the ghauts are approached, 

 the surface of the country becomes more jungly, less cultivated, and 

 less populous : the formation still laterite, covering granitic and hypo- 

 gene rocks, which are occasionally seen in beds of rivulets and low 



