1845.] from Pondicherry to Bey poor. 767 



The houses are usually tiled, with verandas in front, supported by 

 wooden pillars, and sheltered from the oblique rays of the sun by 

 awnings of cotton cloth. The market day is held on Tuesday. Beside 

 cloth manufactories, Salem boasts of the best steel manufactory in 

 South India, and the name of Arnachelum, for beautifully tempered 

 heads for hog spears, and couteaus de chasse stands unrivalled. The 

 iron and steel come principally from Ahtoor, Tumbumputty, Shenda- 

 mungalum, Trimulkerry, and Namgurpett, Indigo is another of its 

 principal exports. 



A considerable quantity of salt-fish is imported from the Western 

 Coast. 



The population of the town and suburbs cannot be less than 35,000, 

 of which the weavers form the greater proportion. 



The fort is of mud and stone, and now a ruin. It was built by 

 Chinnaper, and contains a temple to Alighirry Permalvo. 



Mr. Fischer holds lands in and around Salem, amounting to about 

 1,25,000 acres, from the Government, on the yearly payment of 5,000 

 pagodas. He has an experimental garden here, which is promising, 

 in which I observed tea from Assam, Guinea grass, Otaheite sugar- 

 cane ; and among many other rare fruits, the apple and pear, which 

 do not appear to thrive. 



The physical as pect of this district is particularly varied and beau- 

 tiful, extending over the table lands of the Balaghat, and over the 

 plain of the Baramahal, which is said to be 550 feet higher than 

 Salem. Besides the Jiwadie, Sh^yaroy, and Ahtoor ranges already 

 touched on, and which belong to the line of Ghaut elevation, are the 

 ranges of Shendamungalum and Collymully, on the SE. confines of 

 the district, all inhabited and cultivated. To the South-westward, the 

 country is more open, and descends slightly in a plain to the bed of the 

 Cauvery, which, with the Palaur in the Baramahal, are the princi- 

 pal and almost only drainage lines of any importance> East of Salem 

 the slope is easterly to the sea. In the Baramahal, towards the NE., 

 the area is estimated at 6,520 square miles, of which only about 

 3-10ths are cultivated, with a population, (exceeding that of Coim- 

 batore) of 9,05,000 souls, or about 112 per square mile, chiefly em- 

 ployed in agriculture and weaving. The annual revenue is about 

 1 9| lacs of rupees. 



5k * 



