1845.] from Pondicherry to Bey poor. 773 



to Cheyoor. It now comprises about 100 houses, principally of the 

 cotton-cloth weavers, comtis, musicians, ( Bajindris,) dancing girls, 

 Pullaywars, and Brahmans principally of the Smartal sect. 



It possesses a temple of some sanctity, and holds a Jatra and great 

 cattle fair once a year, in the month Chaitra. The temple, which is 

 dedicated to Iswara, faces the East, and is approached by a bridge 

 built in the old Hindu style as at Bijanugger, that is, formed by slabs 

 of stone resting horizontally on perpendicular stone pillars, sunk in a 

 triple row into the bed of the stream. Near this is a colossal statue of 

 the sacred bull. 



The great archbishop, or Swami of the Smartal sect, Sencra Bharti, 

 of Singhery Math, has a branch Math here, now under charge of 

 Mathmudra, Samana Shastri. 



Coimbatore. — As the base of the western ghauts is approached, the 

 plain undergoes a gentle but sensible rise. It is now covered with 

 wild vegetation, and its surface more rugged with the channels of the 

 Ghaut streams. Patches both of red soil and regur cover for the most 

 part the subjacent rocks, which the sections afforded by wells, banks 

 of streams, &c. show to be hornblende schists, gneiss, with large beds 

 of quartz, and dykes of basaltic greenstone. The subsoil is generally 

 either a gravelly detritus of these rocks, or beds of kunker from one 

 foot to twelve feet thick; often grey, and ash-coloured. In some 

 places both red and black soils abound in soda and common salt, and 

 excellent saltpetre is extensively manufactured. 



The staple articles of cultivation, are cotton, juari, bajra, tobacco, 

 and rice. The Company since my visit have established a cotton farm 

 here, under the able superintendence of Dr. Wight, the principal 

 object of which is the improvement, by a better course of agriculture, 

 of this staple, for European markets ; Indian cotton being decidedly in- 

 ferior to American in this respect ; also the trial of the introduction 

 of the cotton plants of other countries, viz. America, Bourbon, &c. 



Iron ore, principally the black magnetic sand, is smelted at Topum- 

 betea and Contempully, it is found near Colengoda, and in most of the 

 hilly districts north of the town. According to barometrical obser- 

 vations by Messrs. Baikie and Dalmahoy, the palace of Coimbatore is 

 1483 feet above the sea's level. This pretty nearly coincides with the 

 height given by the boiling point of water on the ground of the mili- 



