1869.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 57 



subject : u It is open to the mind to people times about which history is 

 " absolutely silent with men of any race, speech, or social condition, 

 " which it may think good. It is open to conceive, objects of whose 

 " use or origin we have absolutely no record, as being brought into 

 " being for any end, which it may think good." 



7. Further from Ramasawmi Kunne, and about half way to Sommar- 

 pett, in the very heart of the jungle, I found a few more Cromlechs, 

 and opposite to one, a fallen square pillar, which was covered with an 

 inscription in some character, which neither I, nor any of my officials 

 have been able to decipher as yet. The letters are much obliterated 

 by the action of time ; but some would look like old Canarese. I 

 will try and obtain photograms, or impressions taken off the stone, 

 and will submit them hereafter. The inscription is surmounted by 

 an engraved cow and calf. 



8. In one of the Cromlechs, in which fragments of bones were 

 found, a portion of the human jaw with two molar teeth in fair 

 condition, was found and forwarded through Mr. Bowring, C. S. I., 

 Commissioner of Mysore and Coorg, to Dr. Oldham at Calcutta, for 

 inspection and comparison. I would also submit a piece of crystal 

 which was found in the Cromlechs at Virajpett, but which was laid 

 and forgotten. It is very hard and slightly cuts glass. 



9. One of the urns found in the Cromlechs at Fraserpett was full 

 of paddy, the husk of which was in perfect preservation, whilst the 

 grain itself had completely disappeared. In others I found ragi. 



10. Mr. II. F. Blanford has shewn in his interesting lecture on 

 pre-historic man, that the pottery of the stone-age was rude in form 

 and in material and, that having been moulded by hand, without the 

 aid of the potter's wheel, it was of irregular form and unequal thickness ; 

 but the vessels found in the Cromlechs of Coorg are well, some beau- 

 tifully, shaped and of equal thickness throughout, which would show 

 that they are of a more modern period. 



11. The most remarkable Cromlechs I have yet seen in Coorg, with 

 the exception of the double-chambered structure at Virajpett, de- 

 scribed in my former reports, are situated in the same direction as 

 those last described, but nearer Sommarpett. There are only four 

 constructed on the rocky summit of a hill, which commands a fine 

 and extensive view all round. These Cromlechs have a circle of 



