118 



A rclt i tectura I Remain s . 



[No. 1 1, NEW SERIES. 



27. Upon the tops of most of the hills ahout Utakamand re- 

 mains of stone circles may be seen— and I believe that few of the 

 high hills are without some specimen of these remains : I regret 

 to say that there is little now to be seen of them except remains, 

 as on the whole plateau there are probably not more than five left 

 unopened, 



28. Had they been all opened by persons who felt an honest 

 interest in such things — who would have recorded there where- 

 abouts — the mode of opening, &c, and who would have lodged in 

 the local Museum everything found within them, no one could 

 object to their being opened : but it is to be regretted that many 

 of them were opened either by people who had no better feeling 

 than a morbid curiosity to see what was inside, or by those whose 

 only wish was to send to England or elsewhere, whatever of inter- 

 est they should discover. 



29. In order to rescue those circles that then remained, I sub- 

 mitted to His Excellency the late Governor on his visit to the Hills 

 a request, that an order should be made that no circle or Tumulis 

 should be opened without the written permission of the Collector 

 —and that an Officer of the Revenue or Public Works Depart- 

 ment should attend, to watch and record the proceedings, and to 

 see that the articles found were deposited in the Museum, I am 

 not aware that any thing was ever done about it. 



30. Beyond what Harkness in his work on the Nilgiris (page 

 32, et seq») says, I am not aware what has been found in these cir- 

 cles: on this subject it is probable that Mr. Boswell of the Madras 

 Civil Service, could give some information, as I understand he 

 opened a good many of them. 



31. Taking into account the fact that none of the inhabitants 

 of the Nilgiris venerate these circles ; and that they give an ac- 

 count of their origin similar to that given of the origin of the Tu- 

 muli on the plains, I am disposed to think that the Sepulchral 

 Tumuli below, and the Sepulchral circles upon the hills, are the 

 work of the same people. 



32. Upon the Nilgiris there are found stone cells that have 

 been called Cromlechs, which they resemble in form : they are 



