1834.] The Island and Bridge of Sivasamudram. 84 



mudram, together with the description and plans of the bridges 

 which have been built, and are now building across the two branches 

 of the Cdveri, v/ere furnished to me by Ramaswami Mudeliar, 

 the intelligent and wealthy Jdghirddr of the island. As regards 

 the antiquities of this celebrated place, I regret the imperfection of 

 the memoir ; but I. am willing to hope that it will not be consider- 

 ed wholly destitute of merit. By the curious in architecture, the 

 faithful representation of the bridges, and the plain description of 

 the manner in which they are constructed, will be valued ; while, 

 to the observer of the human mind, and the speculator upon the 

 progress of improvement in India, it must be an object of interest 

 to mark the modes of thought and feeling entertained by a Hindu, 

 wfio, in strict accordance with the precepts of his religion, under- 

 takes a great public work, which would do honour to the professor 

 of any religion, and to the citizen of any country, in any age. With 

 a viev/ of exhibiting, not only Ramaswami's natural sentiments, 

 but his manner of expressing them in the English language, I have 

 made very few corrections in the composition of the memoir. The 

 first part was less perfect in style than the last ; but in it I have 

 preserved the original language, with as few alterations as could 

 possibly be made, without leaving it in a state which would have 

 shocked the ear of the English scholar. In the latter part, contain- 

 ing the account of his own bridges, where the subject-matter came 

 home to his own business and bosom, and where, consequently, 

 Ramaswami wrote with more ease and vigour, I did not find it 

 necessary to make more than one correction, and that so trifling, 

 that I may say the last part is presented to the reader in its origi- 

 nal state. 



It may here be proper to point out the inaccuracies into which 

 Hamilton has fallen in describing the falls of the Cdveri. The 

 height of each fall is much underrated ; that of the Gangana Chuki 

 being about three hundred and seventy feet, instead of from a hun- 

 dred to a hundred and fifty feet ; and that of the Birra Chuki 

 about four hundred and sixty feet, instead of a hundred feet, as 

 stated by Hamilton. 



The Wellesley bridge at Seringapatam traverses the river in a 

 winding direction. This tortuosity, it will be observed from a re- 

 ference'to the plans, is also the characteristic, in a much greater 

 degree, of the bridges more recently constructed by Ramaswami, 



