3SS 



Accoimt of the Province of Ramnad. 



[April 



manadi, and waters about one thousand kanis of land : the bank is 

 very high and substantially built. It consists of very large stones 

 placed upon one another, and seems once to have been much more 

 regular than at present ; it has puzzled antiquarians to account for the 

 laying of these enormous stones, as their weight is so great that no 

 means are now known by which they could have been placed there. 

 An odd tradition prevails that this was performed by demons. The 

 bank is so well strengthened that it has never had any breaches, nor is 

 it likely ever to require any great repair. 



Several large lakes sustain considerable loss owing to the weak and 

 unsubstantial condition of their banks. The waters from the high lands, 

 and the surplus from the lake of Shekull, form a pretty wide stream, 

 which discharges itself into the sea at Vulimukam Bay, which has a 

 good harbour for sheltering the vessels trading along this coast during 

 the period of the land-winds and monsoon. Contiguous to this bay, 

 on the north, is a large lake of salt-water that extends about seven 

 miles to the west, its greatest breadth being a mile and a quarter. Salt 

 is gathered in large quantities here, besides that which is manufactured 

 in the salt-pans ; this article is a produce very advantageous to govern- 

 ment. Wells and fountains are, for the most part, exceedingly rare in 

 the interior of this country, and the water that issues from them is of a 

 very brackish quality. The sea-coast towns, although situated on vast 

 plains of deep and heavy sand, afford fine wells and springs of clear 

 water. A narrow salt-water lake, called Tuurava, extends from the 

 Kottaigudi river, below Tirupallani, to the east eighteen M miles, and 

 varies from one quarter to half a mile in breadth, bordering the decli- 

 vity of a range of sand-hills. This lake has a verdure on its margin, 

 which affords good pasturage for the cattle of its vicinity. On the 

 south side are several thick groves of Palmyra and cocoa-nut trees. At 

 some seasons of the year a dam is thrown across this lake, confining 

 the water to a particular part, and, by letting it off as required, admits 

 of the remaining portion of the bed being cultivated with rice. Another 

 salt-water lake, but of smaller extent, lies to the east of the former, 

 and has a communication with a basin of salt-water contiguous to the 

 sea, east of Pullimat'ham. 



HILLS AND MOUNTAINS. 



There is not a mountain, hill, or any conspicuous eminence in the 

 whole of this province; yet it exhibits, in several parts of its surface, 

 gentle swells and depressions which give it a pleasing diversity, espe- 

 cially in the tract about Kamuri. In the Pullimat'ham district there 

 are a few low scattered rocks, but of very inconsiderable magnitude. 

 The sea-coast on the south, from Tonitorai westward, abounds with low, 



