1836.] 



An Account of the Harbour of Tuticoreen* 



307 



cation. At present, we are, generally, during- three months of the year, 

 cut off from direct communication with England. Such an imperfect ar- 

 rangement would not be any longer necessary : on the contrary, as it 

 is estimated that loaded carts would travel on the railroads at the rate 

 of nearly a hundred miles a day, packages for Madras would arrive there 

 by that route, in shorter time than ships could convey them by sea, even 

 supposing there was no risk, either to ships lying in the Madras roads 

 or of interrupted communications with the shore, neither of which is 

 the case during at least two months of the year. To make known, it 

 may be, to some of your readers the existence of such a port, and to 

 others the facility with which it may be reached, at those seasons of 

 the year when all other ports north of Ceylon may be said to be closed, 

 is the principal object of this paper ; for I feel assured, that, in propor- 

 tion as the advantages it holds out to traders, of getting cargoes of cot- 

 ton on reasonable term*, become known, it will be more frequent- 

 ed, and may ultimately lead to its becoming the grand emporium for 

 the whole of the exports from the southern provinces, and a medium 

 for the introduction and diffusion of wealth over a wide tract of rich 

 country, possessing within itself vast capabilities for trade, but the 

 resources of which, from its remote situation, and for want of a proper 

 outlet, have not hitherto been drawn forth to the extent that they might 

 and ought to be. 



I cannot conclude my part of this paper, without suggesting for fur- 

 ther consideration, the propriety of attempting, on this part of the pro- 

 posed rail road, the use of locomotive steam carriages. I do so, on 

 the supposition that some part of the proposed line of road approaches 

 to within a few miles of the range of mountains which divides the Tin- 

 nevelly district from Travancore ; and which are everywhere covered 

 with forests of large timber, as well as with trees of smaller growth. 

 These might be sacrificed, especially the latter, with much advantage 

 to the country, and converted into coke for the engines, at a smaller 

 cost than would be necessary for keeping up so many horses as would 

 be required, in the event of the traffic becoming considerable, of which 

 I think there cannot be a doubt, and would be attended with the addi- 

 tional advantage of clearing, and opening, to the labours of the culti- 

 vator, an immense tract of country, which has hitherto been the refuge 

 of wild beasts, and a generator of that most pestilential miasma which 

 produces jungle fever. The valleys of the whole of that range, as well 

 as the slopes of the hills, are covered with a rich vegetable mould, fit 

 for the production of all kinds of plants requiring such a. soil, and on 

 which it is known, coffee, nutmegs and cloves thrive exceedingly well ; 

 to which, judging from a few very healthy plants which I saw, I would 

 add cocoa and mangosteens, while for the cultivation of oranges, sub-al- 

 pine valleys are of all places the most suitable. To these may be added, 



