312 A short Account of th$ [Oct, 



dangerous state, but it has lately been strengthened. About three miles 

 below the head of the Vennaur is the weir, called the grand annicut ; 

 upon this important work by far the greater part of Tanjore depends 

 for its supply of water. Formerly, the whole of the waters of the 

 Cauvery, in low freshes, probably fell into the Colleroon, or at least a 

 great portion of them; the annicut prevents any of the water rejoining 

 the Colleroon, till there is more than the irrigation requires. It is 

 three hundred and sixty yards long, and seven feet above the bed of the 

 river, built of rough blocks of granite, and mud inside, and of stones 

 and chunam on the outside^ the breadth varies from thirty to sixty feet; 

 the quantity of stone used in its construction is enormous, and it is in 

 appearance a very rude work, but time has shewn that it is quite secure,, 

 having withstood the most severe freshes uninjured. It was formerly 

 higher at one end than at the other, but the lower part was raised by Co- 

 lonel Caldwell about thirty years ago, and a row of stones abou^ one and 

 a half feet high, placed at intervals of five feet all along its crest; against 

 these stones planks are placed, by which the water is raised about one 

 foot above the work when requisite, the planks being removed when the 

 water raises above that level ; when the water is as high as the top of 

 the planks, all Tanjore is abundantly supplied. In the high fresh of 

 13(9, the water rose to the height of eight feet above the annicut, not- 

 withstanding- that this stream, eight feet deep and three hundred and. 

 sixty yards broad, with a very great velocity ^ returned into the Colle- 

 roon, so much water remained in the Cauvery that there were about 

 three hundred branches in the artificial embankments of the rivers in 

 Tanjore, and almost every part of the district was so completely sub- 

 merged, that for three days, there was scarcely any communication be- 

 tween the different villages. It may here be mentioned that in the 

 large mound of earth on which the west wing-wall of the annicut rests, 

 there is probably the most magnificent Peepul tree in the Carnatic ; it 

 divides, just above the ground, into five or six main limbs, each of them 

 of the size of a large tree. Below the grand annicut the Cauvery 

 throws off the Codamoortee from its south bank, about eleven miles 

 above Triviyaur; below this point the Cauvery, Codamoortee, Vettaur 

 and Vennaur, are rivers of nearly the same size ; the Codamoortee 

 throws off the Arselaur, a large river, from its north bank, and the 

 Arselaur throws off the Trimulrajen from its south bank; in this man- 

 ner the various branches divide and subdivide. At Combaconum there 

 is a noble bridge over the Cauvery, built by Captain Faber; it has five 

 very flat elliptical arches, the centre one of forty-five feet span ; it is 

 built entirely of brick, and is the only work of civil engineering 

 throughout the Carnatic (excepting at Madras), that would remind a 

 traveller that he was in a country governed by an educated people. A 

 similar work planned by the same officer is now nearly completed; it is 



