1848.] 



The Neilgherry Mountains. 



41 



There are no navigable rivers in the Hill dis- 

 trict, although one of the many which take their 

 rise amongst these mountains called the " Moyaar" sAvells into a stream 

 of considerable width and depth at Pykara, where it is crossed by 

 TheMoyaar means of a double ferry boat and a ford. This 



river rises at the foot of the remarkable mountain 

 called " Makoorty Peak," receives the drainage waters of the Pichul 

 and Pykara vallies, and, descending the Hills at the N. W, angle by 

 a fall near Neddiwuttum, turns due east after reaching the plains, 

 and flowing round the base of the Neilgherries on the northern and 

 eastern faces, unites itself, near Danaikencotta in Coimbatore, with 

 the Bowany. 



„ This latter river takes its rise amongst the 



The Bowany. ° 



southern spurs of the Koondahs, receiving near 

 the foot of the Madoor or Shoondaputty ghaut a large tributary 

 which rises near .the ** Avalanche" on the N. E. face of the Koondahs, 

 and swelling into a large stream near Matepolliem, where it is cross- 

 ed by a large masonry bridge, continues its course eastward, after its 

 junction with the Moyaar, until it flows into the great Cauvery near 

 the town of Bowany. 



„ , . Another important river, which also owes its 



The Cahcut river. ^ ' 



origin to the Neilgherries, is that which flows into 

 the sea at Beypoor near Calicut. The head of this stream is formed by 

 the drainage of the elevated tabular mass of hills, which have been 

 before described as occurring to the N. W. at Neddiwuttum, and 

 though it descends the face of the Hills at no great distance from the 

 fall of the Moyaar, the intervention of a sharp spur diverts its course 

 into an exactly opposite direction, forcing it over the ridge called the 

 Carcoor or Yellamullay Hills to find its way to its embouchure on the 

 western Coast, while the waters of the Moyaar discharge themselves 

 into the sea on the eastern. 



The Neilgherry mountains affbrd a great, and,^ 

 ^TaShig watei,'" practically speaking, inexhaustible supply of wa- 

 ter by means of the innumerable swamps and 

 morasses which occupy the hollows of most of the vallies, particular- 

 ly to the westward and northward. 



The rain \yhich falls during the wet season instead of running off 

 to waste at once, as it does from the surface of the hard ground, is 

 imbibed and retained by these morasses to such an extent, that through- 



YOL. XY. NO. XXXIT. ^ 



