1847.] Neilgherry Hills, ^c. US 



consequently made many inquiries of the Burghers and offered them 

 rewards to show me any antiquities they were aware of in this 

 locality. In the sequel I ascertained that about a mile beyond Adi- 

 Raer-Cottay there were some stone edifices, ascribed by the Burghers 

 to the former dwarf inhabitants of the hills, and after a little search in 

 company with my informant I had the satisfaction to find a number of 

 Kistvaens, concealed by trees, ferns, and high lemon grass, situated 

 on a level in the slope of a hill rising out of a deep ravine. The 

 Kistvaens were nearly buried in the vegetable soil, a fact, considering 

 their height (five feet) that sufficiently attests the high antiquity 

 which must be assigned to them. Where these structures occur in 

 the low country, they are found on the summits or sides of rocky 

 hills devoid of jungle, and hence- appear in the state they were 

 originally constructed, unencumbered with soil or rubbish. The 

 Hindoos take no kind of interest in these structures ; state that they 

 know nothing about them except so much as relates to their erection 

 by fairies, dwarfs or demons ; and do not employ such mausoleums 

 for the interment of their dead : from which considerations I believe 

 the edifices to have been the work of the Celto-Scythic aborigines of 

 the plains and mountains. 



After removing a large slab five feet long, three broad, and one 

 thick, which served as the roof of one of the closed Cromlechs, I 

 proceeded to excavate the earth that had fallen inside, and reached 

 the floor, another large fl.ag ei^t feet long by six broad. Here I 

 found fragments of clay vessels, probably remains of funeral urns. 

 The chamber being cleared presented four walls, each consisting of 

 an entire stone, and was seven feet long by five broad. The Mono- 

 iithe constituting the eastern wall was pieroed by a circular aper- 

 ture about nine inches in diameter, adequate to admit the body of a 

 child, who I conjecture was employed to place the urns inside. 



Descending to the low country we find both kinds of Cromleclis^ 

 the open and closed, in different parts of the Peninsula. On the 

 Coroomba or Mailgherry Hills, thirty miles south of Oosoor, several 

 are standing, where I believe cairns similar to the Neilgherry ones 

 may be found. At Naickenary on the top of the pass, some closed 

 Cromlechs with a small circular aperture on one side may be seen. 

 In Malabar near Ungadapoor and Hungary, that kind of Cromlech 

 called Codacul or umbrella-stone is found along with cairns. In 

 tsouth Coimbatore the Cromlechs and cairns are also found. I think 

 I recollect having seen a Cromlech at Namun in Travancore, and an 



