1847.] 



Neilgherry Hilk^ Sfc. 



145 



stones cemented with mud. It ran close along the margin of the 

 precipices which hound three sides of the mountain, being strength- 

 ened by projections where a ridge, or place for the foot of an assail- 

 ant, attempting a surprise, occurred. I should say the length of 

 the Fort is between five and six hundred yards, its breadth varying 

 from one to two hundred, though I made no actual measurements. 

 As may be conceived the view from this elevated position is very 

 extensive and remarkably beautiful. 



Having found nothing to corroborate my suspicion that the Fort 

 owed its origin to the Buddhists, I returned to Coonoor, marking 

 several cairns for future operations. The next day I rode over to a 

 valley beyond Hoolicul in quest of some shelUculs or sculptured 

 stones which I was told would be found there, but on this occasion I 

 was doomed to disappointment, having searched for them in vain, 

 through the day, over hills and dales covered with high grass. I ob- 

 served, however, on the rocky surface of a hill, some very small 

 Cromlechs about a foot high, associated with slabs fixed upright in 

 fissures of the rock. 



I made a wide circuit, as I returned to Coonoor, passing by Cartary 

 and admiring its beautiful waterfall, and struck the high road at 

 Aravancad. 



During my stay at Coonoor, I opened the cairns between Kercottah 

 and Hoolicul, and others between Coonoor and Aravancad ; being of 

 the earliest period they did not prove prolific. The last I opened 

 made the forty-sixth I Have excavated on the Neilgherries, and 

 strange to say without discovering a single coin, or inscription in 

 them. The only coin I have heard of, as having been found in a 

 cairn, was a Roman Aureus- In the low country where cairns have 

 been opened Roman coins in a high state of preservation were found, 

 accompanied by short bladed swords, and black glazed porcelain jars, 

 of very classical forms. 



About forty-five years ago in the vicinity of Palachy in the Coim- 

 batore district, was dug up a pot of Roman coins consisting of two 

 kinds, namely, Augustus and Tiberius. On the exergue of the former 

 the word Csesarea indicated the place where they had been struck. It 

 is a matter of history that one of the Pandyan kings sent an embassy 

 to Augustus whom they found at Samos. This might countenance 

 an idea that the urn containing the coins was a part of the valuables 

 uith which the Pandyans returned to their native country. 



T 



