NOTE ON A TOUR IN MTSORB. 
47 
a cost, including all charges, of Rs. 51-6-4 per cwt. The 
cost of these brushes, as compared with that of brushes 
made from hog bristles, is just half. Large trees of Caryota 
urens are said to yield for 3-5 months a daily quantity of 
5-15 sers of toddy ; small trees 1-5 sers for about 2 months. 
The Madras Museum possesses a single specimen of the 
longtailed Spiny Mouse {Platacanthomys lasiurun) from the 
Coorg hills. These curious little animals are reported^ to 
have a liking for the toddy of Caryota, eating through the 
covering of the toddy pot as suspended, and enjoying them- 
selves. Indeed they have been found half drowued in the 
pots. On the ghat road gangs of peasants were met, carry- 
ing live quails and partridges, and skins of jackals, leopards, 
red squirrels and rib-faced or barking deer, commonly 
known as the jungle sheep — a zoological error which is 
upheld by natives, who call it, hahri. 
Mercara, though delightful from a scenic and (except 
during monsoon) climatic point of view, proved to be 
uninteresting from the collector's point of view ; the big 
bazar being mainly devoted to foods, drinks, and cheap 
articles of European manufacture. Moreover, m}^ collectors 
wei-e down with fever, and all idea of a zoological expedi- 
tion among the hills had to be abandoned. Accordingly 
my steps were speedily retraced, and the return journey 
to Mysore made with a halt only at Huusur. 
The most prominent feature of Hunsur is the manufac- 
ture of country carts, to which an entire street in the 
bazdr is devoted. An extensive shoe-making industry is 
also carried on ; and leathern pouches and scabbards for 
bayonets, metal bells for the necks and horns of cattle, cast 
by the native process technically known as ' cire perdue ' , 
and coarse woolen kumblis are also made. The wool for 
Jerdon. Mavimals of India, 
