406 
NAIKENERAY. 
heat of the mid-day sun. This pass has been widened and levelled 
since Mysore was conquered by the British. Artillery can now 
ascend it with little difiBculty, which was far from the case when 
Lord Cornwallis made his first and unsuccessful attack on Seringa- 
patam. The tranquillity of Mysore, and the Carnatic, by the final 
abolition of the Mussulmaun dynasty of Hyder, has rendered the 
easy communication between the two countries an object of great 
importance, by the facility it gives to trade. In this light only 
the improvement of the road is beneficial, as we shall probably 
never again have to convey artillery up. The hills were covered 
with large stones, among which grow many small trees and shrubs, 
with here and there a tamarind and banian tree, of great age and 
size. The ascent soon became more gradual, with occasionally a 
small descent. At one o'clock I stopped for a short time in a 
choultry. After another ascent I reached, by half past two, a 
wretched village called Naikeneray, where my bearers wished to 
stop, but as Baitamungalum was the place to which they had been 
hired, and where the Rajah of Mysore had stationed the first set of 
his bearers, I was obliged to insist on their going on, though I 
really pitied them, after having exerted themselves for four hours 
in the heat of the day. At a quarter past three, however, I found 
them so tired, that it was impossible to advance, 1 therefore rested 
and dined. 
The scenery had completely changed ; instead of the plain, which 
I had passed over from Madras, the whole country was undulated, 
with a few lofty desolate peaks before me. It appeared to be ex- 
tremely barren, and I was disappointed at not seeing the extensive 
forests which I had expected. The thermometer was 91°. Four of 
