October t, 1889O THE TROPICAL AGHItaST-TUniST. 
interview that same mornine, so we at once drove 
there. Mr. Rama Row, the Dewan of Travancore, 
is a portly, good-natured-looking gentleman of mid- 
dle age. He has a very intelligent face with 
bright eyes. Almost the whole of his service has 
been spent in Travancore, where be is greatly 
respected, having risen from the subordinate ranks 
to his present position. He showed a very great 
interest in the road which it was proposed to make 
and promised to give the matter his early attention. 
Eoads are one of the Dewan's hobbies, and he has 
already done a great deal towards opening out the 
country. On our asking whether we could speak to 
the Maharajah we were told that all that was ne- 
cessary was to write to him direct. This we did 
after leaving the Dewan, and at once received an 
answer from the Maharaja himself appointing the 
next morning for an interview. 
The Maharaja's palace is situated in the middle 
of the town. It consists of a series of buildings 
with no verv great pretensions. There is a fine 
Durbar Hall, but the building in which the 
Maharaja resides is one of the smallest. Almost 
immediately after our arrival in the courtyard the 
Maharaja appeared at the door of this building 
and, holding out his hand, asked us to come in. 
He was simply but tastefully dressed in a long 
coat and trousers of a quiet but pretty pattern, 
with very few jewels or ornaments. He is a younc- 
looking man of— as far I oould judge — 25 or 26 
years of age. He has a most intelligent-looking 
face with a very pleasant smile. He led the way 
upstairs to a handsomely but not gorgeously furnished 
room, and sitting down by our side spoke very plea- 
santly for about a quarter of an hour. He evidently 
seemed to take a great interest in his country and its 
affairs, and was thoroughly conversant with all 
that went on. We mentioned to him the road 
that was required, and he promised to look into 
the matter with his Dewan and give help if pos- 
sible. We then took our leave, much pleased 
with so agreeable a specimen of an Indian Prince. 
The Dewan having kindly sent a copy of his 
last Administration Report (for 1887-88) I may 
as well give here a few figures regarding this 
prosperous little State. When the year under 
review opened there was a balance to the good 
of more than 58 lakhs of rupees. The revenue 
during the year from all sources was R115.264 and 
the expenditure R69,92,458, leaving a surplus of 
nearly one lakh and a quarter to be carried to 
the credit balance. The principal items of revenue 
are from land 19 lakhs, and salt nearly 16 lakhs. 
Then come customs, 5 lakhs ; law and justice, 4J 
iakhs ; and various other items of a miscellaneous 
nature. Under expenditure no less than 12 lakhs 
are spent on religious and charitable institutions 
find ceremonies. The troops and military estalish- 
tnent cost about 1J lakhs. The expenditure on 
tVtepalaee is only R571, 131 and the subsidy to the 
British Government something over 8 lakhs. More 
than two lakhs are spent on forests, but as the 
revenue from this source is nearly 4J lakhs the 
returnis over cent per cent. Under almost'every head 
there is a credit balance, and the general adminis- 
tration seenjB to be oheaply managed. The ac- 
tual expenditure of the year showed an increase 
of nearly lnkhs, but this was due to extraor- 
dinary charges for certain ceremonies nnd for the 
Maharaja's journey to Madras and Bombay. The 
actual normal expenses showed a decrease "of fully 
one fourth of a lakh, notwithstanding that over 
R69,000 havo been additionally spent on public 
woikfl" and various other improvements oarried 
out._ Under receipts, on the other hand, there was 
an inorease on the previous year's revenue of 
R.1,88,837, and " is by far the highest rovonue yet 
attained. Looking over the several items, it is 
satisfactory to note that almost all the heads have 
contributed an increase, the largest being from salt, 
land revenue, tobacco, cardamoms, castoms, forest, 
and abkari and opium." Space will not allow me 
to go greatly into the details of this interesting 
Report, and I will only notice one other item, 
viz., trades 
The entire trade of the country, exclusive of 
transactions on account of Government, amoun- 
ted in value to Rl, 70, 41, 878, being an increase 
of nearly 1\ lakhs on the trade of the previous 
year. Out of this amount nearly 38 lakhs was 
carried by sea, nearly 45 by backwater and 15£ 
by land. These figures show the enormous ad- 
vantage of the excellent inland waterway. The 
wonderful coconut tree, with its various products of 
copra, oil, coir, fibre and nuts, yields for trade pur- 
poses goods valued at no less than 54 lakhs, and 
shows an increase on the previous year's transactions 
of from 20 to 25 per cent. The total value of the 
exports being R98,15,422, the coconut tree yields 
considerably more than one-half of the total produoe 
exported. Imports amount to 72j lakhs, thus show- 
ing a credit balanoe in favour of the country of 
nearly 26 lakhs. The chief items of import are 
piece-goods, rice and paddy and tobacoo. An enor- 
mous quantity of tobacco seems to be consumed, 
the value being put at 24| lakhs. Although there 
is so much water the country is not able to produce 
enough rice for its requirements, and the imports of 
rice and paddy amount in value to more than 13J 
lakhs. Piece-goods to the value of more than 10 lakhs 
were imported. The total value of the imports shows, 
however, a decrease on the previous year of a little 
more than one lakh. Altogether the Report is a 
most interesting one, and shows how great a state of 
prosperity can be gained by a Native State when 
under good management. 
There is a very fine museum in Trevandrum, 
built of stone in imitation of the Hindu work. It 
stands in the middle of Borne fine gardens and is 
viBited during the year by more than 200,000 
persons. There is in the museum a good collection 
of birds, animals and curiosities, but there is 
room for a great deal more than is at present to 
be seen. 
After a pleasant stay of two days in Trevan- 
drum we started in a bullock-transit for Tinnevelly, 
a distance of about 100 miles. The'e was a good 
road the whole way and the journey was done in 
about 30 hours. About half-way we passed through 
the hills whioh shut Travancore off from the rest 
of India. They are here much lower than they 
were further north, but far away in the distance 
we couuld see dim masses of hill giants with their 
crests covered by lowering clouds, for the monsoon 
had now fairly broken. From Tinnevelly we took 
the train to Madura, a journey lasting about six 
hours. At the latter town we stopped for two days 
in order to visit the celebrated buildings. The 
ancient magnificent palace of Tirumal Naick is now 
almost completely restored and ready for the public 
offices which are to to located there. It is oertainly 
a splendid specimen of old Hindu architecture. It 
consists of an enormous courtyard surrounded by 
massive columns enclosing covered verandahs, 
and at the further end is a magnificent Durbar 
Hall. It is well that this relic of Hinduism should 
have been restored : but I oannot say much for the 
taste with which the restoration has been carried 
out. Amongst other things two tawdry pepper-box- 
looking towers have been added which look ludioroua 
by the side of columns and arches of such massive 
grandeur. The marvellous temple built in honour 
of the marriage of Shiva with Minarkshi, a local 
goddess, needs no description of mine. Its existence 
