43 
A JOURNEY FROM MADRAS THROUGH 
CHAPTER 
Leprosy, call- 
ed Durda. 
Leprosy, call- 
ed Kush f ha. 
Kingara. 
Appearance 
of the coun- 
try. 
affairs renders it very dangerous either to injure the revenue, or 
the subject. By this system many Brdhmans , formerly employed, 
are now destitute, and are said to be very clamorous. 
I saw here a man labouring under the Durcla , Elephantiasis , or 
Lepra Arahum; and am told, that in almost every village one or 
two persons will be found afflicted with this terrible malady. It is 
very much confined to the poorer class of inhabitants, who here, 
however, enjoy a dry air, and use very little fish in their food. The 
frequency of the disease in the lower parts of Bengal, and about 
Cochin on the coast of Malabar , had led to an opinion, that it was 
produced by a moist climate, and a diet consisting of the fish which 
frequent muddy places : but the prevalence of the disease among 
the dry hills of Mysore strongly invalidates this opinion, especially 
as fish are little used by the inhabitants of that country. 
Above the Ghats the Kushfha, or leprosy, in which the skin of 
the natives becomes white, is also very common. The persons 
troubled with it enjoy, in every respect, good health, and their 
children are like those of other people. 
12th May. — I went to Kingara, or Tingara , which seems to have 
formerly been much more flourishing than it is at present. The 
hedges, and other defences of the town, are of much greater ex- 
tent than would be necessary for the present population ; and the 
space within them contains the ruins of many houses. It is said to 
have been destroyed by Tippoo in order to prevent it from being of 
use to Lord Cornwallis, and never to have recovered the loss which it 
then sustained. The inhabitants were very inhospitable ; a Brahman 
encouraging them to refuse us any assistance, by pretending that 
my people would not pay for what they might obtain. The fort is 
in good condition. 
The arable land on this day’s route does not appear ever to 
have exceeded four tenths of the country; and the small proportion 
of irrigated land which has formerly been cultivated, appears to be 
now waste, owing to the decay of the reservoirs. The uncultivated 
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