MYSORE, CANARA, AND MALABAR. 19 
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they are exclusively employed as Hircaras , that is, guides or mes- CHAPTER 
sengers, and as the keepers of inns ox Choultries. Much of the land 
is rented by them ; but, like the Jews, they seldom put their hand 
to actual labour, and' on no account will they hold the plough. 
Their farms they chiefly cultivate by slaves of the inferiour casts, 
called Sudra, and Panchum Bundum. 
The Panchum Bundum are by far the most hardy and laborious rmpure tribes 
r rj * 1 
people of the country, but the greater part of them are slaves. So called” Pan- 
sensible of their value was Hyder, that in his incursions it was these chum Bun- 
dUTflc 
chiefly, whom he endeavoured to carry away. He settled them in 
many districts as farmers, and would not suffer them to be called by 
their proper name, which is considered opprobrious ; but ordered, 
that they should be called cultivators. The Panchum Bundum consist 
of four tribes ; the Parriar , the Baluan, the Shecliar , and the Toti. 
The Shecliars dress hides; and from among the Toti is chosen a par- 
ticular class of village officers. 
There are a few Mussulman farmers, who possess slaves ; but the Cultivators, 
most numerous class is composed of the different tribes of the 
Sudra cast. Some of these possess slaves, but many of them culti- 
vate their farms with their own hands. 
In this Carnatic payin ghdt , or Carnatic below the mountains, Markets, 
there are no fairs like the Hants of Bengal ; but the shopkeepers 
purchase the articles in demand from the farmers and manufac- 
turers, and retail them daily in the Bazars or towns. Milk and its 
preparations are commonly sold by women, who sit by the road 
side. 
1st May. — I went from Vellore to Paligonda . The valley is in Face of tbs 
general very fine, much of it having water for two crops of rice ; couuuy ‘ 
some part however is covered with rocks of granite. The villages 
are very poor; and the two towns, Verimchepurum , and Paligonda 
are full of ruins ; at each of them is a considerable temple ; that of 
Paligonda is within the remains of a fort. The name of the place is 
derived from a Tamul word, which signifies sleeping. It arises from 
