MYSORE, CANARA, AND MALABAR. 277 
bare rocky bills, which are situated at considerable distances, >vith CHAPTER 
level ground between them. Rice forms a very large proportion of 
the crop, and equals in quantity the Ragy. The country is very Jul ? 8 > 
poorly watered, and often suffers from a want of rain ; for an old 
revenue officer of the place remembers four famines that arose from 
this cause. 
Colar has a large mud fort, which is now repairing. The town Color , 
contains seven hundred houses, many of which are inhabited by 
weavers. It was the birth-place of Hyder Aly, whose father lived 
and died in the town. A handsome mausoleum was erected for him 
by his son ; and near it a mosque, and a college of Moullahs , or Mus- 
sulman priests, with a proper establishment of musicians, were en- 
dowed to pray for the repose of his soul. The whole is kept up at 
the expense of the Company. 
On the hill north from the town was formerly a Durga, or hill 
fprt, in which for some time resided Cossim Khan , the general of 
Aurungzebe, who, towards the end of the 17tli century, made the 
first regular establishment of Mussulman authority to the south 
of the Krishna river. Colar was the capital of one of the seven 
Pergunnahs , or districts, into which that general divided his con- 
quests, which had been formerly invaded by the Mussulman king 
of Vijaya-pura (Bejapoor), and afterwards had become subject to 
the Marattahs . The other Pergunnahs were, Sira , Budihalu , Baswa- 
pattana , Penu-conda, Hosso-cotay , and Burra Bala-pura. These 
formed what the Mussulmans called the Subah of Sira, or the Car- 
natic Bejapoory Bala ghaut, which are recent distinctions not at all 
known to the natives, and of which the memory is likely soon to 
be entirely obliterated. 
The hill-fort above Colar has not been rebuilt since it was de- Table land on, 
stroyed in an invasion of the Marattahs, who in the course of the 0 f a yu 
18th century made many attempts to recover this country. On 
the top of the hill are four small villages, which have their fields, 
gardens, and tanks, raised high above the level of the country, in 
