344 
A JOURNEY FROM MADRAS THROUGH 
CHAPTER 
V. 
V jf**- ^ 
July . 17 - 
Appearance 
of the coun- 
ty* 
on mats, and dried in the shade. A tree or two, that are fullest of 
the insert, are preserved to propagate the breed ; and of those a 
small branch is tied to every tree in the month Chaitra , or from 
about the middle of March to the middle of April; at wdiich time 
the trees again shoot out young branches and leaves. The Lac dried 
on the sticks is sold to the merchants of Balahari , Gutti, Banga- 
lore, &c.; and according to the quantity raised, and to the demand, 
varies in price, from 5 to 20 Fanams a 111 amid. This is what is called 
stick-lac. In my account of Bangalore , I have given the process for 
dyeing with this substance ; which, after the dye has been extracted, 
is formed into seed and shell lac. 
I found the country beyond the hills more desolate than that 
near Chica Bala-pura. One third of what has formerly been cul- 
tivated is not occupied ; many of the villages are entirely de- 
serted, and have continued so ever since the invasion of Lord 
Cornwallis. The people say, that they were then afflicted with five 
great evils : a scarcity of rain, followed by that of corn ; and three 
invading, and one defending army, all of which plundered the 
country, and prevented grain from being carried from places where 
it might have been procured ; but, in destruction, the armies of the 
Marattahs , and of the Sultan , were eminently active ; and the 
greater part of the people perished from want of food. In this last 
war they met with no disturbance from the armies; but three 
fourths of their cattle perished by disease. This was not owing to 
a want of forage, of which there was plenty ;'but is by the natives 
attributed to an infection, which was propagated from the cattle 
of the armies besieging Seringapatam. Between Colar and Chica 
Bala-pura the disease has this year again made its appearance; but 
it has not yet come to this side of the hills. 
The whole land near Bhidi-caray has formerly been cultivated ; 
and the champaign country seems to extend far to the westward, 
where, at the distance of thirty-two miles, Sica- gang a rears its co- 
mical head. The Ragy is now coming up, and makes a wretched 
