Travels in Peru and India by Sir Clements R. Markham

missionaries believe that these cairns were the work of the Kurumbers, another wild hill tribe. [407] Todars pay two taxes to Government in return, on female buffaloes and on grazing land, both small in amount. [408] _Raggee_, however, is the least nourishing of all the cereals, although it forms the chief part of the diet of the poorer classes in Mysore and on the Neilgherries. In good seasons it yields 120-fold, but it is very poor fare. [409] In 1807 Buchanan mentioned the Badagas of the Neilgherries, as gatherers of honey and wax in the hills south of Wynaad.--ii. p. 246 and p. 273. [410] Literally "one stone village." [411] The great Tamil scholar. [412] _Hooli_, a tiger in the Badaga language; and _cul_, a rock or stone in Tamil and Canarese. _Pili_ is a tiger in Tamil. [413] Mr. Fowler, in his evidence before a Committee of the House of Commons, gave 2500 to 4000 feet as the most favourable elevation for the growth of coffee. [414] There are 11,386 acres of land under coffee cultivation in Wynaad, 7358 owned by Europeans, and 4028 by natives: of these 7224 are liable to assessment, that is, the coffee-trees are in bearing. [415] Besides a _jemmi_ fee on Government land, of eight annas an acre. [416] Cleghorn's _Forests and Gardens of Southern India_, p. 16. [417] Several species of _Chinchonæ_ flourish at altitudes from 8000 to over 10,000 feet above the sea, and within the region of frequent frosts. [418] Karsten. [419] Smyth's _Journey from Lima to Para_, p. 115. [420] Dr. A. Smith's _Peru as It Is_, ii. p. 57. [421] Mr. Spruce's _Report_, p. 27. [422] Called _Cinchona excelsa_ by Dr. Roxburgh, but excluded from the list of Chinchonæ by Dr. Wallich, who gave the plant its present name. [423] In the _Mahabharata_ the five Pandus, who contended with the 100 Kurus or vices, were--Yudisthira, the personification of modesty; and his brothers Arjuna, or courage; Bhima, or strength; Nakal, or beauty; and Sahadeva, or harmony. The conversation between Arjuna and the incarnate deity Krishna, in the _Bhagavat Gita_, an episode in the _Mahabharata_, is perhaps the finest passage in the whole range of Sanscrit literature. [424] _Cæsalpinia sappan_, a handsome tree, with curiously-shaped pods. It yields a valuable dye. [425] Called _jowaree_, in Bengalee; _jonna_, in Telugu; _yawanul_, in Sanscrit; and _doora_, in Egypt. [426] _Dolichos lablab_, a kind of pulse much eaten by the poor people. [427] Cotton (_Gossypium Indicum_) is called _parati_, in Tamil; _putti_, in Telugu; and _kurpas_, in Sanscrit. [428] The former of these grains has already been mentioned. The latter is _Panicum spicatum_, or spiked millet. It is called _bajree_, in Guzeratee; and _kunghoo_, in Sanscrit; and is made into cakes and porridge. [429] "The black cotton soil seems to have arisen from the decomposition of basalt and trap. When dry it is dark-coloured, and glistens from the presence of nearly pure grains of silica. It possesses extraordinary attraction for water, and forms with it a most tenacious mud."--_Dr. Forbes Watson._ [430] "The district of Coimbatore lies opposite the great gap in the Peninsular chain between the southern slopes of the Nilgiri mountains, and the northern face of those of Travancor. Across this depression the S.W. monsoon has almost a free passage to the eastward; but the great elevation of the mountains on both sides, and the absence of any considerable hills in the district, cause the monsoon wind to pass over without depositing much of its moisture; and, though the climate is humid, the rainfall is very trifling. During the N.E. monsoon the hills of Salem intercept the moisture."--Hooker's _Flora Indica_, i. p. 132. [431] Lindley's _Theory and Practice of Horticulture_, p. 487. [432] "This is an assurance which no private tenant in any country, not even in England, has obtained."--_East India Company's Memorandum_, 1858, p. 17. [433] _Koda_, a shade or umbrella; and _karnal_, a jungle. [434] Literally "Fruit-hills." [435] Yet I missed the _Berberis Mahonia_, which in the Neilgherries is not found beyond the limits of the S.W. monsoon. [436] For short accounts of the Pulney hills, see--