Travels in Peru and India by Sir Clements R. Markham
1847. Also, Caldwell's _Comparative Dravidian Grammar_. The German
687 words | Chapter 79
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--
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