[131] Intermarriage, however, is not permitted.
[132] The races above described are those settled in the country. The fluctuating portion of the community is composed of the Europeans, the soldiery and camp followers, Arabs and foreign Mussulmans, Banyans from Guzerat, a few Parsees, and some boat loads of the half-starved wretches that leave the Maldives and Laccadives in search of employment during the cold season.
[133] The Koondah road is about seventy, that viâ Poonanee, one hundred and sixty miles in length.
[134] The pages of the Madras directories and road-books give ample accounts of all the chief routes in the presidency.
[135] Judging from the name, a stranger would suppose that the place was called after some neighbouring Ghaut, or pass, in the hills. The uncorrupted native appellation, however, is Palakad, from Kadu, a jungle, and Pala, a tree used in dyeing.
[136] For a detailed description of the sieges and captures of Paulghaut, we beg to refer to a work entitled, “Historical Record of the H. E. I. Company’s First European Regiment; Madras. By a Staff Officer.”
[137] Anciently an excellent forest. The trees were felled, hewn into rough planks, and floated down the Poonanee river at very little expense. This valuable article has, however, been sadly mismanaged by us in more ways than one. All the timber growing near the streams has been cleared away, and as the local government will not lay out a few lacs of rupees in cutting roads through the forests, its expense has been raised almost beyond its value. Considerable losses in the dockyards have been incurred in consequence of the old erroneous belief that “teak is the only wood in India which the white ants will not touch.” The timber should be stacked for at least eight years, three of which would enable it to dry, and the remaining five to become properly seasoned.
[138] The common country carts, called garees in other parts of India. Here they are covered with matting, for the same reason that compels the people to thatch their heads.
[139] In Malabar the horse is perhaps as great an object of horror as the rider, the natives are so little accustomed to see such quadrupeds.
[140] The pet name for the Madras Presidency.