THE SCENERY AND WATERFALLS OF MYSORE.
Mysore is a tract of country in Southern India approximating in area to
Scotland, and with a general elevation of from two to three thousand feet
above the level of the sea. It is commonly spoken of as the Mysore
tableland, but this is rather a misleading description if we adopt the
dictionary definition of the word tableland as being "a tract of country
at once elevated and level," for, though there are in the interior of the
province considerable stretches of rolling plains, the so-called tableland
presents to the view a country intersected at intervals, more or less
remote, with mountain chains, while scattered here and there in the
interior of the plateau are isolated rocky hills, or rather hills of rock,
termed droogs (Sanscrit, durga, or difficult of access) which sometimes
rise to a total height of 5,000 feet above sea level. The surface of the
country, too, is often broken by groups, or clusters of rocks, either low
or of moderate elevation, composed of immense boulders, the topmost ones
of which are often so finely poised as to seem ready to topple over at the
slightest touch. The highest point of the plateau is about 3,500 feet, and
is crowned as it were by the fine bold range of the Bababuden mountains,
which have an average elevation of about 6,000 feet. There are three
mountains in Mysore which exceed this elevation, and the highest of them,
Mulaìnagiri, is 6,317 feet above the level of the sea. The province,
which is completely surrounded by British territory, is flanked on the
west and east by the Ghauts, or ranges of hills up the passes through
which the traveller ascends on to the tableland, and on the south it is,
as it were, pointed off by the Nilgiri hills. The greatest breadth of
Mysore from north to south is about 230 miles, and its greatest length
from east to west is 290 miles. On the western side one part of the
province runs to within ten miles of the sea, though the average distance
from it is from thirty to fifty miles. The nearest point to the sea on the
eastern side is about 120 miles, and the most southerly extremity of the
tableland is 250 miles from the most southerly point of India.
As regards climate, cultivation, and the general appearance of the
country, Mysore may be divided into two very distinctly marked tracts--the
forest and woodland region which stretches from the foot of the Western
Ghauts to distances varying from about twenty to as much as forty-five
miles, and the rolling and comparatively speaking treeless plains of the
central and eastern parts of the province, which are only occasionally
broken by tracts which have some of the characteristics of both. In the
western tract are numerous plantations of coffee and cardamoms, and the
cereal cultivation consists mainly of rice fields irrigated from perennial
streams; while in the central and eastern parts of the tableland, which by
far exceed in area the woodland tracts of the west, the cultivation is
mainly of the millets and other crops which do not depend on irrigation,
though these are interspersed at intervals, more or less remote, with rice
fields, the water for which is chiefly derived from tanks, or artificial
reservoirs. The rainfall, temperature, and quality of the atmosphere in
the western tract varies considerably from those of the open country of
the interior. The rainfall of the first varies from sixty to one hundred
inches, and, on the crests of the Ghauts, is probably often about 200
inches,[4] while in the interior of the province the rainfall is probably
about thirty inches on the average. The temperature of the western tract
too is naturally much damper and cooler than that of the rest of the
tableland, and at my house within six miles of the crests of the Ghauts at
an elevation of about 3,200 feet, the shade temperature at the hottest
time of the year and of the day rarely exceeds eighty-five, and such a
thing as a hot night is unknown, as the woodland tracts are within reach
of the westerly sea breezes, while in the interior the climate is much
hotter and drier, and the maximum day temperature of the hot weather is
about ninety, and, in very hot seasons, about ninety-five. In the woodland
tracts the cold weather and the monsoon months have a very pleasant
temperature, and then flannel shirts and light tweeds--in short, English
summer clothing--are used, and a blanket is always welcome at night. The
climate of Mysore is considered to be a healthy one for Europeans of
temperate habits, and who take reasonable care of themselves. As we are
now hearing so much of cholera in Europe, it may not be uninteresting to
mention that, though the province was under British administration from
1831 to 1881, and there have since been a considerable number of European
officials in the employ of the now native government of Mysore, only one
European official has died of cholera during that period, and that, though
there are a considerable number of planters, only one has been reported to
have died of the disease, though his, I am told, was a doubtful case.
I have said that there are marked differences between the western tracts
and the remainder of the province, but the most marked difference of
course between the forest and woodland country of the west, and the
country to the east, lies in the scenery of the two tracts, for, though in
the latter case there are occasional bits of attractive landscape, and
partially wooded hills, there is nothing at all to compare with the grand
forest scenery of the Western Ghauts, or the charming park-like woodlands
which stretch into the tableland at varying distances from the crests of
the frontier mountains. Everyone who has seen the latter has been struck
by their extraordinary and diversified beauty, and last year a friend of
mine, who had for a considerable time been travelling all round the world,
said to me, as he rode up to my house, "After all I have seen I have seen
nothing to equal this." But this, I must add, was the very best of our
Western Ghaut park scenery which is mostly contained in the talook or
county of Manjarabad which stretches for about twenty-five miles along the
western frontier of Mysore, a tract of country so beautiful that the
laconic Colonel Wellesley (afterwards the great Duke of Wellington), who
rarely put a superfluous word into his dispatches, could not refrain from
remarking in one of them on the beautiful appearance of the country.[5]
There are two things especially remarkable about this tract. The one is
that throughout the best of it there is nothing distinctively Indian in
the scenery. Bamboos are rare, and in much of the tract entirely absent,
and as the palm trees are always concealed in the woods there is nothing
to connect the country with the usual feature of Indian woodland scenery.
Another point most worthy of notice is that the scenery which appears to
one seeing it for the first time to be entirely natural, is in reality
very largely the creation of man. And it has been much improved by his
action for, as you leave Manjarabad to go northwards the jungle becomes
too continuous, and it is the same if you go southwards into the adjacent
district of Coorg, and when you compare the last mentioned tracts with
Manjarabad you then begin to realize the fact that nature, if left to
herself, is apt to become a trifle monotonous. But in Manjarabad man has
invaded nature to beautify her and bring her to perfection--cutting down
and turning eventually into stretches of grass much of the original
forest--leaving blocks of from 50 to 200 acres of wood on the margin of
each group of houses, clearing out the jungle in the bottoms for rice
cultivation and thus forming what at some seasons appear to be bright
green rivers winding through the forest-clad or wooded slopes, and here
and there planting on the knolls trees of various wide-spreading kinds.
And yet from the absence of fences, and of cultivation on the uplands, the
whole scene appears to be one of Nature's creations, and all the more so
because no houses nor farm-buildings are visible, as these are hidden
amongst the trees on the margins of the forest lands. Then this long tract
of beautifully wooded and watered country is fringed on its western border
by the varied mountain crests of the Western Ghauts, while on the east it
is traversed by the Hemavati river which is fed by the numerous streams,
and brawling burns which descend from the frontier hills. But though
Manjarabad has combinations of charms unrivalled in their kind, we must
not forget that an examination of of them by no means exhausts the scenery
of the Ghauts, for, on the north-western border of Mysore are the falls of
Gairsoppa. Often had I read descriptions of them which I once thought must
have been too highly coloured, but when I visited the falls some years ago
I found that the accounts I had read were not only far below the reality,
but that the most important parts of the wonderful combinations of the
scenes had either never been noted, or been quite inadequately recorded.
I do not now profess to give anything approaching an adequate account of
them. Nor indeed do I think it would be possible to do so. But what
follows will I think at least be of advantage in directing the attention
of the traveller to the best way of observing the varied scenes, and
noting the wonderful musical combinations, which are to be heard at these
marvellously beautiful falls.
The falls of Gairsoppa are on the Sarawati, or Arrowborn[6] river, which,
rising in the western woodland region of Northern Mysore, flows north-west
for about sixty-two miles, and then, turning abruptly to the west,
precipitates its waters over cliffs about 860 feet in height. When the
river is at the full in the south-west monsoon an immense body of water
rushes over the precipice, and from calculations made by some engineers,
and which are recorded in the book at the Travellers' Bungalow, the volume
and height of fall at that time, if taken together, would give a force of
water about equal to that of Niagara. But, however that may be, a glance
at the high water marks, and a knowledge of the immense rainfall on the
crests of the Ghauts during the monsoon months, makes it certain that, at
that time of year, the amount of water must be very large. At that season,
though, the falls are almost invisible, as they are concealed by vast
masses of mist and spray, and even were they visible, as the water then
stretches from bank to bank, there would only be one vast monotonous fall.
But after the heavy monsoon floods are over, the river above the
falls-shrinks back as it were into a long deep pool which lies at a
distance of several hundred yards from the brink of the precipice, and
from this pool the water of the river then escapes by four distinct rapids
which have cut their way to-the brink of the precipice, and fall over the
cliffs in four distinct falls, each one of widely different character
from the others. The falls at this season are only 834 feet high, but when
the river rises to the full the fall, as I before mentioned, must be about
860 feet, or approximating in height to the loftiest story of the Eiffel
Tower. Across the rapids light bridges of bamboo are thrown, at the end of
each monsoon. There are thus two ways of crossing the river--one by the
pool above the falls where there is a ferry-boat which can take over
horses as well as people--the other by the bridges of the rapids--and it
is necessary to cross the river because the only bungalow is on the north,
or Bombay side of the river, and the best point for seeing the falls is on
the southern side. The only way too of reaching the bottom of the falls is
by the southern side.
The only objection to these falls is the difficulty of getting at them,
owing to their being quite out of the usual travellers' route, and that is
why they have, if I may judge by the travellers' book at the bungalow,[7]
been, comparatively speaking, rarely visited. Then there is no railway
nearer than about ninety miles, and though the falls are only thirty-five
miles from the western coast, steamers do not call at the nearest port to
them. Nor is it at all even probable that any line will ever be brought
nearer to the falls than about sixty miles. It is, too, rather
discouraging to have the prospect of a ninety mile road journey to see the
falls, and then return by the same route. But I would suggest that a
traveller might make a very enjoyable trip by going from Bombay to Hoobli
on the South Maharatta line, and, on the way to Gairsoppa visit the
Lushington Falls which are about 400 feet in height, the Lalgali Fall
which has a series of picturesque rapids and cascades, with a total fall
of from 200 to 300 feet, and the Majod falls where the Bedti-Gangaveli
river forms a picturesque waterfall leaping in a series of cascades over
cliffs varying in height from 100 to 200 feet in height, and together 800
feet high. I have not visited any of these last named falls. An account of
them and other places of interest in the Kanara district is given in the
"Bombay Gazetteer" for Kanara,[8] which gives a complete history of this
interesting district, and is a book which the traveller should buy, as it
is well worthy of a place in any library. I now proceed to give an account
of my visit to the Gairsoppa Falls.
On the 12th of January, 1886 (I should not advise the traveller to visit
the falls earlier than November 1st nor later than the middle of January,
as the water lessens after the latter date), I arrived at the Travellers'
Bungalow at the Falls, after having travelled there by the coast route
from Bombay, which I found so troublesome that I cannot recommend its
adoption. The bungalow, which is about thirty-five miles from the western
coast, and on ground 1,800 feet above sea level, is situated in a truly
romantic spot (in fact rather too romantic if we take the possibility of
an earthquake into consideration), for it is close to the edge of a gorge
900 feet deep, and in full view of the face of the precipice over which
the waters of the Arrowborn river precipitate themselves on their way to
the western sea. To north, south, east, and west stretch hills and vales
for the most part covered with the evergreen forest, and only here and
there showing grassy slopes and summits. On the opposite side of the gorge
as you peer down into it you can see emerging from the edge of the jungle
about half way down from the top of the side of the gorge what looks like
a long ladder of stone, but which really consists of the rough steps by
which alone the bottom of the falls can be reached.
On the following morning I proceeded to cross the river by the bridges
over the rapids. The first rapid is that of the Rajah Fall, the water of
which shoots sheer from the cliff, and, without even touching a rock,
falls 830 feet into a pool 132 feet deep. After crossing the bridge you
sometimes walk through, and sometimes clamber over, the vast assemblage of
rocks and huge boulders which form the bed of the river, and are deeply
submerged when the river is full. The sight here is extremely curious and
interesting as, after leaving the bridge of the Rajah rapid, there are
about 1,000 feet of rock and boulders to pass through or over before you
reach the next rapid, and, when half way, there would be nothing to show
that you were not wandering through a mere wilderness of rocks were it not
for the unceasing thunder, far below, from the bottom of the Rajah Fall.
The next rapid to be crossed is that of the Roarer, which takes, before it
goes over the precipice a most singular course--first flowing into a basin
at the edge of the cliff, and then leaving this in a northerly direction,
after which it rushes down a steep stony trough to fall into the same deep
pool which receives the water of the Rajah Fall. After crossing the bridge
of the Roarer rapid the bed of the river has again to be traversed and at
a distance of about 700 feet you reach the rapid of the Rocket. This is a
fall of wonderful beauty, for the water projects itself sheer from the
cliff to fall about 100 feet on to a vast projecting piece, or rather
buttress of rock, which causes the water to shoot out into a rocket-like
course from which are thrown off wonderfully beautiful jets, and arrowy
shoots of water, and spray, and foam, which seem to resemble falling stars
or shooting meteors. You then pass over another section of the river bed
for about 500 feet till you reach the rapid, or rather stream, of the la
Dame Blanche Fall which glides gently over the precipice in a broad
foaming silvery sheet. From the first rapid to the last the distance is
about 733 yards. I have met with no estimate of the total width of the
fall when the river is in full flood, but it can hardly be less than half
a mile wide, and the depth of the water, as one can see from the high
water mark, must be very great. It is interesting to note on the tops of
the boulders here and there the circular stones that have, during each
monsoon, been whirling round and round, each one in its own pothole.
After crossing the last bridge you then walk over the rocks into the
forest beyond and strike the path which leads down through the forest on
the Mysore side of the river, to a point called Watkin's platform--an
open-sided shed about 100 feet below the top of the falls, and which
commands a view of the gorge below the falls, and a fair, though rather
distant view of the falls. When approaching the platform I was positively
startled by a vast shrieking clang which suddenly burst on the ear and
seemed to fill the air. This I afterwards found had come from the
semi-cavernous gorge of rock about half a mile away, into which fall the
waters of the Rajah and Roarer rapids, and though I afterwards heard
somewhat similar sounds issuing from these falls, I never heard again
anything approaching to this singular and startling burst of sound. These
sounds have often been remarked upon, but no one seems to have attempted
to trace their cause, but they most probably arise from the escape of air
which has been driven by the falling waters into some deep fissures of the
rock.
Having thus taken a general view of the situation, I then returned to the
bungalow for breakfast, and in the afternoon at about two o'clock returned
to Watkin's platform by the route of the ferry across the pool, and, with
my companion, set out for the foot of the falls, first of all by a steep
winding path, and then by a flight of very rough and uneven steps which
had been formed by placing stones in places on and between the rocks. When
descending, we often paused to view the constantly changing scene, for,
as we got lower and lower, the rainbow hues across each fall, which were
at first widely broken by the masses of cliff stretching between the
falls, came closer and closer, till at last, when we reached the region
where the spray of all the falls was mingled, the iris hues stretched
across the gorge in an unbroken band of colour. At length, as we neared
the foot of the fall, we reached a small open-sided shed, which had
recently been erected on the occasion of the Maharajah of Mysore's visit.
From this, which was probably fifty feet from the bottom of the gorge and
about 100 yards from the falls, an admirable view was obtained of the
entire situation, and we began to realize how impossible it is to form any
adequate conception of the falls from the top, or from the higher sides of
the gorge. We next descended to the bottom of the gorge, where the ground
is strewn with vast boulders of rock, which had evidently fallen from the
cliff as it had been eaten back by waters toiling through countless bygone
ages. Many of these masses of rock lie at some distance from the foot of
the falls, and on the partially decayed surfaces of some of them
vegetation had evidently been flourishing for an indefinite period of
time. Huge masses of rocks and boulders, as you look down the river, seem
almost to block up its route towards the western sea, and indeed so
completely seem to fill up the pass, that one seemed to be standing at the
bottom of a rock-bound hollow which had been excavated by the agency of
Nature, after a toil through periods of time far beyond the calculations
of man.
As I found that the rocks at the foot of the falls were covered with a
slimy mud, and as I was suffering slightly from a damaged foot, I
presently returned to the shed, while my companion proceeded to explore
the bed of the gorge further down the river. The floor of the shed had
been strewed with straw, and I lay down at full length, partly to rest
and partly to examine the situation more minutely, for the height is so
great that it is impossible adequately to survey the scene in any other
position. And then, when you have stillness and solitude, and when the
body is in complete repose, there pour in on eye and ear floods of
impressions so quickly varying that the mind feels quite unable to record
them, and there is finally nothing left behind but a vague and
indescribable sensation of all that is grand and beautiful and melodious
in nature. For there are vast heights and gloomy depths and recesses, and
varied forms of falling waters, and in the general surroundings everything
to convey exalted ideas of grandeur to the mind, but grandeur accompanied
by exquisite beauty, in colour, in the graceful movement of animal life,
and in the varying sounds of falling waters--the charm of the iris hues
which ever beautify the falling waters--beauty in the varied colours of
the rocks, and in the plants and ferns growing in the fissures of the
cliff--beauty in exquisite forms of motion--of water varied in countless
ways as it descends from the four separate falls--beauty in the unceasing
movements of countless swallows, mingled here and there with specimens of
the Alpine swift and the pretty blue-hued rock pigeons, which build their
nests on the ledges of the cliffs, and are constantly to be seen flying
across the falls. Then there are the unceasing and ever varying sounds of
falling waters, grand in their totality, grand and melodious in their
separate cadences--the deep bass of the Rajah, sometimes like cannon
thundering in the distance, and sometimes like the regular tolling of some
vast Titanic bell; sounds of most varied and brilliant music from the
Rocket; the jagged note of the Roarer, as its waters rush down their
steep, stony trough; the eerie and mysterious sounds which, sometimes like
a mingling of startling shrieks and clangs, and sometimes, to the active
imagination, like the far-off lamentations of imprisoned spirits,[9]
occasionally rise from the semi-cavernous chasm which has been hollowed
out behind the great pool beneath the cliff; the gentle murmuring note of
the White Lady Fall, tangled threads of sound from which fall in fitful
cadences on the ear as the wind rises and falls athwart the falls; and
lastly, but by no means leastly, the undulating and endless varieties of
sounds which, having broken away from their original source, are ever
wandering and echoing around the rock-bound gorge. Beautiful indeed and
altogether indescribable are the elements of melody which are created by
the falling waters of the Arrowborn river!
And the music, too, seemed to be for ever varying, for the choral odes
which were sweetly chanted to the ear were not perpetually continuous, and
at times, owing to some change in the direction of the wind as it swirled
around the gorge, the choral element was subordinated to the deep thunder
of the Rajah Fall, or the vague tumult of startling discords which arose
at intervals from the semi-cavernous walls of the pool into which plunge
the waters of the Rajah and Roarer Falls. And then these sounds would
gradually lose their predominance, and the more uniform sounds in which
all the four falls joined would once more fill the air and charm the ear.
And thus the attention could never be lulled to sleep, for here monotony
was not, and the mind was always kept in an attitude of expectancy for the
variations in the music which were sure to come, and, so far as they
reached the ear, were never the same combinations of sounds that had been
heard before. All the elements of melody were here, indeed, in profuse
abundance, and it seemed as if they only required to be caught by some
master hand and strung into methodical musical combinations to yield to
the mind and feelings those exquisite sensations which music alone can in
any effective degree convey.
And besides the effects we have noticed, there is the motion of colour
constantly, though gradually, shifting and altering, for, as the sun
declines, the rainbow hues move steadily upwards on the face of the falls,
and the colours of the rocks, which are of varying shades of purple and
yellow, continually alter in character with the sinking day. But the
finest combined effects of beauty and grandeur are, perhaps, most fully
felt when, late in the afternoon, the eye wanders delighted over the vast
combination of lofty cliffs and falling waters to rest finally far above
on the iris tints of the Rajah and Roarer Falls, through the colours of
which myriads of swallows incessantly wheel on lightsome wing, mingled
with the quick, darting movement of the Alpine swifts, and the gentle
flight of the blue rock pigeons, which occasionally wing their way through
the mazy throng. For there the eye is ever delighted with the charm of
colour and of those endless variations of graceful movement which
continuously convey pleasurable sensations to the mind. But how could eye
or ear ever tire of those rare combinations of form, colour, motion and
rhythmic sounds which fill the mind with an exalted sense of feeling and
of pleasure, and the conscious heart with exquisite sensations far beyond
the power of language to describe?
Presently my companion returned and aroused me from my state of dreamy
pleasure, and I turned reluctantly away from the scene as the rainbow
colours were, with the sinking sun, beginning to disappear from the
topmost heights of the falls.
Delightful indeed were the brilliant and varied scenes I have been
attempting to describe, and after them the remainder was by comparison
tame, but still I found that, as I took a canoe the following evening and
rowed up the forest-margined pool from which the rapids emerge, that the
minor scenes at the falls have exquisite charms of their own. And then it
was that I realized that, varying though the scale may be, there is
everywhere about the falls the same beauty of detail and beauty of
combined effect, and that, too, unaccompanied by a single jarring note.
For nowhere can you say, as you can often say in viewing scenes elsewhere,
"leave out this, or alter that, and the scene would be perfect," and in
none of the scenes about the falls does anything poor, or base, or mean,
or uninteresting strike the eye, and as I rowed slowly up the pool I felt
that the mind was both charmed and soothed by the exquisite repose of the
scene, which is only broken, if indeed it can be said to be broken, by the
beautiful birds and gaily painted kingfishers which occasionally wing
their way across the water, or flit along the margin of the forest-clad
shore. As you look towards the West the eye wanders over the wild
assemblage of water-worn rocks and boulders which intervene between the
pool and the head of the falls, to rest finally on the distant hills,
covered mostly to their tips with the evergreen forest, while on looking
up the river you see that it is flanked by woods on either hand, and as
you lose sight of the water as it bends towards the south, the eye glances
upwards to hills of moderate height, wooded in the hollows, and showing on
the ridges grassy vistas dotted with occasional trees.
On returning, I went lower down in the pool than the point I had started
at, and passed a number of rocks worn into all sorts of curious shapes,
and one of these leaned, like some gigantic Saurian, over the flood. As we
neared the rapids, one felt that one would by no means like to run any
risk of being drawn into one of them, and I was by no means anxious to go
nearer to them than the boatmen, wished. One of them told me that the
natives sometimes descended the cliffs between the Roarer and the Rocket
Falls in order to carry off the fledglings from the nests of the blue rock
pigeons, and said that several lives had thus been lost. He said that
there was no way of reaching the bottom of the cliff, and rather quaintly
added, "Those who came up again came up, and those who did not, died." He
said that some European had once put what was evidently dynamite into the
pool. A great explosion followed, which killed a large number of fish,
many of which were washed over the falls.
In the evening I sat for a long time in the bungalow veranda smoking my
cigar, and looking dreamily out at the moonlit falls, and observing from
time to time the scenic changes that were produced by the great masses of
mist which drifted up the gorge below me to be dispersed as they touched
the cliffs, and presenting, as they did so, most charming pictures. In the
morning, too, beautiful effects were to be seen, as masses of mist arose
from the chasm of the Rajah to flit in fleecy fragments across the face of
the falls. But the scenes about this spot are of endless variety, and I
must allow myself to mention only one more, which my companion saw one
morning from Watkin's platform when the iris hues were on the pool below
the falls, which, as the spray fell into it, seemed like a mass of golden
water dotted all over, as if yellow tinted rain were falling into it. On
some occasions visitors have illuminated the falls with fireworks, and by
floating over the falls ignited bundles of straw soaked in paraffin, and I
regret that I had not thought of following their example.
Next morning I set out on a drive of about 150 miles to my plantations in
Manjarabad. As we left the falls, we passed, and close to the river pool
above them, a tree covered with fruit which was being eaten by green
pigeons and other birds, and on looking up into it I was surprised, as it
is an animal of nocturnal habits, to see a large and beautiful flying
squirrel peering at me with a quiet but by no means apprehensive eye. I
was strongly tempted to shoot it for the sake of its skin, but my
companion, who had been much affected by the beauties of the falls, said
that it would be a sacrilege to shoot anything so near them. So I spared
his feelings and the poor squirrel, and am now very glad to think that I
did so. I may here mention that the traveller, though he sets out early in
the morning and late in the afternoon, very rarely sees anything in the
shape of big game, even though the jungles he may be driving through may
abound with it, and the sole exception I can remember, after numerous
journeys through them, occurred on the occasion of my drive home from the
falls, when, early one morning, a tiger bounded across the road at a
distance of about 100 yards ahead. It is also worthy of remark that you
very seldom see a snake, and, though I landed on the Western coast at
Carwar and travelled by easy stages by way of the falls to my estate, I
did not see a single snake during the whole course of the journey.
As it is probable that this account of the Gairsoppa Falls may induce
travellers to visit them, I think it may be useful to give an account of
the Cauvery Falls on the southern frontier of Mysore, which are well
worthy of a visit, and easily accessible. The best time for visiting them
is generally said to be August, or not later than the middle of September,
though when I visited them on the 25th of that month last year, the river,
though not in full flood, had an ample supply of water in it, and, from
Mr. Bowring's description of his visit to them on November 21st,[10] there
must still, up to that date, be a considerable flow in the river. From my
own experience, I feel sure that the best time to see these falls is after
the great floods have subsided, as the water then is clear, or nearly so,
and the effects, as in the case of the Gairsoppa Falls, are far more
varied and brilliant. There is one point I would here particularly impress
on the traveller, and that is, that when visiting falls such as those of
Gairsoppa and the Cauvery, which present a great variety of scenic
effects, and are not merely monotonous single masses of water, he should
devote at least two clear days to them, i.e., he should arrive on one
day, remain two days, and leave on the fourth day. He should also select a
time when there is a sufficiency of moonlight. I was particularly
impressed with the first point, because I most thoroughly enjoyed my visit
to Gairsoppa as I had two clear days there, whereas my visit to the
Cauvery Falls was attended with that sense of hurry which, if not
destructive of all enjoyment, leaves behind on the mind a feeling that
many points in the scenes must have been either missed or quite
inadequately observed. The account of my visit to these falls, however,
may at least be useful in showing a traveller short of time how to visit
them with the least possible expenditure of it.
I left Bangalore, then, on the morning of Thursday, September 24th, 1891,
by the 8.20 a.m. train, for the Mudoor Railway Station, on the lino to
Mysore city, and arrived there shortly after midday. I then had luncheon
at the station, and left for the Malvalli Travellers' Bungalow at a little
before three, in a carriage I had sent on from Bangalore with two pairs of
horses (it is advisable to have an extra pair posted), and arrived at my
destination shortly after five. To this bungalow, which is about fourteen
miles from the falls, I had previously sent on with my native servants
bedding and mosquito curtains, and the means necessary to prepare meals
for the party. Reports had reached us of creeping things being abroad in
this bungalow, and my servant had been particularly enjoined to look out
for, and, as far as possible, guard against them. This he had done by
putting the bedsteads in the sun and doing what further he could. But
notwithstanding his assurances of safety, one of the ladies of the party
insisted that, from all she had heard, there must be creeping things
somewhere about. The servant listened with an air of respectful attention
to all she had to say, and, when she had quite done, said with quiet
persistence, and much to our amusement, "What Missus says is true, but
there are no bugs," and I am glad to say that he was justified in making
the assertion. We rose very early the following morning, started at 4.20,
at 6.20 arrived at the bungalow near the falls, and, after a little delay
to get a cup of tea, drove at once to the nearest fall. But I must here
pause for a few moments to describe the general situation of the river,
the islands formed by its splitting into two distinct branches, and the
position of the fall--a total situation which is not easily comprehended
without the aid of a map.
The Cauvery Falls are on the river of that name, which rises in Coorg,
and, after a run of 646 miles to the south-east, falls into the Bay of
Bengal about midway between Madras and Cape Comorin. Before reaching
Seringapatam (which is on an island in the river) it is joined by the
Hemavati which rises to the north of Manjarabad and, as we have seen,
skirts the eastern border of that talook, or county. As the Hemavati sends
down a large body of water the source of which is more distant from the
sea than the spot in Coorg which is called the head of the Cauvery, I may
remark in passing that it is singular that the latter should have been
regarded as the source of this fine river, which really rises in Mysore.
But, rise where it may, it at last arrives at a point on the southern
frontier of Mysore where the bed of the Cauvery splits into two channels
and forms the island of Hegora, which is about three miles long, and from
a quarter of a mile to a mile wide, and, by a rather curious, coincidence,
almost exactly the size of the island on which the fortress of
Seringapatam has been built. The northern branch of the river washes the
Mysore frontier and this, after about two miles, again divides, or rather
a small branch diverges to the north and, forming a loop, cuts away from
the mainland the island of Ettikoor, and there falls into the northern
branch of the river by various cascades, and just below the point where
the falls on the main northern branch occur. This group of falls is called
Gangana Chuckee.
The southern branch of the river on the Madras side flows as a single
stream for about half a mile, and then splits off some of its water into
various channels, but forming nothing worthy of the name of an island till
it severs from the mainland the island of Hegora, a strip of land about
two furlongs at the widest, and less than a mile in length. To the south
of this the main body of the water goes to form lower down the fine series
of cascades and falls called the Bar Chuckee, while a comparatively small
body of water goes to the left to form the pretty series of cascades and
steep runnels of water which fall, though at a different point of the
compass from the main falls, into the wide pool at the foot of the Bar
Chuckee Falls. After this necessary digression I now proceed to narrate
what I saw and did.
I drove, then, after a short delay at the bungalow, to the Gangana Chuckee
Falls, passing on the way the temple of Sivasamudrum, and various
buildings connected with it, and leaving the carriage, walked down towards
the falls, passing on the right Pir's Tomb, the grave of a Mahometan
priest of that name, and went to a point just below it, from which a fine
general view of these falls and the river can be obtained. Glancing
upwards, the view of the river, as the waters race down their steep stony
bed towards the falls amidst numerous projecting rocks, is extremely grand
and picturesque. Then at a point just below the spot I was standing on,
the water plunged down a nearly precipitous descent, from which it
apparently (for the spray prevented one seeing exactly) fell
perpendicularly into the pool below, sending up as it did so gossamer
veils of spray full of fleeting, faint, and ever varying iris hues. This
pool is flanked, and probably about 100 yards below the foot of the
previously mentioned fall, on the northern side by a precipice about 250
feet high, down which, in four separate cascades, falls the water of the
branch of the river which cuts off the small island of Ettikoor. On the
side of the precipice next to the great fall of the main river stands a
piece of tree-clad rocky ground, apparently about 50 feet higher than the
precipice, and this is flanked by a rapid at the top, passing into a
cascade lower down, which then held but little water, but which in floods
must add much to the beauty of the scene. After viewing the scene for
sometime, I returned to the carriage, and drove across the island to visit
the Bar Chuckee Falls, and left the carriage at a point where the road
begins to descend into the valley into which the southern branch of the
river precipitates itself. I then advanced to a point on the right of the
road from which a fine general view can be obtained, though it is rather
too distant as regards the main body of the falls, and, as I reached the
point in question, came suddenly into view of such a number of separate
falls and cascades that a description of them is extremely difficult. For,
on the opposite side of the valley, I counted no less than thirteen, which
leap partly over one side of a horseshoe shaped precipice which had
evidently, from the huge boulders in the channel below, been eaten back
into the side of the precipice, and partly shoot out through various
hidden channels which the waters have deeply cut through a huge
semicircular platform of rock which overhangs the valley below. As they
thus shoot out the effect is extremely striking and picturesque, and their
resemblance to the spokes of light from a star no doubt caused the natives
to give the very appropriate name of Chuckee (pronounced
Chickee--Kanarese for star) to these beautiful falls. This semicircular
platform of rock stands on one side of the river-bed, next to this we have
the horseshoe-shaped precipice I have mentioned, and next to that again,
as it were by way of quietly beautiful contrast, there is a vast sheet of
steeply sloping rock, which is completely covered by a thin coating of
white, and everywhere foaming water. When the river is at the full this
fine series of falls and cascades vanishes, and is replaced, as in the
case of the falls at Gairsoppa, by one great fall about half a mile wide.
After looking at this beautiful scene, the eye wanders next over some
jungle-clad slopes on the western side of the main falls, to dwell on a
series of cascades and racing waters which descend through channels
flanked on either side by scrubby plants and trees--a series which arises
from a branch which diverges about a mile higher up the river, and the
cascades and runnels of water of which are scattered round precipitous
slopes right up to, and immediately below, the point on which I was
standing. All the falls and cascades unite in a pool below of great width,
from which the water escapes through a narrow gorge, to join, further
down, the river branch on which are the Gangana Chuckee Falls. The general
effect here appears to be that you are looking at falls and cascades
proceeding from two different rivers, the one flowing from the south and
the other from the west, and the effect is the same at the first described
falls. The general height of all the falls is said to be from 200 to 250
feet, and in Mr. Bowring's "Eastern Experiences" 300 feet, but I can find
no account, and could hear of no particulars, as to when or how
measurements were taken, as in the case of the falls at Gairsoppa, which
were carefully surveyed by officers of the Indian Navy. I was particularly
struck with the absence of bird life at these falls, and only saw two
small birds, and one hawk, and a small flight of what in the distance
appeared to be pigeons, which alit on a rock at the foot of one of the
falls.
It is impossible to refrain from contrasting these falls with those at
Gairsoppa. The Cauvery Falls have indeed much beauty and grandeur in
river, and varied waterfall scenery, and had I not seen the Gairsoppa
Falls I should have thought that it would have been difficult to find
anywhere in the world scenes more varied and beautiful. But the beauties
of the falls of Cauvery are set in comparatively speaking sterile
surroundings of rock and scrubby jungle, trees and shrubs scattered over
ground partly undulating, and partly over hills of moderate height and
uninteresting form. Then the grandeur arising from their great height, and
the charms of the varied sounds of the falls of Gairsoppa, and the
marvellously beautiful effects of graceful bird life wheeling and darting
amidst the iris hues of the falls, and the setting of the whole scene
amidst the tropical wealth of the evergreen forest of the Western Ghauts,
afford combinations which far exceed those of the Cauvery Falls. I have no
hesitation in saying, as a traveller to the falls of Gairsoppa has said
before, that they alone would repay one for all the trouble of the voyage
to India. But, beautiful and grand as they undoubtedly are, I cannot quite
say the same of the Cauvery falls, though I can with confidence say that
if the traveller leaves India without seeing them he will certainly have
missed one of the scenes best worth seeing in it.
After spending some time at the Bar Chuckee Falls I then drove back to the
bungalow and, leaving the carriage there, walked rather more than half a
mile to the bridge which connects the island with the Madras side of the
river, and which I closely examined, as it is a most curious and
interesting specimen of the work of native engineers, and as it has
withstood the floods of about seventy years, one of which passed over the
roadway of the bridge to a depth of three feet, is most highly creditable
to native workmanship. A similar bridge connects the island with the
Mysore side of the river, and both bridges were repaired at his own cost
by a native in the employ of the Mysore Government, who in recognition of
this important work, received from the British Government, for himself and
his heirs (who are bound to keep up the bridges) land yielding an annual
revenue of £800, and of £900 from the Mysore Government.
The bridge I now proceeded to examine. It is built entirely of stone
without any mortar or cement, and is supported on two rows of single block
stone pillars standing on slabs of stone placed on the river bed. Those
pillars are about nine feet high and eight feet apart. On the top of each
pillar is first of all a thick block of stone projecting about eighteen
inches from the pillar on its upper and lower sides. Then on this was a
rather thicker block of stone, and on the top of all cross beams of solid
single stones had been laid, and from one cross beam to another were solid
and closely put together slabs of stones, some of which were eighteen
inches wide, and some rather wider, thus making a roadway above so narrow
that two carriages cannot pass each other. In order to strengthen the
pillars and keep them in position, a flat slab of stone had been laid on
the bed of the river, from the base of the lower pillar to within about
two feet of the upper one, and between the end of this slab and the pillar
a thick, high block of stone had been wedged. In this bridge there were
109 pairs of pillars, giving a total length of about 1,000 feet. I was
struck with the difference in the age of the pillars, and with the fact
that, whereas some were plain, roughly hewn pillars, others, which had
been dressed and chiselled into various forms, were evidently of great
antiquity, and I was subsequently informed by the clerk of the proprietor
of the island that the latter had been procured from ruined temples in
the neighbourhood. These bridges at first sight seem to be curved in a
slight loop up the stream, but a closer examination shows that they have
been built in several lines, first slightly up the stream and then
advancing by several straight lines to a blunt arrow-like point in the
centre of the river, and this was evidently to enable the bridges the
better to resist the heavy floods, one of which, as I have previously
mentioned, went no less than three feet over the roadway. As you stand on
the edge of the river and look along the centre of the rows of pillars the
effect is very curious, as they then present the appearance of a long
colonnade of pillars of various shapes, with a flat roof of solid slabs of
stone overhead.
After thoroughly inspecting the bridge, I lay for some time in the shade
of a tree which stood on the bank of the river about fifty yards below the
bridge, and awaited the arrival of the carriage, which I had sent for as
the day was getting hot, and as I thus lay languidly observing the long
colonnade, and the water which rapidly flowed between the pillars, and
looked up the river as it stretched away to the north-west, and enjoyed
the cool air which gently moved along the water, I felt a quiet sense of
enjoyment which gave me a greater, and certainly a more lasting, sense of
pleasure than I had experienced when visiting the beautiful falls I have
just endeavoured to describe. I mention this for the moral, which is, that
to enjoy scenery the body must be comfortable and in complete repose. I
would also add that you must be alone, or practically alone, by being out
of sight or hearing of your companions. Presently I was aroused by the
rumble of the carriage, and, collecting my party, returned to the bungalow
for luncheon. At about half past four the carriage was brought round, and
we drove to our temporary home to dinner, and on the following day reached
Bangalore at two o'clock, the whole trip having thus occupied about sixty
hours.
FOOTNOTES:
[4] No less than 291.53 inches fell this year, between April and the last
day of September, at a Cardamom plantation on the crests of the Ghauts.
[5] After the fall of Seringapatam some further military operations were
necessary in Manjarabad, and some of Colonel Wellesley's letters were
written within a few miles of my bungalow.
[6] So called from its flowing from a source which was supposed to have
been formed by a stroke of Rama's arrow.
[7] All travellers are obliged to record their names in these books, and
state the time they have stayed, and the sums they have paid for the use
of the bungalow.
[8] "Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency," vol. xv. Kanara, Bombay. Printed
at the Government Central Press, 1883.
[9] The native idea.
[10] "Eastern Experiences," by L. Bowring, C.S.I.; Henry S. King and Co.,
London, 1871. Before visiting Mysore the traveller should certainly buy or
consult this book.