of L800, and of L900 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