who had acquired both wealth and position, having
been adopted into a superior caste. The caste was not a rich one, and he
no doubt paid heavily for his admission into it.

[44] The farmers in Manjarabad invariably tack on the word "Gouda" to
their names, and it seems to answer for our Mr.

[45] The natives imagine that every man's fate is written in invisible
characters on his forehead.

[46] Abbe Dubois.

[47] It is satisfactory to learn that caste feelings and regulations have
a favourable influence with natives, even when they go to a foreign
country; and it is equally satisfactory to quote the evidence of a
gentleman who laughs at caste as an absurd custom. Mr. W. Sabonadiere, in
his work of "The Coffee Planter in Ceylon" writes as follows: "The coolies
who resort to Ceylon are of various castes. Those mostly preferred by
planters are the low castes, such as Pallans, shanars, and Pariahs, as
being more accustomed to and fit for hard work; but, as a class, they are
more given to drink, spend their money more freely, and are more
quarrelsome than the higher classes, whom their caste forbids to drink
arrack or spirits, and who are more cleanly in their habits, better
behaved (as fearing to lose caste), who have land of their own on the
coast, and are more interested in working regularly and gaining their
wages to take away with them."

CHAPTER IX.

COFFEE PLANTING IN COORG.

The British Province of Coorg consists of a mountainous and jungly tract
of country with elevations of from about 2,700 to 3,809 feet. The last is
the elevation of the capital, Mercara, the tableland of which, for a
stretch of about 26 miles, averages about 3,500 feet. This little province
lies, as the reader will see by a glance at the map, on the south-west
border of Mysore, with which, since its annexation, it has always been
connected, and the Resident of Mysore invariably holds the post of
Commissioner of Coorg. The population of Coorg is just over 170,000, and
its area is 1,583 square miles, or about one-fourth of the size of
Yorkshire. But, though small in extent and population, its Rajah and
people played an important part as our allies in the war with Tippoo, and
a full account of the facts is given in the history of Coorg which has
been published in the "Mysore and Coorg Gazetteer." The history of the
country, however, which has been gathered up by various European writers,
is by no means of an alluring character, and ind