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2 lofty mountains which form its boundaries on three sides—its total
3 want of water carriage, early drew the attention of the Commissioner
4 to the necessity of constructing good roads and easy passes in the moun-
5 tains, which should act as the navigable streams and harbours of more
6 favoured countries. The soil of Mysore i is well adapted for the making
7 of roads, which, with the exception of the great lines, therefore dg not
8 require to be highly metalled ; but the country is intersected in all
9 directions with labyrinths of nullahs, which become rivers after rain,
10 and the number of bridges and large drains which had to be constructed,
11 was in consequence very great. Indeed on looking ,down on the plain,
12 from the sunimit of any high mountain, the lines of-road are to be traced
13 by the white bridges which dot them at the shortest of intervals.
14 The abolition of the Transit duties, and the remission of the sevén
15 hundred and sixty-nine items of taxation above alluded to have covered
16 these roads with traffic; and long lines of carts are now seen where
17 ,fifteen years ago wheeled carriages were all but unknqwn.
18 While roads were thus formed, anda grinding and bewildering
19 system of taxation was abolished, means were also adopted to develop
20 the resources of the country by providifig new objects of cultivation and
21 traffic. The soil of Mysore is for the most part not fertile, but its inha-
22 ‘bitants are remarkable for their industry, and the climate being subject .
23 to no extremes of heat, or cold, or moisture, is alike favourable to the -
24 labours of the husbandman, and to the idan of the produce of other
25 and apparently dissimilar regions.
26 Early attention was given to the eiivation of the Mulberry with a
27 view not only to improve the quality of the silk, but also to provide
28 employment for the numerous and idle Mahomedan population of
29 the country, who seem to prefer the tending of the worms and the
30 manufacture of silk to more laborious methods of earning bread. A
31 garden and worm-house were kept up for some years, but have recently
32 been discontinued. A great improvement has been produced in the
33 quality of the silk, but the natives are unwilling to adopt improved
34 modes of filature, and the manufactured articles, though in considerable
35 demand in the markets of Southern India, are not adapted to those of
36 Europe,
37 The cultivation of Sugar is rapidly increasing. A Factory, conducted
38 on scientific principles and with great energy; has been established at
39 Geringapatam by a Company, partly European, partly Native, and its