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