Mr. Ames, the Sub-Collector at Dindigul, had kindly given me the use of a house which he shared with Mr. Levinge, the Collector of Madura. It has a pleasant garden, whence there is a glorious view of the Madura plains, with their numerous tanks glittering in the sun; and close to the house a torrent of deliciously cold water babbles over huge boulders of rock, and finally leaps in long falls down the face of the cliffs, making a noise at night like the roar of the sea. The house was in charge of a very original old native of low caste, with a large family, named Chenatumby, who is a tolerable gardener, and cultivates his own patch of potatoes. Chenatumby is a devoted Protestant, feels a conscientious horror for the idolatry of the Roman Catholics, and intends to bring up his eldest son as a half-caste, this honour being conferred on him by the simple process of attiring him in a hat and trousers. Old Chenatumby acted as a guide in my walks over the hills, and was very useful. The Pulney[434] or Varragherry hills, like the Neilgherries further north, branch out in an easterly direction from the main line of the western ghauts. United to a portion of the Anamallay range at their western end, they stretch out into the Madura plains for a distance of fifty-four miles, with a medium breadth of fifteen, and an area of 798 square miles. On the south they rise very abruptly from the plains, presenting, near their summits, a perfect wall of gneiss; but on the north and east they slope down in a succession of broken ridges. The Pulneys are divided into two parts: a lower series of hill and dale to the eastward, called Mailmullay or Kunnundaven, averaging a height of 4000 feet, and covering 231-1/2 square miles, where there are extensive tracts of forest, some cultivation, and several villages; and a loftier region to the westward 6000 to 7500 feet above the sea, with undulating grassy hills and mountain-peaks, the highest of which, Permanallie, attains an elevation of 8000 feet.