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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
boulders cropping up on the ridge top which it sees them carried in all directions for long spans; at C there is a considerable hollow en- distances, and in a manner hard to reconcile closed by a rude wall, and at D a flat thickly- with purposes of defence or boundary;-indeed lichened natural surface of rock, enclosed by a their use for either purpose must have been massive wall, fourteen yards in diameter, with wholly incommensurate with the labour exan entrance at the top between two tall natural pended upon them. So, too, "great and massive boulders under this, at E, there is another walls eight feet high, half as thick, and extending smaller walled enclosure, four yards in diame- for long distances, are found buried in deep ter. C is on the slope on one side of the ridge, forest on the crest of the ghâts between and D and E on the slope on the other Kanara and Maisur, with large trees rooted in side. The elegant Maiden-hair Fern (Adiantum them :" the Kanarese term for such remains Ethiopicum), now become scarce about Uta-aggăru-cariously corresponds with the Latin kamand, grows abundantly amid the stones agger. Mr. Richter further quotes a passage of D. About a hundred yards northward of the bearing upon the matter from the Fortnightly breastwork there are many stone-rings barely Review:-" Probably no country in the world visible in the grass on the top of the ridge; possesses so many ancient earthworks-certainly digging in some of them yielded no results. none upon such a stupendous scale-as England. The position, flanked and fronted by steep They are extremely difficult of access, from the slopes, is strong, and the breastwork might, steepness of the mountain height on which they temporarily at least, resist invaders coming were formed. Undoubtedly this is the most up the Segur Pass from the Maisur plateau, ancient species of rampart known: it existed and a fugitive Raja might now and then have ages before the use of mural fortifications, and sought safety in the mountains,-otherwise it is originated in all probability with the nations of difficult to imagine natives resorting to these the East." The huge dykes in Wiltshire are cool heights, so hateful to them, so delightful especially noteworthy, and as an exemplar, and to Europeans. But the circular appendages at perhaps the greatest, of all, I may mention the each end of the breastwork seem problematical. Wansdyke, which magnificent earthwork reachThat at D, enclosing a flat table of rock, might ed from the British Channel across Somerset suggest dreams of a place of sacrifice, entered and Wilts to the woodlands of Berkshire, and as it is through a stately rocky portal; but is still traceable in many places. Whether his speculation were hazardous. I do not know that was a kadanga or war-trench, or a boundary this antiquity has been noticed, but being near line between tribes, is debated by antiquaries. Utakamand it might be worth a visit from It has been pertinently remarked that to garskilled archeologists. Still nearer the canton- rison it throughout would require an inconment, not far behind 'Sylk's Hotel,' at the top ceivable number of men, and it has been geneof a long steep slope leading downwards towards rally regarded as a Belgic boundary. One may the valley and ridge already mentioned, there is observe, however, that the great wall of China, another crescent-shaped breast work, 26 yards which falls within the category of these prodibetween the tips, with traces of smaller works gions works of antiquity, was certainly intended at each tip. for defence. Upon the whole question of these surprising works, whether in England, Kurg, or Kánara, it may be finally added, in the words of the writer quoted by Mr. Richter, that "the organization of labour necessary for carrying them out evinces a condition of society in prehistoric times utterly incompatible with the prevailing notions on the subject." One possible supposition-repugnant enough to prevailing notions, but to which many considerations seem to point-is that the pre-historic world may have been every where vastly more populous than the present.
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As not unconnected with this subject, I may refer to the Kurg kadangas or war-trenches, described in the Rev. G. Richter's Manual of Coorg (pp. 190-191); these are enormous trenches defended by a bank of the excavated soil, and "stretch, over hills, woods, and comparatively flat countries, for miles and miles, at some places branching off in various directions, or encircling hill-tops." Mr. Richter quotes old records to show that they were constracted by ancient Rajas to fortify the principality. In South Kanara also these trenches abound; one
[JUNE, 1875.
