Page:The Indian Antiquary, Vol. 4-1875.djvu/174

 ARCHAEOLOGICAL 2SOTES. IrJI ARCHAEOLOGICAL NOTES. BY 31. J. WALIIOt.SE, I. (Con tin* -_■■ IV.— Old WaB* and 1 IJKSIIH-: cairns, dolmens, mil stone-circles, -*-"* then exist upon the 2? i 1 g i r i Hills other structural antiquities of a different nature, name- ly, remains of fortifications and dwellings, the hitter resembling the hut-circles and foundations so common on Dartmoor and elsewhere in Eng- land. At present the only notice of them known to ine is in Major Congreve's paper on the Anti- quities of the Nilgiri Hills in No. 32 of the MadrasJournal of hiteratur« fpnd . whtxe (at pn- -s •>:-•.'- ) li describes the vestiges of what he conjectures may hare been an old capital oft lie Toda people situated in that locality so sacred to picnics, Fairlawn, near TJtakamand. On the sides and at the bottom of that most picturesque and delightful valley Major Congreve discovered for- tified mounds, long lines of ramparts, an altar- rock encircled by stones, circular walls of un- ited stones enclosing spaces occupied by single and double Tings of stones and heaps ; and, by the stream that threads the valley, ''long rows of ruined walls forming streets; and square foundations of buildings." I oon- i ■-■.■- Dot having been able to trace out all the objects enumerated by Major Congreve, and the heaps and mounds by tbe stream seemed often o distinguish from fiuviatile deposits; and ■nclusion, that at this nearly central spot of the Nilgiris " stood £he capital of the ancient T hankawar (Toda) people," appears a certain as the theory that links the cairns and dolmens with the Todas. The circular stone wall enclosing a space occupied by the stone- rings is Orthy, as corresponding with traces of pre- historic fortified villages in England, siwh Be Crinisponnd upon Dartmoor, where a mi wall surrounds a space tilled with hut-circles. In all countries and B gee similar conditions of life give rise to similar results, and in such fortified enclosures the ancient populations lived or took refuge on the approach of danger.* Iu ■ " Tho whole surface of the Khanate in covered with scattered tit intervals alonir tli" munis Towns in Khiva are consequently nut rinuisrrms, anil suv tub united .:mta of the ind bj trader*. The homeates peasants upiimach the ■ u, ami may bo railed wtnall pquare mud fori *, the • which vary in length from twenty to out* hundred several districts of the Madras President open plains are do- lofty s. poire brick enclosures, into which lees than a century ago the villagers nsed to fly with their families and herds on the approach of marauding Maisnr or MarjithA horsemen, and remain till the raid had swept by. Both in Telugu and ITimil (the fear of a hostile army,"' and in many tracts, especially in South Koimbatnr, this ominous word enters into the names of the present vil- lages, such as Papavalasu. ^aJaeapalayam, — indicating where hurried fugitives had set- tled and built themselves new abodes. But returning to theNilgir is: — at the bead of the Segur Pass immediately on entering table-land, on the north side of the road a rung towards the well-known ' lidlya mand ;' it is enclosed between steep sides, and from its head a long narrow ridge or promontory runs along its middle towards the Segur road ending abruptly in a steep dip, and both sides of the ridge descend in steep grassy slopes. Jngi fore the terminal dip the saddle of this central ridge is crossed by a somewhat remarkable breastwork or fortification with walled • enres at each end, thus : — fef H* i~r?Z 5I IVom A to B there is a very massive wall, twenty-five yards long and two thick, of large stones and pici. 'minding some natural yard*, according to th«> si.*... of thfl family inh .' thigh, iind within their sore an cue diflfereet ifawflmgAoai o e an the lint roof* of wbiob tb atone cattle- yiir.ls and outhousi From snob homes'. < »es snd walled towns doubt. lea developed.
 * da?v) denotes "flying from home for