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jA m PROPERTY OF ym 

wlwsit^of 
Mickigm 
Jlframs, 



• 817 




ARTES SCIENTIA VERITAS^ 










.y 



4 



d£AJ>RA8 BISTltlCT GAZETTEERS, 



THE NILGIBIS. 

rOLUlLE I. 



I 



^iicJxml^^^^^^) 



MADRAS DISTRICT GAZETTEERS. 



THE NtLGlEIS. 



BY 

W. PEANOIS, 

INDIAN CIVIL 8IBTI0K. 



MADRAS: 
PKINTED BY THK SiTPBBiNTBNDHNT, GOYSENMINT PB1ISS. 

l»08. 



V5 

hi 



v| 



PREFACE. 



The original * District Maliual ' of thi Nilgiris Was published 
in 1880. It was chiefly compiled by the late Mr. H. B. GLrigg, 
I.C.S., but sevei^l of the chapters were contributed by others. 
This system necessarily resulted in considerable overlapping, 
and thus, though the present volume is much smaller than 
its predecessor, it omits, it is hoped, little of the contends of 
the latter which is of permanent interest. 

As with the other District Gazetteers of the present series^ 
statistics have been for the most part relegated to a separate 
Appendix, which is to be revised decennially, after each 
Census. 

Thanks to the various gentlemen, official and non-officia}^ 
who have kindly rendered me assistance, have been tendered 
where possible in the body of the volume ; but special obliga* 
tions have been incurred to Sir Frederick Price, k.o.s.i^., 
whose forthcoming work on Ootacamund, the capital of the 
District, has exhausted the available material on the most 
interesting of all the subj'ects dealt with in the following 
pages. 

This is the last of the District Gazetteers which I have 
been directed to prepare, and I wish to acknowledge grate- 
fully the valuable and untiring help which I have received 
throughout the production of the series from my two Assist- 
ants, M.R.Rys. S. Dandapani Aiyar and C Hayavadana Bao. 

March. 1907, 



1>LAN OF CONl^NTS. 



ORipnB • ^ . • 


PAOBS 


I. Phtsioal Dbsgbiftiov . . ^ . . 


1-8* 


II. PotmOAL HI8TOBY . . . . * . . .•. 


90-122 


in. The Pboplb • . . . . • . . 


. . 123-162 


lY. AcmouiiTUBB 


.. 168-207 


T. F0BB8T8 


. . 208-221 


VI. OOCUPATION8 AND TbABB 


. . 222-226 


VII. Mbaks of Com mukication . 

• 


. . . 226-241 


VJII. Rahtfatj. and Seasons 


. . 242-246 


IX. Public Hbalth 


. . 247-266 


X. Education 


. . 267-266 


XI. Land Rbvbnub Adminisiieiation 


. 267-286 


Xn. Salt, Abkabi and Miscellaneous Revenue 


. . 286-29J 


XIII. Administbation of Justice 


. 292-297 


XIV. Local Sblf-Qovebnmbnt 


. 298-811 

• 


XV. Gazbttbbb — 




Ck>onoor Taluk 


. 312-344 


Ootacamund Taluk 


. 346-864 


Gtidaltur Taluk 


. 866-377 


bn»x * .. 


. 879-394 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



OHAPTER f. 
PHT8IGAL DB80EIPTI0K. 



PAra 



GsiixftAt. DucBiPTioN (page 1)— Position And bonndaries — Taloki and chief 
iowBt (8)— Natural dmsiont ; the plateau — Iti ohief heif^htt (5)— The . 
Wjnaad (6>— Riven and waterfalls (7). Geoloot (10)— The platean— 
MiiiOTala there (12)— The Wynaad (l8)---MinArals there ; mica, iron— Gbld ; 
early ezploraiione — Mr. Brongh Smyth's report upon it (15) — The boom of 
1880 (16). Vloba (19) — General remaj^ks—Butanical divisions .of the 
hills (20)— DecidnouB forests on slopes— Their charaoteristics (21) — and 
vmloable timbers — Moist evergreen forests of the slopes — Their oharacter- 
iatio trees (22) — and timbers— The shdlas or woods of the platean (28) — 
Their characteristio trees—and timbers— and ferns and mosses— The 
graaaland of the platean (24) — Its characteristic shrobs— and beantifnl 
. plants (25) — Books of reference (26)— Introduced plants. Zoology (28)— 
Domestic animals ; Cattle — Sheep (29) — Pigs — Horses and ponies — Game 
animals — Blephants— Tigers (30)— Leopards and bears (81) — Deer — ^Bison 
(82)— Pig— The Nilgiri ibex— Wild dogs (38)— The Game Association— The * 
smaller mammals (84)— The Ootaoamand Hnnt (35)— Birds (86)— Fish (87) 
— ^Poaching on the Bhavini (39) — Experiments with exotic fish — Reptiles 
(44) — Shells. Appbnoix I, List of the flowering plants, etc. (45) — ^Appendix " 

11, The Mammalia of the district (75) — Appendix III, Birds of the district 
(77)'-AppBin)ix lY, Beptiles of the district (84) — Appxndzx V, Land and 
frMih watar shells of the district (88) 1-89 



OHAPTEE II. 

POLITIOAL HISTOBY. 

Bablt Histobt (page 90)— Under the Ganga kings (91) — The Kadambas— The 
Hoysalaa— Their Banniyakas (92)— and the kings of Mysore (98)— Dearth 
of historical material — The antiquities' of the hills (94)— Cairns and barrows 
(96)— Their contents— Their builders (97)— -if<iraw# (98)— Kistvaena— 
CromlechB (99)— Their builders — The best specimens (100)— Historical 
inferenees from these antiquities (101). English Pxbiod (102) — ^Aifairs at 
the end of the 18th centnrj — The fall of Seringapatam and cession of tha 
distriot, 1799— Later history of the Wynaad— The Pycliy rebel (108)— His 
death in 1805 (105)— The plateau; first European visitors— Portnguese 
prieeto, 1602— Br. Buchanan, 1809 (106)— Keys and MacMahon, 1812(107) 
— Whish and Kindersley, 1818 (108)— John Sullivan, 1819-^The first 
bridle-path to the plateau, 1821 (100)— B^orts regarding iU climate dia- ' 
credited (110)— First mention of Ootaoamnnd, 1821 (111)— It becomes tha 
eapital of the plateau, 1822— Progress up to then (112)— Improvemsuli 



TABLE OP OOKRHTt. 



TAmw 



between 1888 end 18S6 (118)r-Sir Thomae Mnnro'e yMt, IttA— GoTen- 
ment aeiistance to Ootaoamnnd, 1887 (114) — ^Progreee up to then (116) — 
Mr. 8. B. J[iiishiiigton becomes Governor— His eapport of the ■anitarimn — 
Hit Tisit to the Hills, 1889 (116)— Part of the platean transferred to Mala- 
bar, 1880 (117)— New roads to it— Other improTementa (118)— Progress np 
to 1888— The Gonvalesoent D^p6t abolished by Sir ^. Adam, 1884 (180)— 
Other changes by his Gk>T^ment — The {^tean re-annezed to Ooimbatore, 
1848 (121)— The Knndahs, eto., added to it, 1860— It is placed vnder a 
^Commissioner, 1868 (182>-^he Onchterlony Valley and the Wynaad 
added toit-It beoome%aCo]leotorute, 1882 90-118 



CHAPTER III. 

THB PBOPLE. 

GiviBAL CHABACTBRibTios (page 188) — Density of the population — Its growth 
— Langnages spoken (184)— ReVgions— Parsis— Mnsalmans. CHmiSTXAK 
Missions (126)— Roman Catholic Mission— The Chnrch Missionary Booiety 
(126)— The Chnrch of England Zenana Mission Society (127)— The Basel 
Lutheran Mission — The American Mission— Other non-oonformists (188). 
PmiNCZPAL Castbs— Badagas— Ktftas (186)— Tj»as (188>— Imlaa (ISl)— 
K nrambas (168)— BeUtions between the five tribes (167)--Chetiis (168)— 
Mandidan OhetUs— Wynaadan Chettis (169)— Paalyane (160) 188-168 



OHAPTBR rv.. 

AGBICnLTITBE. 

Cmbal Cbops (page 168)— Statistica— CnltiTatlon on the platean (166)— Bolla 
—Methods (166)— Chief crops— C nidation in the Wynaad (16A)— 8oi1a 
(169)— Methods on dry land— On wetland. Bpicial Pbodvcts (170)— 
Coffee— Its first introdnbtion— Subsequent noissitudes (178)--CuItiTation 
(178)— Diseases a74)— Processes of manufacture (176)-- Tea (177)-Ita flrat 
introduction (178)— And subsequent estension (179)— Prooesses of roaniu 
facture (180)- Cinchona (182)— Its introduction— Government plantations 
begun (188)— The firnt febrifuge madp (185)— Changes in administration 
— Prirate planting of cinchona (186)— Work on the Goyemment planta- 
tions at present— Mainti'nsnce of the supply of bark (187)— The species 
of cinchona grown (188)— Harvesting of the bark — Manufacture of 
quinine— Rubber (190)— Its introduction- Extent now planted (191)— 
Harretting- Rhea fibre (192). Fkuit-tikes, etc.- Apples (198)— Pears 
(194)— Medlars (195)— Quinces— Peaches— Nectarines— Apricots— Plums 
(196)— Persimmon— Cherries ( 1 97)— Currants— Gooseberries— Raspberries 
-Strtwberriei (198)— Mulberries— Pigs (199) —Vines- GuaTaa—Orangea 
and lemons— Cherimoyer (200)— Nuts— Bee-keeping. Govbbkmbnt Fabmh 
anb Gabdkns (802)— The K^ti fsrm— The OoTemment Gardens, Ootaoa- 
• mond (20i)-«rTI^ Kalhatti branch garden (806)— The Coonoor branch 
garden — Sim*s Park, Coonoor— The Barliyir Garden— The present Got- 

ent Gardens and Parks (807) 168*807 



TABLE OF COKTlllTf. Zl 

OHAPTBB V. 

FOBESTS? 

WcHiDS ON TBI Plateau (page 208) — ^Their nature —Deitniotion in early days 
— ^Pirst ooniervation (210)— Dr. Clegf horn's suggestions,' 186&--Enles for 
their protection, 186Q,(211) — Their transfer to the Commissioner^ 1868 — 
Retransfer to the Forest department, 1875 — Beservation nnder the 
Forest ^ct — T6da patta lands x (212) — PresenJ system in the plateau • 
woodlands (218). Artificial Fibbwood Plantations — First introduc- 
tion of ADstralian trees—The first Government plantations (214) — The 
existing plantations (215) — ^Their dhief enenjes (217). Dbciduods^ 
FoBBBTS OF THP. NoBTHBBN SLOPES (218)— Growth in the Moyir Valley — 
Sandalwood plantation. Deciduous I^bests of •we WYNAAD—Benne 
fcveat (219) — Teak plantation — Mudamalai forest — Teak plantation there 
(221) 208-221 

CHAPTER VI. 

OCCUPA'nONS AND^TBADB. 

Occupations (page 222)— Arts and industries. Tbade (223). Weights and 
Xbabubbs (224) — Land measure — Measures of capacity — Lineal measure 
(225)— Table of weights-^Monetary tesms 222-226 

CHAPTER VII. 

MEANS OF CO.MMUNICATTON. 

Koadb (psge 226) — ^The Dann&yakank6ttai.D6n4d path — The Stindapatti 
pasa^The first K6tagiri ghit (227)— The present Kdtagiri ghit— The first 
Coofioor ghit (228)— The present Goonoor gh4t (229)— The Sig6r gh&t 
(280)— The Sispira ghit (282)— The first Gtidaldr ghit (233)- The pre- 
sent G^dal^ ghit (234)— Boads on the plateau (235)— Wynaad roads- 
Management of the roads (236)— Avenues— Travellers' bungalows and 
diattrams — Table of distances (237). Bailwats— The Nilgiri railway— 
Sketch history of it (288)— Extension to Gotacamund (240)— Projected 
railways 226-241 

CHAPTER Vin. 

RAINFALL AND SEASONS. 

Rainfall (page 242) — Influence of the south-west monsoon (243) — and of the 
nerth-east monsoon — The highest and lowest falls (244) — The figures for 
Ootaoamnnd — Hail storms (245). Bad Seasons. Floods and Storms — In 
1866— In 1881 (246>— In 1891— In 1902— In 19C5 242-246 . 

CHAPTER IX. 

PUBIJC HEALTH. 

Climatb (page 247)— On the plateau — The observatoi^ on Dodabetta (251) — 
Effects of the climate— Climate of the Wynaad (262). Diseasbs (258) — 
Cholera — Small-pox — Plague. Medical Institutions (254)— G^daltir 
hoapital — Coonoor hospital — St. Bartholomew's horfpital, Ootaoamuiid 
(266) 247-266 



Zll TABLB OP OOKtSHTl. 

OHAFTEB X. 

EDUCATION. 

TAMW 

Gensvs Statistics (paffe 267)— Edacation bj religions and talnks. Educa- 
tional Institutions — Lower secondary schools for bojs — Breeks' Memo- 
rial Snhool (258)— Lower secondary schools for girls (260) — The Hobart 
» , School — Upper secondary schools for boys — St. Joseph's Sohool, Ck>onoor 
(261) — The Stanes School— T)ie Lawrence Asylum — Upper secondary 
schools for girls (264)— ScbWols for indigenous castes (266). Nbwbpapxbs. S57-S66 

o 

CHAPTEB XI. 
LAND BBYENUB ADMINISTRATION. 

RiYKNUK HxsTOBT (page 267). On thr Plateau— Settlements with the onlti- 
▼ating hill castes— The ' bhnrty * system (268)—' Ay an ' grass and ' graa- 
ing pattas ' (269)— Nominal a\^lition of the bhnrty system, 2868— Abolition 
of i^ongh and hoe tazes-x Settlements with the T6da« (270)— And with 
European and other immigrants (272) -The Waste Land Rules of 1863 
(278) — Masinigudi an exceptioiAkl tract (274)— The surrey of 1870-80. 
Th£ Existing Sittlrmbnt of 1881-84— Methods adopted thereat (276)— 
Village estabh'shments rerised (277)— Features r.f the settlement— Settle- 
ment of Masinigudi (278). Rbyxnub Histobt of thk Wtnaad— The 
former revenue system— The first surrey (279) -The escheat enquiry 
(280). The Existing Skttlemknt— Its principles— Its results (281)— 
Settlement of the Ouchterlony Valley (282). Existing Administeatits 
Ab&anoimbnts. Appendix, Commissioners and Collectors of the Nilgiris 
(M*) 267-28i 

CHAPTER XII. 
SALT, ABKARI and MISCELLANEOUS REVENUE. 

Salt (page 286)— Saltpetre. AbkIri and Opium— Toddy— Arrack (287)— 
Foreign liquor (288)— Beer (2H9)— Opium and hemp-drugs (290). In- 
comb-taz (291). Stamps 286*291 

CHAPTER Xni. 
ADMINISTBATION OF JUSTICE. 

CiTii. Justice (page 292)— The existing ciTil courto— Registration. Cbimimai. 
Justice— The present tribunals — Crime (293)— Coffee-stesling. Policb 
(294)— Former systems — The existing force (296). Jails— The District 
Jail— The European prison (297)— Sub-Jails 292-287 

OHAPTEB XIV. 

LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT. 
Thi District Boabd (page 298)— Its finances. Wbllinoton Caktonmbwt 
(299). CooNooB Municipality— Drainage (800)— Water-supply. Oota. 
camund Municipality (802)— Its early effort4— The market (805)— 
Drainage (806>- Water-supply (807)— The Marlimand supply (808)~ The 
Dodabetta reeeryoir (809)— The Kodapamand reaerroir (810)— The Tigw 
Hill reeerrolr — Checking of^oYoroxowdiiig ... 198-ili 



' tABLE OF GONtEKtS. XIU 

CHAPTER XV. 
GAZETTEEK. 

VAOE 

CooNooK Taluk (312) — Aravankad— Atlukarihatti (316) — Barliyar— B^rganni 
— CooDoor (817>--D€iipd (324.)— Linihatti (326)— Hnlikal Dmg (828)— 
KiUri (880)— Kengarai— K6ti (381)— K<$dan&d (882)— Ednakand (883)— 
K6iagiri (334)— Kvlakambai (83'')— M^16r— Bacgasvimi Peak (840)— 
Wellingtou (841). Ootacamund 'Jaluk (845)-7Anaikatti — Aralanohe— 
Billikal (348)— Kalhatti (348)— Masinigadi (351)— Mclvor't Bund (862)— 
MOkimdah (868)— Miikarti Peak (864)- Nadavattam (866)— Nanjanid— 
Ootaoamimd (867)— Sispara (868)— IMn^n (364). QtoAht^ Taluk (866) 
— Gh^rambidi (866)— D^Y&lar-Gddaldr (368)— Mndnmalai-Nambalak6d 
(869)- Nol1ak6ttai— NelUilam (870)— Ouohterlony VaUey (872)— Pandaltir 
(«77) 312-877 



GAZETTEER 



OF THE 



NlLGIRl DISiTillCr. 







nd chief towns — 

VVynaad— ttWers 

here — The Wynaad — 



PHYSICAL 



Oenxsal Desciiption— Position And ha 
Natoral dirisions; the plateau — Uh 
and waterfalls. Giologt— Tht? pUteau-^ 

Minerals there ; mica, iron — GolfJ ; early pxploratiori— Mr, Brongh Smyth's 
-.^^ report upon it — The boom of 1880. Floba— General remarks — Botanical 
diTisions of the hills — Decidnons forests on slopes — Their oharaoteristio 
trees — And Talnmble timbers — Moist evergreen forests of the ^slopes — Their 
charaoteristic trees— And timbers— The sh<51as or woods of the plateau — 
Their eharaoteristio trees — And timbers — And ferns And mosses — The grafts- 
land of the piatean — Its characteristic shrubs — And beantifnl plants — Books 
of reference — Introdoced plants. Zoology — Domestic animals ; Ca*»tle — 
Sheep— Pigs— Horses and ponies — Game animals- Elephents— Tigers — 
Leopards and bears — Deer— Bison— Pig — The Nilgiri ibex — Wild dogs — The 
Game Association — The smaller mammals — The Ootacamund Hunt — 
Birds— Fish — Poaching on the BbaT&ni^-BxperimeBtA with exotic fish — 
Reptiles- Shells. Appendix I, Liri of flowering plants, etc. Appendix II, 
The Mammalia of the district. Appendix III, ^irds of the district. Appbn- 
Dix ly. Reptiles of the district. Appendix V, Land and fresh-water shells 
of the district. 

Thb Nilgiri Hills — properly Nila-giri, ' the Blue Mountain/ and 
formerly usually written * Neilgherry ' — consist of the great plateaii 
(about 35 miles long, 20 broad and some 6,500 feet high on an 
aveiage) npheaved at the junction of the ranges of the Eastern and 
Western G-hits, which run southwards at a converging angle 
through the Madras Presidency. The name Nilagiri, which 
(see p. 92 below) is at least 800 years old and was bestowed 
by the dwellers in the plains below the plateau, was doubtless 
suggested by the blue haze which enyelops the rang^ in common 
witb most distant hills of considerable size. The idea that it is 



CHAP. I. 

General 

Descbiption. 

Position and 
bonndaries. 



DxtCMPTIOH. 



2 THE NILGIRIB. 

CHA.P. I. due to the violet blossoms of the masses of Sirobilanihes which 
i^BNKBAL peiiodicallj carpet wi(le stretches of the grass downs of the plateaa 
is a latter-day refinement : these plants do not grow along the 
onter'^edge of the hills, are invisible from the low ooontryi and so 
are not likely to have originated the name. 

The district called the Nilgiris includes, besides the great 
plated from which it is named, three widely different ontlyxng 
tracts ; namely, a strip of malarioos jnngle skirting the northern 
foot of the platcAu ; the Cachterlony Valley on the west, a deep 
recess in the high wall o^ the plateaa , called after the man who 
(see p. 373) first exploited it ; and, still further west, the counlay 
known as the South-east Wynaad (' the land of swamps '), a table- 
land of bamboo forest, paddy-fiats and bogs lying about 3,600 
feet lower than the plateau and the same height above the sea. 
The map in the pocket at the end of this volume shows the position 
of these three areas. Excepting Madras City, the Nilgiri district 
is by far the smallest in the Presidency, its area and population 
(957 square miles and 111,437 persons) both being less than those 
of many a taluk in the plains. 

The natural boundary of the plateau along much of its south- 
em side is the Bhav^ni river, and that along a great part of its 
northern frontier is the Moy^r, which joins the Bhavini near tk€ 
mouldering fort of r>aun£yakank6ttai close imder Bangasvimi 
Peak, the easternmost height of the Nilgiris. But, as the map 
shows, the administrative boundary follows &r less simple lines, 
running sometimes along the top of the steep crests of the hills, 
sometimes in a bee-line aorosB impenetrable jungle, and sometimes 
along the coorse of one or other of the numberless streams which 
pour down to j«>in the aforesaid two rivers. The boundary of the 
South-east Wynaad follows no natural features at all on the north 
and west ; but on the east it runs along the Paik&ra river and the 
edge of the plateau above, and on the south along the crest of the 
Wynaad tableland jast where it drops sharply down to the 
steamy lower levels of Malabar. 

The Nilgiri district marches on the north with the Mysore 
State, a plateau some 4,000 feet lower which is upheld on either 
side by the Eastern and TVestem Qhiits and merges by insensible 
degrees into the Wynaad. On the west, it joins the Malabar 
Wynaad, a tract very similar to the South-east Wynaad. South, 
it is bounded by the lowlands of Malabar proper and the deep and 
malarious valley of the Bhaviini, part of which is in Malabar and 
part in Cloimbatore ; and its eastern frontier is formed by the latter 
, dLstriot, the two being separated at the north-eastern corner by the 



PnmCAX^ DBSORIPTIOK. 3 

Gsjalhstti (' elephant village ') pass which, being a short cut from CHAP. I. 

IfysoTPe to the Gamatic plains, was of importance in the wars Gcnbral 

between Mysore and the East India Company at the end of the ^^'^J^mok. 
eighteenth oentnry. 

The plateaa is traditionally divided by its inhabitants into f oar Taluks imd 
timeto oaUed P^ranganid (' the oountiy of great Ranga,' the ^'^ie^*®.^^-^ 
deity to whom Bangasv^mi Peak is saored) on the extreme east ; 
M^knn^ (' the western oonntry ') west of fhis ; T6danad (* the . 
ooantry of the Toda tribe ') on the norfh ; and Ktmdahn^d^ or the 
higher aoath- western comer of the p1ate%a formed pf the Kondah 
range, the best centre for big game on the Nilgiris. But for 
admimstmtive purposes it is arranged into the two taluks of 
Goonoor, which embraces the first two of the above four divisionsi 
and Ootaoamund, which includes the other two and the strip of 
jnn^ at the northern foot of the plateau whfch has been already 
referred to. The South-east Wynaad and the Ouchterlony Valley 
together form a third taluk known, from, its head-quarters, as the 
66daMr taluk. The former area consists of the three amshams^ 
or parishes, of Gh^rank6d, Munan^d and Nambalak6d. 

The only places of any size in the whole district are the two 
municipalities of Ootacamund (the head-qxiarters) and Goonoor ; * 

«^e latter's near neighbour the cantonment of Wellington ; the far 
smaller hill-station called E6tagiri ; and the G^dalfir already 
mentioned. These and other spots of interest are referred to in 
moie detail in Chapter XY below.- The chief routes up to the * 

plateaa are the Sig6r ghdt on the norths from Mysore; the 
( r^dal&r ghit on the west, from the Wynaad ; the E6tagiri ghit 
on the south-east, from M^ttupdlaiyam ; and, most used of all, 
the Goonoor gh^t on the south, also from M^ttup^laiyam, 
where a road and a rack railway climb a d&ep ravine side by 
side. These and other roads are referred to more*particular]y in 
Chapter YU. 

The general appearance of the two very dissimilar poi*tions of Natural 
which the district is made up— the plateau and the Wynaad — ^^^^w' ' 
deserves to be described iu some detail. Their soils and agricul- 
ture are referred to in Chapter lY and their climates in 
Chapter IX. 

The plateau is a true tableland, its average height being very 
uniform. But there is not a square mile of level ground in the 
whole of it, its surface being broken by endless undulations which 
in plaoee swell into considerable and distinct ranges. It rises 
most abruptly from the plains below it ; and on thd west, above 
the Ouohterlony Yalley and southwards, its sides are often sheer. 



4 



THB tnLOI&If . 



CHAP. I. 
Gknvral 

D£80R1PT10N. 



bare walls, hnndreds of feet in heigM and too steep even for 
trees to obtain a footing on them. Elsewhere dense forest 
covers almost the whole of its slopes. 

' It'is first of all divided east and west into two fairly eqoal 
but dissimilar parts by a range of heights running north and 
south of which Dodabetta (* big mountain') is the tallest point. 
This h'ill, which rises immediately east of Ootacamund, is 8,640 
feet above the sea atd except the Anaimudi Peak in Travanoore 
(8,837 feet) is tBe highest point south of the Himalayas. The 
prominent obsf»rvatory i^hich crowns it is referred to on p. 251 
below. Prom Ootacamund itself, the importance of this range 
cannot be appreciated ; one is too close to it. But from any 
distant part of the plateau, whether east or west, it is seen to 
stand high above the surrounding country and to rise gradually 
upwards, from the fcorth and the south, to the broad shoulders 
of its topmost height, rits climatic influence is immense; for 
it shelters the eastern part of the plateau from the south-west 
monsoon and the western part from the north-east rains, giving 
them widely diflTering seasons. 

East and south of the Dodabetta range, in the Coonoor taluk 
iu fact, the plateau (except round about E6dan^ in the north- 
east corner, where the country resembles that further wcwir— 
described below) is extensively cultivated by the immigrant 
tribe known as the Badagas. This does not improve its appear- 
ance ; the great forests have mostly been felled and their place 
taken by the poorest low scrub or by fields of miserable cereals 
surroundi:ig the squat red-tiled houses of numerous hamlets ; the 
country is deeply scoured by every shower of rain until the 
infertile red and yellow sub-soil clays are laid bare ; and, owing 
to the Badagas' fbrmer custom of shifting their cultivation from 
year to year to new patches of land, grass has been prevented 
from getting any firm hold on the denuded hilUsides. Only on 
the slopes of the plateau (which are too steep for cultivation) 
and in a few isolated Oovernment reserves, does the forest flourish 
in its virg^ beauty. 

West of Dodabetta, however, the Badagas are - more rare ; 
hardly a field or a village (except the little clusters of huts 
belonging to the pastoral Todas) is to be seen ; and the country 
consists of a sea of rounded green hills, rising now and again 
into more prominent heights and ranges, which are covered with 
short grass sprinkled with bright flowers and are often dotted 
with rhododendron trees. Ihese rounded hiUs are divided each 
from each by streams or bogs, and nestling in their wrinkles are 



^HTSiOiLL DSiORiniON. 9 

beaaiifol little woods, looally known as sli6Ias, tlie edges of which OHAP. I. 

have been so sharply defined by years of grazing and (perhaps) General 

grass fires that they look almost like artificial plantations in some k*cription 
EngUeh park, and the foliage of which yearly assnmes ^a wide 
variety of tints — ^from the brilliant rose-oolonr of the young shoots 
of certain species in ihh spring to the deep green of the ripe 
autumn leaves. 9 • ' • 

Of the varioas heights and ranges whiclyise above the general its (fiiief 
level of the plateau, that in the ceptre, whi^h is crowned by ^©V^^'* 
Dodabetta, has already been mentioned. Three other noticeable 
fioints in this great mass are Snowdon, in almost perfect cone 8,299 
feet above the sea ; the Qub Hill, 8,080 feet ; and Idlk Hill, 8,090 
feet ; which three, with Dodabetta, snrroond the sheltered valley 
wherein Ues Ootacamund. The lake at Ootacamnnd, it may here 
be noted, is 7,228 feet above the sea, and ^t. Stephen^s Church 
there 7,429 feet. Southward and eastv^ard of the Dodabetta range 
the country faUs rapidly away and the heights are smaller. To the 
south, the chief of them are D^vashdla (' the divine wood ') hill, 
7,417 feet, prominent from the blue gum trees which crown it and 
ti^e centre of a coffee-growing area ; further east, Kulakambai hill 
(lomtoi means a village of the Irula jungle-tribe) which from its 
top, 5,001 feet above the sea, commands glorious views across the 

' Shav^ni valley at its foot to the Lambton's Peak range (so called 
from Colonel William Lambton, F.B.S., Superintendent of the 
Great Trigonometrical Survey) in Coimbatore district ; east again, 
Hulikal Drug (6,2H4 feet), on the south side of the great ravine 
ap which runs the rack railvTay to Coonoor, and crowned by the 
old fortress referred to on p. 328 ; facing it, on the north side of 
the ravine, Goonoorbetta or Teneriffe, so prominent from Coonoor 
and 6,894 feet in height ; north of this, about midway between 
Ootacamund and K6tagiri, the Ballia hill (7,^75 feet) amidst the 
reserved forest of the same name ; near it, Dimhatti hill (6,903 
feet) standing above the deserted sanitarium (p. 825) of that 
name ; and, at the extreme eastern limit of the district, Banga* 
svlmi Peak, the holiest hill on the plateau. 

West of the Dodabetta range, the heights are greater and 
form more connected ranges. A short distance west of Oota- 
camund is a group of three which are well known to followers of 
the Ootacamund Hunt ; namely, Hecuba (the ' Ulndd ' of the 
maps, 7,798 feet) called after a hound which was killed by a fall 
down ite sheer side; Staircase (officially known as . Kattak&du, 
7,938 feet) so named from its steepness; and the hUl above 
* Shaw's Plantation,' marked Kalkadi in the maps,*which is 8,002 
feet high. In the south-western corner of the district rise 



THIS KILGIVti. 



CHAP. t. th® Kundalis, a regular range of hills most prominent from 
(iENRBAL Ootacamnnd, the chiet heights in which are the precipitons Ava- 
DKscMPtioN. lanche hill (p. 846), two peaks on which, called Kndikido and 
Kolari ^n the maps, are 8,497 feet and 8,618 feet above the 
sea and so rank next to Dodabetta ; the conical grass-covered 
Derbetta, or Bear hill, 8,804 feet ; and*, sonth of it, Kolibetta, 
8,182 feet. * 

, This Kundah ran^e forms a kind of rim to that side of the 
plat'eaa, rising bigfii ftbove tKc general level, and it is continued on 
the north by the,great line<of i>eaks just south of the Ouchterlony 
Vulley, the chief of which are Pichalbetta (8,348 feet), Nilgiri 
Peak (8,118 feet), which was long held to be imclimbable, and 
the sheer M^karti Peak (8,3^0 feet) the precipitous side of which, 
whence the souls of men and buffaloes are believed by the T6da8 
to leap together intoHhe nether world, is such a landmark from 
Ootacamnnd. This last as referred to again on p. 354. It 
commands the most impressive view in all the plateau. 

The Wyuaad. ^® general appearance of the Wynaad differs root and branch 
from that of the plateau. Viewed from the western edpfe of the 
latter it seems to be an almost uniform expanse of gently andn- 
latinggungle, broken only by the patches of brighter green whic h 
mark the paddy-flats in its numerous swamps. But when the 
traveller gets down to it, he finds that its undulations are very 
considerable, some of them running up into small hill-ranges, 
and that the jungle differs widely in different parts. On the 
north are the heavy forests of Benne and Madumalai, which 
formerly contained splendid teak and blackwood. Bound GKidal4r 
» » the jnngle consists mainly of clumps of bamboo, interlaced with 

giant creepers and rendered almost impassable by the thick under- 
growth of the hateful lantana, bearing blossoms of half a dosen 
lines. Scattered trees fight doggedly for life amid the tangle. 
To the south-west the growth becomes more open, low hills 
covered with coarse grass and dwarf date palms rise above it, and 
the bamboo and lantana give place to small forest trees. Bonnd 
the old gold-mining centres of D^v^la and Pandal6r in this comer 
of the taluk are hillocks covered with short, sweet pasture and 
little dark woods which remind one of the Kundahs. The road 
which rnns through these two villages to the Malabar Wynaad 
commands magnificent views of the low country and the 
Onohteriony Valley (that of this latter from near N^dg&i is a 
finer prospeot than any on the plateau itself) but the other 
'main ront^ lead through interminable jungle with no outlook 
whatever, and the traveller feels like a mouse in a com •field. 



PHTilGAL pSfOUFnON, 7 

The Wjnaad hills are naturally much less in actual height than CHAP. I. 
those on the plateau, but seyeral of them are prominent enough, 6bvp»al 
the general level of the country being so uniform that peaks of ^^^'^^^^^' 
a&7 sixe stand out noticeably. The biggest are If arupjftinmadi 
hill (5,01i feet), the highest point in a range which crosses 
the country from north to soutii and parts of which contain so 
much magnetic iron ore as t& render the compass useless in 
their neighbourhood ; the Needle Bock in, the same range — 
a bare, brown, razor-backed mass of gneiss whi^h is almost sheer 
on one side; the Hadiabetta bill (3,788 feet) above Pandaliir; 
and the &416r hill on the northern boundary, ^,766 feet above 
the sea. 

The Nilgiri plateau is drained by hundreds of streams^ most Blyersand 
of which are perennial aud all of which aye beautiful. Between ^^^ "' 
almost every pair of undulations runs some* rivulet or other, and 
the larger of these, with their alternate quiet pools and chatter- 
ing rapids, resemble the burns on a Scotch moor in everything 
except their lack of fish. In some half a dozen instances they 
combine to form streams which may be dignified by the nanie 
of livers, and all of these eventually fall into either the Moy^r ou 
the north or the Bhav^ni on the south and so, eventually, into • 

the Cauvery. Their conservation is thus of interest to the owners 
of the Tanjore paddy-fields and projects are now on foot to 
form irrigs^on reservoirs high up the Bhavdni valley and near 
Daandy akank6ttai . 

The map shows the courses of these streams better than any 
qoaotity of written description. Beginning on the north of the 
plateau the- first of the larger oaes is the Sig6r river (so called 
&om the village past which it flows at the foot of the hills) 
which runs down to the Moy^r alongside the 6ig6r ghdt. It 
rises in the slopes above the Ootacamund lake, flows through this 
latter, is joined further down by the well-known ' Sandy Nullah 
stream ' and eventually forms the Kalhatti falls, 170 feet high,^ 
faoing the Kalhatti travellers' bungalow on the Sig6r ghdt. 

In the north-east comer of the plateau, a river (sometimes 
called the Madok6da stream) drains into the Moy^r the rainfall 
of the Orange Valley, a deep ravine so named from the wild 
orange trees which used to abound there and an extremely 
popular spot in the days before K6tagiri and Dimhatti, which are 
close to it, had fallen out of fashion, ' The Old Forest Banger,' ' 

* This and the heights of the other fallw referred to below wert^yisoertained 
mmnj years ago hy Captain Freeth, of the Bevemie Saryey. 

» Th$ (Hd Forut Kmg^^ by Major Walter Oamphell, 8rd edn., London. 1853. 



6 



THS NILOXRII. 



CHAP. I. 

Oknkbal 
Dkbouption, 



for example, goes into raptares about it and declares : ' The- 
Orange Yallej ! Th^re is perf ame in the rery name 1 Our old 
heart warms, and a delioioos languor steals over our senses, as we 
recall to mind tlie silent, balmy, incense-breathing mom whan 
first we trod the flowerj shades of that enchanting spot. . . . 
It seemed to us the abode of peace and innocence ; a place for 
joung lovers to walk hand in hand, culling the golden fruit and 
twining into bridal Vreaths the snow-white blossoms which made 
the veiy air loYe-6ick with their fragrance.' The valley is a deep 
indentation, averaging not more than 4,500 feet above the sea, 
shut in by high hills. Its temperature is thus much warmer than 
that of the)|,higher plateau, and this peculiarity and the riohness 
of its soil render its vegetation more nearly tropical than that of 
any other part of the Nilgiri hills. Oranges, limes, pomegranates, 
jack-trees and mangoes still flourish there, but the inroads of 
Badaga cultivation have ef late years resulted in the valley being 
stripped of much of its forest and most of its charm. 

From near E6tagiri runs southwards the Gfathada halla, which 
at < St. Catherine's fall ' makes a leap of some 250 feet (the 
second highest waterfall in the district) into a considerable chasm 
and thence hurries down to the Goonoor river near M^ttuplilaiyam. 
In the lower part of iU course it is known as the KalUr (* roc ky 
river ' ), and the suspension road-bridge and railway girder-bridge 
across it are well known to travellers up the Goonoor gh^t. St. 
Catherine's fall is named after the wife of Mr. M. D. Gookbum, 
M.G.S. She and her hasbaud were some of the first Europeans 
to settle in E6tagiri and they lie buried side by side in the cemetery 
there. A path runs to the head of the fall from that station, but 
to get a good view of the water one has to clamber down the side 
of tibe ravine. A distant but picturesque glimpse of it is obtained 
from the Dolphin's Nose rock near Goonoor. 

The Goonoor river, which races down the ravine up which 
the Goonoor gh^t is carried, is principally made up of the Coonoor 
stream, which drains the basin wherein Goonoor and Wellington 
are built, and of the K^t^ri stream which rises in the Kiit^ri and 
K6ti valleys alongside. The ' K^t^ri falls ' on the latter, which 
drop about 180 feet sheer, are a favourite point for excursions from 
Goonoor and Ootacamund and have now been utilized to generate 
electricity to drive the machinery at the Aravankid Gordite 
factory referred to on p. 312 below. 

The Kulakambai stream, which drains the country round 
about the^hill of that name already mentioned, is much smalleri 
but is of interest as forming the highest unbroken bU (400 feet) 
on the plateaa. 



Descbiption. 



PHYSICAL DKSCBIFnON. 9 

West of it, tHe Kundah river, flowing in a very d^ep, isteep- CHAP. I. 
m'ded ravine, separates the Eundahs from the rest of the plateau Gknkkal 
and ooUeots the streams which drain the well-known Nanjan&d 
valley jnst south-west of Ootacamund, the beautiful Emeralll valley 
farther west, the valley ^nearly parallel to this last) which fronts 
the Avalanche travellers' bungalow and runs down from the 
Avalanche hiU already mentioitied, and other rivulets ^n the 
eastern flank of the Kundah range. Its upper waters are called 
in old papers the Purti stream, from* the vilU^e of that name 
near its banks, and just below their jxmction with the Avalanche 
stream Mr. Mclvor built the hapless bund wliich goes by his 
name and is referred to again on p. 352 below. 

In the south-west comer of the plateau rises the BiUith^da 
haOa, one of the most charming of all its many streams. This 
drains the western slopes of the Avalanche Jiill and much of the 
oonntry between them and Sisp^ra, and is one of the chief sources 
of the Bhav&ni itself. 

The extreme west of the plateau is drained by the largest of 
all its rivers, the Paikira. This rises on the bleak slopes of 
M^karti Peak, receives from the east the Er^rmund and Parson's 
valley -streams (the latter of which, see p. 43, has been stocked 
with rainbow trout), flows past the Paik^ra travellers' bun- 
g&low^ where it is bridged by the road to G^idaldr and swarms 
with oarp, winds among the low hills searching for a way down 
to the low country, and at last plunges through a steep and narrow 
valley by two fine falls, popular picnic-spots for Ootacamund 
folk, of which the upper is 180 feet high and the lower 200 feet. 
Finer than either, however, is the series of great leaps in which 
the river flings itself over the almost sheer side of the plateau 
down into the Wynaad a short distance furt];Ler on. The dull 
roar of these can be heard as far away as the G6dal6r-Mysore 
road, four miles off as the crow flies, and from that point, ' frozen 
by distance,' they look like some great ice ladder laid against the 
steep waU of the plateau. Thence the Paik^ra winds In a more 
leisurely way in and out through deep hollows in the dense, steamy 
Wynaad jungles, suddenly turns eastwards, drops over a con- 
siderable fall near Tippak&du on the G6dal6r-Mysore road, 
changes its name to Moy&r, passes on down the ' Mysore ditch, ' 
a curious narrow trench with steep sides which is very promiaent 
from several points near Ootacamund-<-the Connemara Road for 
example — and eventually joins the Bhav^ni at the eastern foot of 
the plateau. 

On the plateau, the T6das hold this river sacred. No pregnant 
T6da woman dare cross it.and the men will neither use ite wat^r 
9 



10 THB KILGIIUf, 

CHAP. I. foranj purpose nor even toach it exoept when compelled to ford 

OnriEBAL it. Then, haying croesed it, they tarn and make it obeisance. 

DBtcMPTioN. jj^^j^ .f ^^^^ ^p^j^g j^ Y)j the bridge at the Paikdra bangalow thej 

take their right hands from under their mantles as a sign of 

reverence.^ ^ . 

The South-east Wynaad is also plentifully watered. Springs 
rise in most of it-s numerous swamps and combine to form streams, 
c locally known as jhyas, which meander in and out of its 
jungles and for tlfe most part eventually find their way either into 
the Paikdra or the P&ndi. /This latter river rises in the Ouohterlony 
Valley and even there is of considerable volume. It eventually 
flows down the gh&ts through a deep ravine and joins the Beypore 
river of Malabar. 

Qkology. The standard accotint of the geology of the plateau is that 

Th«pl»teau. published by Mr. H. F. Blanford of the Geological Survey of 
India in 1859.' The hills consist of a great mass of foliated 
gneissose (not granitic) rocks, of the class now termed charnock- 
ite, with a few later dykes of olivine-norites, from an inch to 
ten feet in width, which are well seen at Coonoor. 

Three principal systems of faults occur, and these afford 
evidence of the manner in which the plateau was originally formed. 
The first of them, to which was due the formation of the EasteAi* 
Ghhdts, has an east-north-east direction, and to it belong the 
great faults with a down throw to the south-east which have 
produced the Eastern Ghdts and the south-eastern escarpment of 
the Nilgiris, and likewise those with a north-western down throw 
which have formed the great escarpments on the north-west side 
of the Eundahs and at Naduvattam, just above G6dal^. The 
second of the thre^ systems of faults runs nearly at right angles 
to the first, in a west-north-west direction, and comprises the 
Western Ghdts, the escarpment on the north-east side of the 

> Mr. Tburtton in Mu§eMm SuUetint W, No. ], 1. 

* The earVeRt paper on the anbjeot it that contributed in 183G by Dr. P. M. 
BenM, Snrgeon to the then Governor, 8ir Frederick Adam, to M J.L.B., iv. 
pp. 341-09. It oontaini a map and a aketoh of the ' Devira Gap ' near Siap^ra. 
Tliia waa followed in 1844 bj tome obterrationi in the Report on the Medical 
Toposfn^phy of the hilla pabliahed by Qovernment in that year | in 1847 by 
certain remarki in Ma]or Onohterlony's report on the anrvey of the dittriot 
(MJ.Ii.8n ^y)^ in ^^^^ ^y ^^- ^* ^' Blanford's fuller account in Vol. I of tho 
Mtmoif* of the Oeol. Surv. of India, which oootAinii a map, two aketchoa of tho 
country and aeveral drawings of geologfical iiecultaritiea ; and in 1861 by two 
paper* by Major Confrrere in M J.L.S.| szii. In Vol. XXX of the RseorJg of 
the Oeol. Survey aro two noted by Mr.T. H. Holland on the clivine-norito dykci 
of Ooonoor. The Rold of the 8onth«eaat Wynaad ha* » ii«'parate literature of 
lift own, which it r«ferrod to latar. 



PtlTHOiiL BSSOBIPtlOlr. 11 

Eondahs lacing Ootacamand and tliat from St. Catherine's falls ghap. . 
to near Kdta^ari. The third of the systems is that to which Geoloct. 
belong the northern boundary of the plateau and the short 
sonthem escarpment of the Kondahs. * 

Thus the first great disturbance which seems to have occurred 
was the upheaval of the Eastern and Western 6h£ts and of the 
Mysoxo plateau between them, and the second was thaf which 
raised the Nilgiri plateau itself, the area •affected being partly ^ 
bounded by pre-existing lines of fractOre. The*geological periods 
during which these movements occuiyed are ji(}t ascertainable, 
there being no sedimentary rocks to give any clue to them. 

Considerable reason exists for the belief that the whole 
of the plateau had been previously submerged by the sea. Not 
only does it consist chiefly of the undulations and rounded lulls 
which usually result from marine action, Ibut in several places 
escarpments may b^ traced which, though now partly cut up 
into ravines and rounded spurs by the denudation resulting from 
the heavy rainfall, were apparently formed by oceans washing 
their bases. On the south-eastern side of the Dodabetta range, 
OTerlooking the Keti valley, is one of these, and another occurs 
to the north and north-west of Wellington, where, says Mr. « 

Blanford, ' the projecting terminations of several spurs present 
a striking resemblance to the rocky headlands of parts of the 
sooth coast of England.' vSeveral others might be instanced. 

The denudation and alteration of the surface of the plateau by 
the action of rain has been very great— especially on the Eundahs, 
which receive the full fofce of the south-west monsoon. The 
deep ravines by which the chief streams of the country escape to 
the plains below (for example, the valleys of the Kall&r, Goonoor, 
Enndah and Paikdra rivers) have been chiefly formed by the 
action of these streams themselves, and everywhere the hill-sides 
are cat into gullies and nullahs. Many of the interior valleys 
(notably that traversed by the upper waters of the Paik&ra) seem 
to have existed even before the plateau was upheaved, as they 
contain large beds of alluvium deposited by the streams which 
now drain them. TLey appear to have originally consisted of 
lakes, all outlet for their streams being closed by natural embank- 
ments. The water in them rose gradually until it overtopped 
these banks and then^ flowing over them, in course of time cut 
the narrow ravines through which the streams now escape. There 
ore at present no natural lakes in the district, though artificial 
ones have been made at Ootaoamtind , at Bumfoot and Lovedalp 
near by, and at Wellington. 



IS 



THB mLGIBIS. 



CHAP. 1. 
Okology. 



Hinenli 
there. 



The faces of the cliffs haye been altered by the heat of the 
son almost as much as^^by the action of rain. This heat caasea the 
outer layers of rock to expand rapidly and thus to become detached 
from t£e cooler underlying mass, and they often eventually split off 
in enormous slabs slightly curved to tlie form of the hill-side. 
Traces of this action may be clearly seen on the escarpment of the 
Dodab&tta range which overlooks the K^ti valley and has already 
been mentioned. After rain, considerable landslips are occasioned 
in this manner aided by thd action of the water on the decomposed 
hiU-sides. The^ principal^ instance within recent memory is the 
' Avalanche ' referred to on p. 345 below. 

The intrusive rocks of the plateau include the olivine-norite^ 
already mentioned and a few unimportant cases of basaltic trap in 
the north and on the western, edge of the Kundahs. 

The only minerals of economic value on the plateau are building* 
stone and laterite. The former is more expensive than brick — bad 
as are the hiU bricks — and is consequently little used. The same 
applies to the laterite, which is moreover very local in its distribu- 
tion and is found only in small patches. Some of the ancient cairns 
referred to in the next chapter are constructed of this material. 
No limestone exists, and all the lime required for building has to bo 
brought up from the plains. Quartz veins occur, but contain no 
gold or other metals in sufficient quantities to make them worth 
extraction. ^cient gold-workings may be traced along the 
banks of the Lovedale streams, in the valley just south of Bishops- 
down at Ootacamund, at Fairlawns (see p. 356), in the Nanjanid 
valley, and from Parson's valley (where they are very notice- 
able) at intervals as far as M^karti Peak. They are sunk in a 
reef of conglomerate running in schist, instead of the usual 
gneiss, which seems to pass straight across this part of the 
plateau. Durbig the gold boom of 1880-82 mines were started 
near Horash61a, 1^ miles west of Kotagiri, between Eotagiri and 
Coonoor, and in the latter place ; but none of them met with 
any success. Peat is dug for fuel from the bogs round the towns. 
Kaolin is common, especially in Ootacamund itself ^ but it appears 
to contain too much iron to be of use for making pottery. Ochre- 
ous clays (white, yellow and pink) are found and are employed 
for colour-washing houses. At the 1869 Exhibition at Ootaca- 
mund| cups manufactured from them at the Madras School of 
Arts, and a flower vase made from the white kaolin, were shown. 
Iron (as hematite, specular iron and mngnetic ore) also occurs 
frequentTy in small quantities, notably above Horash61a, on a 
■pur of Dodabetta overlooking the dhobis' village at Ootacamund 



PHYSICAL DESCBIPTIOK. 



16 



and ftt a spot three miles east of Wellington.^ It has never been CHAP. I. 
worked, and the K6tas, the ironsmiths of tbe hills, get their raw Gkoloot. 
material from the low country. Mr. Sullivan, the pioneer of the ' 
English settlements on the plateau, showed these people how to 
extract the meteQ from the local ores, but they declined to make 
the attempt themselves, urging the stereotyped excuse that their 
forefathers had never done so. 

The fundamental rocks of the South-%ast Wjnaad differ T;|ie Wynaad. 
sharply from those of the plateau, being typicat arohsean biotite 
and homblendic gneisses, with intrusive bauds pf chamockite 
and much younger biotite-granite, pegmatite and -basic dolerite 
dykes. 

In some of the pegmatites good ruby mica of fair size is Mmerala 
obtained, and this mineral has been mined at Ch^rambddi, on ^^^^ ' "*'^*' 
the western frontier of the district, by Messrs. Peirce, Leslie & 
Co. of Calicut and the Indian Glenrock (Wynaad) Co. The 
oatpat in li)05 was some 6,000 ib. The magnetic iron in the 
Mamppanmadi range has already been mentioned. 

A series of gold-bearing quartz reefs strike across the Wynaad Gold ; early 
gneiss. That they contain gold has been known for perhaps two ®''P*<>''***<>**»' 
centuries, and as far back as 1793 * the authorities in Malabar were * , 

requested by the then Grovernor of Bombay (in which Presidency 
Malabar and the Wynaad were at that time iucluded) to send 
him all the information which could be collected upon the matter. 
A similar request was made by the Madras Government in 1828, 
and in 1831 the Collector reported on the subject at length. He 
said that the privilege of collecting gold in the Wynaad and in the 
Nilamb6r valley of Malabar just below it had been farmed out for 
the preceding 40 or 60 years and that the metal was chiefly 
obtained by washing the soil in stream-beds, paddy-flats and hill- 
sides. The process was as follows : The earth was generally put 
into a shallow wooden tray, shaped like a turtle's shell and called 
a murriya. This was submerged in some running stream just 

' Farther details oa to looaitty, etc., wiU be foand in Dr. Benza's paper 
already quoted, and in Sargreon Edward Balfour's Report en the Iron ores 0/ 
ModroB (Madras, 1655), 176 if. , 

' See the history of the matter (compiled from official souroes) in M.J.L.B., 
m (1847), 154-81. Other papers relating to the geology and gold of the Wynaad 
are Dr. King's preliminary note ou the gold-fields in Beoorde, Geol. Snrv., India, 
viii,20 (1875) ; his note on the progress there, ibid,, xi, 235(1878) ; Mr. B. 
Broogh Smyth's report of 1879 on the gold .mines (Madras Government Press, 
1880) ; Mr. D. E. W. Leighton's Indian Gfold-mining Industry (Uigginbotham, 
1683) ; and Messrs. Hayden and Hatch's paper on the fields in Men^oire, Geol. 
Suit., India, zzxiii, pt. 2 (1891). This last contains nine plates and a detailed 
biUJography of the subject. 



14 * THS iriLOXEli. 

GBAP. I. enoagh to cause the water to flow over its edges and was then 
Gbolosy. rocked with one hand while the earth in it was gently stirred with 
the other until all the mnd was washed away and nothing left but 
a black sand containing particles of iron and gold. The murrijfa 
was next taken out of the stream, one end of it was slightly tipped 
np, and water was gently poored upon its contents nntil the gold 
and ih>n were separated from* the sand. The gold was then 
collected by robbings it with a grain or two of mercury and the 
latter was afterwards driven off from the amalgam so made by the 
primitive method of wrapping the amalgam in a piece of tobacco 
leaf and heatmg it between two lumps of burning charcoal. 
Sometimes a long trough, called a pdii, was used to wash away the 
greater part of the earth, and the operation was only finished in 
the murriya. 

About the same* time that the Collector wrote this report, a 
Swiss watchmaker of Capnanore named H. L. Huguenin petitioned 
the Oovemor (Mr. S. R. Lushington) to assist him in exploring 
the mineral resources of Malabar and the Wynaad ; and Ldeutenant 
Woodley Nicolson, of the 49th N.I., with a havildar's party 
of Pioneers, was deputed to assist him. They began their search 
t in 1831 in the neighboprhood of the Devdla already mentioned, 

but were both quickly prostrated with fever. Descending to the 
Nilambfir valley, they found a regular set of mines, with shatt« 
from ten to fifty feet deep, worked by 5C)0 or tOO Mappilla slaves 
belonging to the Nilamb&r Tirumulpad (the chief local land- 
owner) who were required to produce a barley-corn weight of 
gold per man per diem. At ii place called ' Coopal, ' further 
down the valley aud near the present Edavanna, were more mines 
* worked by Mdppillas, and close under the Wynaad plateau were 

very many othess. In spite of constant fever, which on one 
occasion nearly cost him his lite, and the determined obstruction 
of the natives, who misled him with false reports and filled up th»» 
shafts to prevent their examination, Lieutenant Nicolson reported 
in such enthusiastic terms upon the capabilities of the mines that 
Qovemment were induced to order some machinery and pumps to 
work them. Later on, however, a committee which was appointed 
to enquire more calml}* into the question threw cold water on the 
whole matter and even on Nicolson' s proposal that the Wynaad, 
which clearly contained the matrix of the gold found in the low 
country, should be explored. In 1833, therefore. Government 
dropped the matter ; and it slept for over thirty years. 

In tke sixties of the last century, when the Wynaad had begun 
to be opened up for coffee estates, the traces of the old gold- 
workings attracted the attention of tho planters, some of ^om had 



PHTglGAL DSBCEIFTION. 16 

seen the Aastralian gold-fields. There were the old walls built for CHAP. I. 

* groxmd-slaicing/ the remains of the cha:|;iiiel8 led along the Geology. 

hill-sides to wash the earth, great heaps of rubble, the hollows in 

the rooks where quartz had been broken up, the stones with which 

it had been pounded, and scores of primitive tunnels and shafts 

(some of them 70 ft. deep) burrowiug into the slopes of the hills. 

These last are very frequent iA the high wooded hill called 

Sh^limalai, a short distance south of D^vala^ A few Kurumbas 

and Panijans still subsisted partly by working for^old, though the ' 

higher wages obtainable on the estates had weU. nigh killed the 

iDdustry. 

Prospecting naturally followed the discovery of these signs 
of gold, and in 1874 was started the Alpha G-old Mining Company 
(nominal capital, six lakhs), which began operations in a valley 
about a nule and a half south of D^vdla. * One of its principal 
reefs was the well known SkuU Beef, so called because the 
remains of a native miner were found in one of the old workings 
on it. 

In the next year Government deputed Dr. W. King of the 
3eologioal Survey to examine the country. His report was favour- 
able. He said : — 

' My observations so far appear to show that quartz-crushing 
should be a success, in the Nambalakdd amsham at any rate. Here 
there are eighteen reefs which are more or less auriferous in them- 
selves, or as to their leaders . . . With machinery and modem 
appliances, the reefs should pay even if only 3 dwts. of go!d are got 
always from the ton of quartz. The average proportion of gold for 
nfteen trials on different reefis is at the rate of seven dwts. to the ton ; 
and it is almost certain that many of these would have given a better 
oattam, could more perfect crushing apparatus have been used at the 
time.' 

Two small companies were started in the next year or two, 
and in 1878 Dr. King again visited the field. By this time 
more ree& had been opened out and more extensive sampling 
was possible^ and his views became less sanguine. 

In 1879, however, the Government of India employed Mr. Brough 
Mr. BroQgh Smyth (for many years Secretary for Mines in f^^ npon 
Victoria and held to be the greatest authority on the subject in it. 
Australia) to examine the Wynaad reefs ; and his report, written 
in October 1879, was, to say the least, distinctly encouraging. 
He discussed in detail the value of a great number of the known 
ree&, most of which crop out in the country traversed by the road 
from N&i1g£ni to Ch^ramb^di ; gave the results of assays made 
^j himself and others which ranged from ml to no less thun 



16 THB NILOIBIS. 

CHAP. I. 204 oz. of gold to the ton of ore ; considered that low-grade ores, 
Geoloot. ronning even as low.as 8 dwts. to the ton, conld be worked at a 
profit ; and conclnded : — 

^ Tile reefs are very numerous and thej are more tlian of the 
average thickness of those found in other countries ; they are of great 
longitudinal extent, some being traceable ^7 their outcrops for several 
I miles 'y^ they are strong and persrstent and highly anrif erous at an 

elevation of less than 600 feet above the sea, and they can be traced 
« theuce upwards to a £eight of nearly 8,000 feet ; near them gold can 
be washed out of* almost every dish that is dug; the pro|)ortion of 
gold in some of .the soils apd reefs in the neighbourhood of Ddvftla is 
large ; and, the country presenting facilities for prosecuting mining 
operations at the smallest cost, it must be apparent to aU who have 
given attention to this question that sooner or later gold-mining will 
be established as an important industry in Southern India.^ 

In another place«he wrote : — 

* It is not unlikely however that the first attempts will fail. 
Speculative undertakings having for their object the making of 
money by buying and selling shares are commenced invariably by 
appointing secretaries and managers at high salaries and the 
printing of a prospectus. This is followed by the erection of costly 
and not seldom wholly unsuitable machinery ; no attempts are made 
i to open the mine ; and then, after futile endeavours to obtain gold, 

and a waste of capital, it is pronounced and believed that gold-mining 
on a large scale will never prove remunerative.* 

This latter prophecy was fulfilled to the letter : the former was 
altogether fals^ed. 
T^^boom of The result of this sanguine report was the farcical^ boom of 

1880.^ The stock markets were ripe for any speculation^ however 
wild. Low rates of return on British Gbvernment stocks, a 
paucity of foreign loans, flourishing trade and an unusual scarcity 
of gold all contributed to make miscellaneous enterprises more 
attractive ; whiie coffee-planting was already on the down-grade and 
owners of estates containing reefs were only too glad to seize a 
chance of disposing of them at a profit. 

The mania began in December 1870, when a company with a 
capital of £100,000 was launched ; and in the next nineteen months 
the number of companies floated in England amounted to no less 
than 41 with a capital of over five millions sterling, while daring 
the same period six companies with a total capital of £:i61,00d 
were also started in India itself. Of the EngUsh companies, 80 
went to allotment and the sam obtained by them for investment in 
the industry amounted nominally to £4,050,000. Of this, however 

' The acoonnt of it whiob iolloi^^s is cUefl^ uken from Mr. Leighton't 
pamphlet Ureftdy quoted. 



1880. 



PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION. 17 

£"2,373,500 was allotied for payment for the land in which the CHAP. I. 

supposed mines were located — ^the prices of* this ranged from £70 Okologt. 

to BO less than £2,600 per acre— so that the sum left for working 

eiqpenses was not more than £1,674,500. Mr. Brough* Smyth 

himself was appointed jnanager of two of the companies, but 

retired on the ground of ill-health in 1882, when the tide had 

begun to turn. * • * 

Suoh, at first, was the confidence of th^ public in the venture , 
that by May 1880 the shares of thd concern^ launched at the 
beginning of that year were quoted sf, 50, 75 apd even 100 per 
cent, premium, though the reefs had not been opened out, the 
machinery had not been shipped and in most cases the mining 
stafiF had not even arrived on the ground. The sensational 
reports which the companies^ agents iji India, the so-called 
^ mining experts ' and the financial wire-pulfers afterwards cabled 
Home operated to maintain these absurdly inflated prices for 
more than a year. ' The whole mountain is worth putting through 
the stamps/ said one wire ; ' four feet of magnificent reef, exceed- 
ingly rich in gold,' declared another ; * grand discovery ; Needle 
rock reef turning out very rich, heavy gold,' chimed in a third. 
At the companies' meetings in London, Directors declared that ^ 

an all-round yield of an ounce a ton was a moderate and calm 
estimate, and prophesied dividends at rates running up to 50 
per cent. It was in vain that respectable journals, like the 
EcdiMmist and the Statist, deplored the prevailing recklessness ; 
while the fever lasted, the most earnest vpamings passed un- * 
heeded. Nearly every planter in the Wynaad began to look up 
the reefs on his estate ; ' mining experts ' abounded (one of 
these was a quondam baker and another a retired circus«clown) 
who reported on properties which sometimes they had never 
seen (and on one, at least, which did not even exist !) and were 
often promised a percentage of the price realized; and hordes 
of financial agents practised the ancient game of drawing up 
attractive prospectuses, inducing the public to subscribe, forcuig 
up the value of the shares, selling out their own at the' top of the 
market and then hastily quitting the wreck. From little clusters 
of native huts, D^vdla and Pandalfir blossomed suddenly into 
busy mining centres with rows of substantial buildings, post and 
telegraph offices, a hotel, a store for the valuable quartz which 
was to be extracted, a saloon, and numerous mining-captains' 
bungalows perched on commanding sites. Pandal^r even boasted 
a well-attended race-meeting on a new course laid out {t)und the 
paddy-flat there, and the head-quarters of the Head Assistant 
Magistrate were hastily transferred to this flourishing locality. 
8 



18 THE SILOIRIS. 

CHAP. I. Bat actual crashing was slow to begin, and in May 1881 

OtoLo«T. confidence began to ^dioop and the prices of the shares were 
baxelj maintained. Earlj in June, however, the market received 
a 8ad<!en reyiving impetus owing to the annooncement in Londim 
that one of the principal mines had begpn foushing and that the 
cabled result showed 4 oz. of gold to the ton. Feverish excite- 
ment IbUowed, the Alpha Companj^s £1 share went up to £15, 
those of seyeral other ventures changed hands at 400 and 500 
per cent, premium, and within a week the appreciation in the 
value of Wynaad mining scrip had amounted to half a million 
sterling. 

Then came the collapse. In the first week of Jnlj the 
manager of the mine in question explained that the 4 oz. was the 
yield of one ton only ; and that the next 19 tons bad given barely 
2 dwts. Shares dropped with a run 200 and "300 per cent. — ^never 
to recover. Within another year fifteen of the 33 English com- 
panies had passed into the h^ds of the liquidator. 

The yields obtained by the others were so poor (up to the first 
quarter of 1883, 3,597 tons had yielded only 9,641 dwte. of gold, 
or an average of 2'7 dwts. per ton) that operations were gradually 
g suspended. One mine had spent £70,000 in three years and 

had only produced 7 os. of gold. The Phoenix mine was kept 
open for some time, and is said to have yielded sufficient gold to 
pay working expenses ; but it was eventually shut down by order 
of Government owing to the frequency of accidents. Work was 
also carried on in a desultory way in the Alpha Qold Mining 
Oompany's property until about 1893. 

In 1901-02 a local syndicate re-opened some of the reefs on 
the Phoenix, Balcarres and Bichmond properties in the hope that 
newer methods of .treating low-grade ores (such as the cyanide 
and chlorinatiqn processes) might render the working of the 
mines profitable ; but it eventually abandoned the attempt. The 
Wynaad ore is not only capriciously distributed but is also 
intractable, conteining much pyrites, sulphur and arsenic, all of 
which hinder the recovery of ite gold. 

About the same time, under the orders of the Gbvemment of 
India, Mr. Hayden of the Geological Survey and Dr. Hatoh, the 
Survey's mining specialist, made an examination of certain of the 
mines to test the belief ' undoubtedly still current in many 
quarters that the previous failures were in large part- due to 
unsuiteble appliances as well as to inefficient supervision.' After 
many trials, the PhceniT and Alpha mines were selected for 
detailed experiments and 3,-500 feet of the old drives were re- 
opened. Samples were taken systematically every ten feet along 



PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION. 



19 



the V6m£, acFOfts their whole width, and assayed in Galcntta ; CHAP. I. 
174 samples from the Alpha mine gave an average of 1*6 dwts. Gbologt. 
of gold per ton for an average width of 4*3 feet, and 93 samples 
from the Phoenix gave an average of 2 dwts. for an'Werage 
width of 5'4 feet. The^conclasion arrived at was that ' it is clear 
that with the methods at present available for the treatment 
of low-grade ores there is no %ope of gold-mining in Wynaad 
beoomxng remuneratiTe.' • * 

The Indian Glenrook (Wynaad) Go. is at present (1906) con- 
docting a fnither systematic examination ^f the old native and 
other workings on the Qlenrock property juRt west of Pandal6r, 
and roand Nelliiilam the natives are said still to wash gold on a 
small scale ; but elsewhere on the field all mining is dead and 
nothing remains bat melancholy relics of ^ast activity. 

At Pandal^ three or four houses, the oM store, and traces of 
the raoe-course survive ; at D^v^la are*a grave or two ; topping 
many of the little hills are derelict bungalows and along their 
contours run grass-grown roads ; hidden under thick jungle are 
heaps of spoil, long-forgotten tunnels used only by she-bears and 
panthers expecting an addition to their families, and lakhs' 
worth of rusting machinery which was never erected ; while along ^ 

the great road to Yayitri, which now, except for the Iwo white 
rute worn by the infreqnent carts, is often overgrown with 
grass, lies more machinery which never even reached its destina- 
tion. Moreover, most of the numerous coffee-estates which 
formerly bordered this road all the way from G6dal6r to Ch^ram- 
b£di were acquired by the gold companies and thenceforth utterly 
neglected ; and now not a single one of them all is kept up. 
They have all gone back to jungle and are covered with such a 
tangle of lantana and forest that it is hardly possible to make out 
their former boundaries. Thus the coffee industry is dead and the 
mining industry which killed it is dead also ; and this side of the 
Wynaad is now perhaps the most mournful scene of disappointed 
hopes in all the Presidency. 

The Nilgiri hills, having a rainfall of less than 40 inches on Floka. 
some of the driest parts of the eastern side, and of 200 inches on General 
the moistest parts of the western slopes, possess, as might be '^ 
expected, a very varied and interesting flora, exceedingly numer- 
ous in genera and species.* With the exception of the dense, 
evergreeui moist forests on the western sides, the whole area has 

^ The aooount which follows was contribnted to the orig^al Di$triet Jtfamiai 
by CoL E. H. Beddorae, the well-known botanist and Consexrator of Forests. The 
•(^atifie nomenolatare, both here and in Appz. I to this chapter, has been 
kindly oorrjsoted by Mr. B. Thurston, Superintendent of the Madras Musean. 



20 



THE KILGIRI6. 



CHAP. I. 
Floua. 



fiotftnioal 
dirisioiM of 
thehUli. 



Deoiduoat 
forests OB 
slopes. 



been well explored hj botanists, and it is probable tbat there are 
few plants now botanically unknown on the platean and the 
deciduous forests of the slopes. Bat the heavy forests of the west- 
ern sides are of immense extent, very di£Bicalt to get at, and very 
feverish at the lower elevations ; and as they contain no habit* 
atioDS or supplies of any sort, the visits of botanists to them 
have li^en generally of a flying itatare. The trees in these tracts 
attain an immense suize, being often 200 or 250 feet in height, 
so that it is no ea«y matter«to obtain their flowers ; and there can 
be no doubt that a good many undescribed species still await 
the botanist, ^ome of the trees flower in the cold season, some 
in the hot weather, and some in the rains, while some few are in 
bloom all the year round ; but it is believed that the majority 
flower between February and the middle of May, which is 
the most unhealth)» time of the year. The shrubs, creepers 
and herbaceous j9MKI|9^:}A these tracts are pretty well known, 
but a cargful sesfifidfji^ s(|^y i^son of the year would undoubtedly 
be rewarded big^tdW noXe!ttw<*> 

Botanicall)'':yd'mC9C>divi^i^\^e hills into four tracts, each 
having a flora i^^iSS'^g^, df\w^ch very few species encroach 
upon the otheTlftf^^-^rke Wetlfing of the various forests in 
them by the Fopest slJpStnte 19 Irif erred to in Chapter V. 

First tract.— :i^h$ hcnO^ua^i^ of the slopes. — These are of 
much the same ebuiii^j^ th^i)^ forests of the lesser hills and 
plains of the PresJj^h^<^r^. ' The tyfaf^s'are all more or less deoidn- 
ous in the dry mon&i» ^- Janpiefry, February and March, but 
the forests are never entirelybaro, like the woods and forests in 
Europe in the winter. Many trees, such as the UrythrinaSy Butea 
frondosa^ the three DalhergiaSy Schleiehera irijuga, Stereospermum 
xylocarpumy Odina* IVodier^ TerminaUa beleriea and others, burst 
into flower in February and leaf themselves rapidly afterwards 
before many other trees have finished shedding their leaves ; but 
still these tracts have a very forlorn appearance at this season, 
and fire often sweeps through them— greatly to the disgust of 
the Forest department. Here a very great proportion of the 
tropical trees of this Presidency are to be met with and, about 
the lowest portions, very many of the tropical shrubs and weeds 
which do not belong at all to our alpine flora, such as the weeds 
amongst Capparide, the small milkworts {Polygalas), the herbs 
and shrubs of MabacecB, the Gretvtas and herbs of TiUacea, 
Ziztjpkus (several species), Viiis (several species), Cardiospermum, 
leguminqps weeds and herbs, most of the CucurbitaceWf many of 
the Gompoeitm, ConvolculacetB, Scrophutariacew, Amarmiacem^ Com- 
melynctcew and a large proportion of the sedges and grasses. 



FfiyglOAL DasCBIPTION. 



21 



Their 
oharaoter- 
istio trees. 



The trees most characteristic of these tracts are as follows :— CHAP. i. 

Dilieiiia pencagyna. I Hardwiokia ]^inata. Flora. 

Coohloepermnm Gouypiaiii. Xylia dolabriforaiis. 

Kjdia oaljcina. Aoacia— many speoies. ^ 

BombaxmsUbaricnm. Albiziia odoratissima and amara. 

Stoffoalia fcstidm arena, Yillosa, and Terminalia tomentosa, paniculata, 

colorata. belerioa, and oliebala. 

Eriokena Hookoriana and qninqnelo- ©Anogeissng latifolint. ^ • 

cnlaria. Careya arborea. . 

Boawellia aerrata. Lagerstroemi* miorooarpa and b'loB— ^ 

Oaruia pinnaia. Reginaa. « 

Cedrela Toona. Adina cordifolia. 

Chloroiyloa Swietenia. Stephegyne parvifoMa. 

Kleodendron glanoam. ^ Stsreoepermnm xjlooarpnm 

HoUeiohera trijnga. Tectona grandis. 

Bndianania IstifoHa. Gmelina arborea. 

Mnadnlea ■nberota. Phyllanthna Bmblioa. 

Batea frondosa. Trema orieftt^is . 

Dalbffgia laiifolia t^nd panicolata. Bambusa arundinaoea ^ 

Pterocarpnfl Mareupinm. [ Dendrooalamaa strict as j ®^™ ^**®- 

Among these are many of the most valuable timbers of Andyaluable 
the Presidency, and the following may be said to be the most ti™*>®'**' 
important: — 

Albiizia odoratissima (Karang&lli). 

Terminalia tomentosa (Matti). 

LaKerstroemia miorooarpa ( Venteak) . 

Tectona grandis (Teak). 

Gmelina arborea. 

Fhyllanthas Emblica(Nelli). 

Santalam albam (Sandalwood). 



Oedzela Toona (White cedar). 
Uhloroiylon Swietenia (Satinwood). 
Schleichera trijnga (Pa?a). 
Dalbergia latiiolia (Blackwood or 

Kosawood). 
Pterocarpos Marsnpium (7engai). 
Bardwickia binata (Achi). 
Xylia dolabriformis (Iral). 

Second tract. — The moist evergreen fureets qf the elopes. — These Moist ever- 
are grandest on the western slopes and between 3,000 and 4,000 gth^ ri'^^^ 
feet elevation, where the trees often attain 200 and 250 feet in 
height. They are all evergreen, and their great variety of foliage 
and colour renders them exceedingly beaatifal, some of the young 
leaves coming out pure white, others a bright crinfson, others all 
possible tints of brown, yellow, red, and green. These tracts are 
exceedingly moist from the first showers in March till the end of 
December, and during that season abound with leeches. The 
trees are often covered with epiphytic orchids, ferus, mosses, 
balsams, and some Gesneracew^ and there is a glorious profusion 
of rattans, tree-ferns, climbing ferns, and fine creepers. But 
what may be said to be most characteristic of these forests is the 
genus StrobHanihes (Acanihacm)^ large shrubs, which form the 
principal underwood and of which 29 speoies are found on these 
hills. Some of these flower every year, but others only after a 
growth of six or seven years, when they die down and renew 
themselves from seed. Almost all of them have showy flowers, 



THE NILGIRIS. 



CHAP. I. and many of tliese are really beaatifal. The two palms Caryoia 
VLdBA. urens and Arenga Wightii are very conspicuons in these tracts, 
and so are several specimens of rattan {Cnlttmus) and three very 
fine feed bamboos — Ochlandra Rheedii, Qxytenanthera Thwaiiem 
(Munro), and Temosiacht/um Wightii, ^Vk very handsome broad- 
leaved species, described by Monro as a bambasa from specimens 
only In leaf. Ferns occur in ^reat profusion, including several 
tree-ferns, amongst^ which the Ahophila criniia (not yet intro- 
duced into En^ish hot-houses and unmatched in any conntry) 
is very beautiful. Sonerilas and balsams arc also numerous. 
OutUferoB, Rubiaeew, and Euphorbincem are the Orders perhaps 
most copiously represented (next to Acantkacem), the first by 
trees, the two last by shrubs and trees. 

Above 4,000 feet- these forests begin to decrease in sise, and 
towards the plateau they gradually pass into the Mlm or woods 
referred to below. 

Their charao- The following is a list of the trees most oharactenstic of the 
teriiUctreet, moist forests :- 



And iimben. 



I^olyalthia coffeoideb. 

Oaroinia Cambogia and Morella. 

Galoph?Uain tomentosnm. 

Metna ferrea. 

PsBoilonearon Indicam. 

DipterocarpuB turbinatut. 

Hupea parriflora and Wightiana. 

Tatnria Indica. 

Cnllenia exoelsa. 

Leptonychia noaccuroides. 

Chickraatia tabulariB. 

Canarium ■trioiam* 

Aglaia Rozbar|^hlana. 

Beddomea indioa and simpUoifolia. 

Gomphandra tazillarit and poly 

morpha. 
Kaonjmus indicns and angulatus. 
liophopetalnm Wightianum. 
Harpulia oopanoides. 
Aorocarpai f razinifolias. 

The timbers, as a rule, are 
in the deciduous forests, but 
following : — 

Galophyllnm toman toanm (Voon 

apar). 
Maana ferraa (Ironwood). 
Hopea^wrriflora. 
malabarioa. 



Humboldtia Bmnonia and Takliana. 
Snprotroa fragrann, Wightii , and 

glomerata. 
Baaaia ellipttoa. 
Pajanelia Kheedii. 
HyriBlica lanri folia and atlenoaia. 
Alseodaphna •emicarpifolia. 
Aotinodaphae aalioina. 
Cryptooarja Wightiaoa. 
Aotephila ezoelam. 

AgroBtiBtoohjrt longifolia and indioa. 
Baooanrea ooortallensis. 
Oatodea aeylanioa. 
Adenooblrona indioa. 
Biiohoffla jayanioa. 
Hemioyclia Tanntta. 
- .^Ttooarpnt hiranta. 
Oironniera retionlata. 
Laportaa crenalata. 

not of such good quality as those 
some are valuable, espeoially the 



ChiokraaaiatabalariB (Chittagong wood). 
Aorocarpna frajdnifolioa (Bad oedar or 

Shingle tree). 
Dioipyrofl ebonnm (Ebony). 
ArtocarpuB hiranta (Angelli or Aynoe) 
GKrpnniara retionlata (Kho noofee). 



PHYSICAL DE8GBIPTI0N. 



23 



On tlie Malabar side of the distriot these moist forests reaoh CHAP, i. 
right down to the plains^ just as they do in parts of Soath Floia. 
Canara, Coorg, and Travancore. Elsewhere thej give way at 
1,000 or more feet from the baso to decidnons forests or iracts 
oomposed of nothing but xeed bamboos {Temostachyum Wightii). 

Third tract. — The 8h6las or u^ods of the plateau. — These are The shdlas 
very similar in character to the moist ever|^reen forests of the the^fewi. 
slopes, bnt from being at a higher elevation the tree^ are of different ' 
genera and species and their growth is mach smaller, 70 feet 
being mnch beyond the average height. ^ "*. 

They are all evergreen, and the tinfcs from the new growth 
at certain seasons are very beautifol. Myrtacew, LauracecBy and 
Siyraeew are the Orders most represented by trees, and the 
undergrowth is chiefly composed of Rubiaceom shrubs and 
Strobilanthee {AcanthacecB). 

The following are the 
sh61a8 : — 



principal trees growing in these 



ICichelia Kilagirioa. 
Hydnooarpat alpinns. 
Gordonia obtusa. 
fiiaBoearpos oblongos, tnberciilatnt i 
and ferrugineus. | 

Melicope Indica. 1 

Heynea trijnga. i 

Gomphandra axi Uaris . \ 

Ayodjims Benthamiana. 
Hex Wigfatiaiia and den ticn lata. 
Eoonymna crennLitus. 
Miorotropis ramiflora and densiflora. 
Torpinia pomifera. 
MeKoama Amottiana and pnngenn. 
Photinia Notoiiiana and Lindleyana. 
Engenia— many species. 
Pentapanaz Leschenaaltii. 



Heptaplenrum raoemoBam. 
„ rostratnm. 

„ yennloinm. 

„ obovatam. 

Viburnum pnnctatnm, ernbesoeus, 

hebanthnm, and coriaoenm. 
Vacoinenm Lesoheuaoltii, and 

Nilgiriense. 
Sideroxylon tomentosum. 
SymploooB — many species. 
Lasiosipbon eriocephalus. 
Machilns macranthn. 
Phoebe Wightii. 

Cinnamomnm Ze/lanicum, var. Wightii. 
Litsoea Wightiana. , 
Litscea Zeyhinica. 
GlochidiDU— several species. 



Their 

oharaoteristio 

trees. 



Polyaciaa aonminata. 
The timbers are of much less value than in either ot the And timbers, 
other tractu. The following are those chiefly in use : — 



Hex Wightiana. 
Eugenia — several species. 
Gnonyutus crennlatus. 



Hydnooarpns alpinns. 
Gordonia obtusa. 
Tems^oeniia japonioa. 
Elaocarpna oblongns. 

Perns and mosses abound. Amongst the former Ahophila And ferns 
iaiebrosa, a tree-feru, is abundant. Orchids are very po6rly ^* "**>■•*■• 
representeii. There is one species of reed bamboo {Aruhdmaria 
Wighiumn) and some shrubby balsams ^nd be^onias^ and the 



24 



THX NIL0IRI8. 



OHAP. I. 

F&OBA, 



TlMgniM- 
Und of the 
plfttma. 



Ito obano* 

teritUo 

•hnlw, 



following herbaceous plants may be enumerated as cbarac- 
teristio : — 



Deegiodiaiii Sc»lpe. 
Crotalaria barbat*. 
Fragaria indloa and nilgc^rreiuit. 
Sonerila ipeoiosa. 
Hy<]^rooot7le Javanioa. 
Sanionla europeea. 
Seneoio oorymbosnt. * 
Chryaogoniim he#erophylla. '' 



Halenia Perottetii. 
Po^ostemon rotnndatat. 

^, speoioaiu. 
Gerardinia Leaohenanltii. 
ElatOBtema diveraifolia. 

„ sestile. 
Pilea Wightii. 
Chamabainia oatpidata. 



Fourth irfct. — The grasa^lcmd of the plateau. — ^This tract is 
covered with many short, coarse species of grass which are 
qoite barnt up with the frost and sun in December and Jan* 
uary. After the first showers in March the growth is very rapid, 
and numerous herbaeeons plants spring up. The following are 
the most characteristic : — 



Anemone rivalaris. 
Banunonlas reniformit. 
„ diffiiiQS. 

„ WtlliohianuB. 

Viola aerpeni. 
Impatiens Beddomii. 
„ Chiiienua. 
„ inconspiciia. 
„ tomentoBa. 
Crotalaria formota. 
Indigofera pedicellata. 
Fleniiogia reitita, var nilghenonBis. 
Potentilla Kleiniana, 
„ Letobenanltii. 
p sapina. 
Drosera Barmanni. 
„ indioa. 
,« peltata *' 



Pimptnella Letohenaultii. 
Heraclenm ringens. 
Anaphalit — seyeral species. 
Onapbalium bypoleuoom* 

„ marceeoent. 

Senecio— several species. 
Gentiana qaadrifaria. 
Swertia oorymbosa. 

M minor. 
Micromeria biflora. 
Brunella yalgnris. 
Pedicular is Perottetii. 
„ Zeylanioa. 
Satjrinm Nepalense. 

It . Wigbtiannm. 
Habenaria^many species. 
Liliam Nilgiriense. 
Pteris aqnilina (bracken). 
Oleiobenia dicbotoma. 



Aonerila gran^iflora. 

Trees are only sparsely scattered about these tracts. These 
consist chiefly of Rhododendron mhoreum, Salix teiraspenna, Oeltin 
tetrandra^ Pittoaporum, two species, Bodomsa viecoaa^ Wendlandia 
Notoniana. The following are the most characteristic shrubs : — 



Berberis nepalensis. 

„ sriststA. 
Hypericnm mysorense. 

„ Hookeriannm. 
Knrya japonica. 
Indigofera pnlcbella. 
Desmodiam mfesoens. 
Atytoala CandoUei. 
Sopbora glaooa. 
Cassia Tinorlensis. 



Cassia toraontosa (imported), 
fiubiifl lasiooarpnu. 

„ ellipttoiis. 

„ molnocanns. 
Rosa Lescbonaaliiana. 
Cotoneaster bozifolia. 
Rbodnmyrtus tomentosa. 
Osbaokia Gardneriana. 

» V^igbtiana. 
Hedyotis Lawionisd. 



rxmOikL DBflOBIPTION. 



25 



Jaiminnm rovolatum. 
Olerodendron serratum. 
Leuoas — sevSitil species. 
BloBagnns latifolia. 
Strobilanthes sessilis. 

„ sessiloides. 

„ KanthianuB. 



Hedyotii ttytosa. 

artioDlariB. 
ftntioosa. 
„ pnuDOfa. 
LobdU exoelsa. 
Gnftltheri* fragrantissiina. 
Ligaatrain Perottetii. * 

„ robnstnm. 

This last is often gregarions and covers soYeral acres in. 
extent, and when ont in flower is one sheef of bine. It is the 
plant wltjch lias been supposed to have originated the name 
' Blna Moontains.^ The three blackbervies {Rubu^ are common, 
and they and the stretches of bracken and the clnmps of fern 
give man7 spots a strikingly English appearance which appeals 
strongly to exiles on their first visit to the Nilgiris. 

The following may be enumerated as ^he most beautiful 
plants found in these hills : — 



OHAP, I. 
FlorA« 



And beanti- 
f nl plants . 



FsgnBa obovata (Slopes). 
Rhododendron arborenm (Plateaa). 
Ceropegia Decaisneana (Sispara gh&t). 

„ elegans (Ooonoor). 
Eiaoam Perottetii ( y, ). 
(Egenetia pednncnlata (Northern 

slopes). 
Uapaticns acanlis (Sispdi^ ghat). 

,« riyalis. 

,. Denisonii (Sisp&rag^hit). 

„ Mnnroni ( „ ), 

„ Jerdonii ( „ ). 

„ maoulata (Paikira). • 

„ latifolia ) K6tagiri and 

,« frotioosa j Coonoor. 
Ttgna Wightii (Northern slopes). 
Baahinia PhcBnioea (Bispira ghit). 
Osbeekia Uardneriana (Platean) 
„ Wightiana ( ., ). 
BoiMfila grandiflora (Avalanche). 

„ speoiosa (Ootacamnnd). 

„ elegans (aisp4ragh6t). 

„ versicolor ( „ ). 
« axillari ( „ ). 
Passifiora Leschenanltii (Coonoor). 
Pav«ilil» dphonantha (Sispira gh&t). 
Saprosma fragrans ( „ ). 

flamiltonia soareolens (Sig6r ghit). 
yaooiainm Leschenanltii (Platean). 
nOgirieme ( „ ). 
Lysimachfa japoniea ( „ ). 
Syaplocoa pnlobra (Bispira gh&t). 
Jasm&ram hnmile (Plateau). 
AlatOBia venenatuB (Coonoor ghit). 
Bisumontia Jerdoniana (Northern 
«lopM)« 

4 



Hoya panciflora (Sispira ghat). 
Boaoerosia difihisa ) (Foot of hills, 

„ nmbellata j southern). 

Porana raoemosa (Western slopes). 
Bivea tilisefolia "> (Foot of hills 

Ipornea oampanulata ) and western 

slopes). 
Argyreia splendens (Western slopes). 
,, speoiosa ( „ ). 

Ipomea yitifolia (Southern slopes). 
Solannm ferox (Northern slopes). 

„ Wightii (Coonoor). 
Torenia asiatioa (Sispira ghit). 
Pedicnlaris Perottetii (Sispira). 
.^sohynanthns zeylanioa (Sispira 

ghit). 
Elngia Notoniana (Coonoor ghit). 
Pajanelia Bheedii (Western slopes). 
Thnnbergia Hawteyniana (K6tagiri). 
„ Mysorensis \ (Western 

„ Wightii ) slopes). 

Strobilanthes gossypinas (Sispira). 
y, luridns (Naduvattam). 

,, tristis (Sispira ghit). 

„ sexennis (Ootacamnnd). 

„ pnloherrimus ( „ ). 

„ panioalatuB (Western 

slopes). 
„ violaoeus (Sispira). 

Barleria involucrata (Coonoor ghit). 
Hedyohinm coronariam (Western 
slopes). 
Alpinia Bheedii ( *» « )• 

Mnsa omata ( „ ). 

Qloriosa snperba (Bqnthem slopM). 
Liliaainilgiriense ( „ )• 



26 



THB NIIiOIBIS. 



CHAP. I. 
Flora. 



Books of 
referenoe. 



Introdooed 
plftQta. 



Dendrobiam aqnenm (Western slopes). 
Gaol ogyne— all the species (Plateau). 
Anmdi«a bambusifolia (Western < 

slopes). 
Ipsia Malabarioa ( * » )• 

C^rtoptera flava • ( „ ). 
fusea ( „ ). 



All the above are weU wortli7 of introduction into gardens and 
hot-houses. The orohids are very poor compared to those of the 
Himalayas and Burma, but the following are well worthy of 
oultiv4t|on : — 

Vanda iipathalata (Northern slopes). 

„ Eoxburghi ( „ ). 

iHrides orispnm (Western slopes). 

„ Lindleyana (KMiti and 
Coonoor). 
Calanthe masuoa (Plateau in rii^Uis). 
Platanthera Sosannse (Western slopes). 

One hundred and seyentj-eight species of ferns hare been 
detected on these hills^ and probably others only known from 
other districts will yet be discovered on the western slopes. Two 
of these femsj Laainwa scabrosa and ferr\iginea^ are not, it is 
believed, found elsewhere. 

In Appendix I to this chapter is given a complete catalogue 
of the flowering plants, ferns, and mosses of the Nilgiris as at 
present known. The descriptions are to be found in a ooUect'ed 
form in The Flora of British India by Dr. Hooker. The student 
may also consult Wight and Arnott's Prodromua and De Can- 
doUe's Prodromua for most oF the plants; for the orohids, 
Dr. Lindley's Genera and Species Orchidacece and his papers in Ihe 
Linnaean Journal ; for the grasses Eunth's Enumeraiio Pkmtarum 
and Steudel's 8yn. PI. Gram, ; and for the mosses the works of 
MuUer and Mitten. 

Very many of the flowering plants are figured in Dr. Wight's 
Icofiea Plantarum and Spicilegium Neilgherrense^ of which the 
titles are the only parts which are in Latin. The latter contains 
over 200 coloured plates. Most of the trees and shrubs, or at 
least one or ^ore of each genus, are illustrated in Colonel 
Beddome's Fhra Syhnxiica^ and all the ferns in Colonel Beddome's 
Fsma of Southern India and Ferns of British India, all of which 
works are to be found in the Ootacamund Library. 

The Appendix doe's not include introduced plants. The 
Australian Eucalypti and Acacias have given quite a new oharac* 
tor to Ootacamund and Coonoor, in and about which they have 
been planted very largely for firewood. The Forest department 
has put down several hundred acres of Ettcab/ptus globulus^ the 
blue gum of Tasmania, and there are also extensive plantations 
of Acacia -melanoxyhn (the blankwood) and dealbata (watUe). 
Their ftmewhat gloomy foliage has hardly improved the appear- 
anoe of the stations, but in defence of them it may be pleaded that 
they have solved the difficult problem of the snpply of fuel. Were 



PHYSICAL DESORIPTION. 67 

they less ubiquitous, the blackwood would be admired for its CHAP, I, 
handflome shape and the play of light and shade among its thick Flura. 
foliage ; the wattle would be forgiven many of its sins fpr its 
annual blaze of sulphur-yellow blossoms ; and even the blue gum 
would be tolerated in thadask with the evening light behind it, 
when its graceful outline is noticeable but not its dreary colouring. 

Besides the blue gam, numerous species of eucalyptus have • 

been introduced from Australia, amongst which E. sideroxyhTn 
(the iron bark), E, obliqua (stringy bark), E, fissilis (mess-mate), 
E. mmniaUs (manna gum), E, amygdalina^the gigantic box-gum), 
E. roBtrata (the red gum), E, fieifolia (the red-flowered gum), 
besides many other Victorian species, may^be mentioned as doing 
well. Some West Austraban varieties, such as E. marginata (the ^ 
jairah or mahogany tree, the wood of which gtands exposure to 
sea- water and in Australia is much in use for jetties, ship-building, 
railway sleepers, etc.) and E, cahphylla^ Have been introduced and 
will grow with care ; but they do not stand the frost when 
young, and have to be carefully covered up in December, Janu- 
ary, and February until they attain certain dimensions. 

Very many of the Australian acacias, besides the two above 
mentioned, have been introduced and ornament the gardens and 
roeSs, etc. Among them are Aca/da homolophyUa (the myall or 
violet wood), A. pycnatUha, A. saUcina, A. decurrens, A. cuUriformiSy 
A. dodowB^oUa^ A. elata, A. longifolia^ A. saligna, A.pulek^Ua, 
besides many others. 

Many other Australian trees and shrubs have also been intro- 
fiacod into gardens on the plateau, amongst which are many 
species of Hakea, Grevillea and Bankaia, Camarina quadricalvin 
and suberosa (the she-oak and he-oak), Pomaderpia (three species), 
Myoporxv/n insuhre, Pittosporum (two species), Melaleuca (several 
species), Leptospernium (severskl species), CalliBiemon (two species), 
Beauforiia^ Kumea, Cahthamnus, Angophora, Tristania, etc. Many 
of the Conifera have also been introduced from the Himalayas, 
Ja]jan, and other countries, the most successful of which are 
Cupressua maerocarpay Lawsoniarui, ioruhsa^ sempervirem and 
Cashmeriana, Araucariaa BidwiUii and Cunninghami, Criptomeriu 
Japonica^ Frenela species and Pinws insignia, pinaster and longi/olia. 

Some of the European pines, such as the larch and Scotch fir 
( P. hif icio and P. sylpestris) , and some of the Himalayan Abies have 
quite failed to grow', and (probably owing to the want of a regular 
winter) the oak does indifferently and the elm, birch add most 
other European deciduous trees refuse to make any growth at all. 



S8 



rail NILOIBIS. 



CHAP. I. 

Flora. 



Zoo LOOT. 

Domestio 
CatUe. 



The mangosteen froits well in the Governinent garden at Barli- 
jity about 2^500 feet in elevation on the sonth-eastem slopes, wh^re 
also i\e nutmeg of commerce, the clove, the cocoa, cinnamon. 
allspice, mahogany, camphor, breadfruit, litchi, durian and yanilla 
thrive luxuriantly. Experiments made with European fmit-t^ee.<^ 
are referred to in Chapter IV. ^ 

In the gardens of the plateau most of the flowers found in 
English gardens anil green-houses are to be met with. Tlu* 
growth of fuchsias, geraniums, and heliotropes is so luxuriant tVnf 
they are often i^de into hedges. The yellow gorse and the broom 
have been introduced and are prominent round about the stations. 

The bullocks and cows met with on the hills are all animals 
imported from the low country, and there are no indigenous breeds. 
The buffabes kept f^r-their milk by the pastoral tribe of the T6das 
are, however^ very diiFerent from those of the plains below, bping 
I>i8rg6i' smd more stronglj^ built and having huge horns which riso 
in a wide curve above their heads instead of running in an almost 
straight line along either side of their bodies, as elsewhere. Tboy 
are not, however, so powerfully and thickly built as the &mous 
draught-buffaloes of Gbnj^m and Vizagapatam. Their ferocity is 
proverbial, and the combined charge of a herd of them down a 
steep hill with a bog at the bottom of it is unpleasant to encounter, 
even if one is mounted. 

Cattle disease, especially murrain, i3 commonest in the dry 
weather, when the herds are crowded together owing to the soaroity 
of pastaro. Tlie Kdtas, the artisan tribe of the hills, doubtless h^lp 
to spread it by their habit of carrying off and keeping the hides of 
animals which have died of it. 

Endeavours to^bree 1 foreign cattle on the hills have met with 
little success. English cattle were tried * at the ex{)erimenful 
form which wa's started at K^ti by Mr. S. R. Lushington in 18.'^»0 
(see p. 202), but none of them seem to have survived. Several 
short-horn bulls have been imported from Australia (the earliest, 
apparently, by General Morgan in 1862) and their progeny may 
still be seen in Ootacamund. In 1880 some of the well-known 
Amrat Mah^I animals from Mysore were entrusted to the Lawrcnco 
Asylum authorities, but by 1 884 all but two had died. There 8eem5; 
to be a peculiar lack of nourishment in the natural grasses of tlu- 
plateau (due, it is conjectured, to the low percentage of lime in tho 
soil) ; from December to February the absence of rain, combined 
with frosts at night and a hot sun by day, kilU down all the 
pasture and neci^sitatts stall-f«-eding ; and during the south-west 

* Jeivin' Nut rati le oj a r>un\cy to fhe ValU v/the Cauvery (Lcmdon, l^d4), 4C. 



monsoon the bitter wind and ceaseless rain on tlie exposed hills CHAP. I. 
^^pccdilj kill animals which are not acclimertized and sheltered in Zoology. 
sheds. 

Foreign sheep suffer from these same disadvantages. South- Sheep. 
downs were tried at the K^ti farm * but seem to have died out ; 
in 1851 fifty half-bred merinos were sent up from Mysore, but 
soon died; in 1860 a Mr. Bae iiSported some China sheep from 
Shangai, Greneral Morgan had a large fiock c^ them for years, and * 

many of the breed are still to be seom ; ' and • a cross between 
China and Leicester sheep was introduced but did not succeed. 
For flavour of meat and early maturity these last left nothing to 
be desired, but from want of fresb blood the flock became delicate, 
and many lambs were lost from inflammation of the lungs 
brongbton by continued exposure to cold during the monsoon.^ 
Some English sheep reared at the Lawrence* Asylum were more 
fortunate and weighed as much as 80 ^b. (after cleaning) when 
killed,* 

llie Berkshire pig crossed with the China breed has succeeded Pirs. 
admirably, but Nilgiri bacon and hams have never been a success, 
the absence of true winter weather preventing proper curing.^ 

A miserable breed of pack-ponies is raised on the plateau by Hones and 
the natives. A private horse-breeding establishment at Masini- P®^*®** * 
gndi, on the lower ground to the north, has met with some 
success. Mule-breeding has been tried by a company at 
Anaikatki in the same neighbourkood, but has recently been 
abandoned. 

The game animals of the district include the elephant, tiger. Game 
leopard and Indian (sloth) bear, the sambhar, spotted, barking, ^^^^^ ■• 
foor-homed, and mouse deer, antelope, bison, pig, ' Nilgiri ibex ' 
and wild dog, besides hares and the fast and .sturdy hill jackal 
which is the quarry of the Ootaoamund Hunt. 

Elephants may be said never to visit the plateau itself now« Elephauts. 
adays, though sixty years ago they now and then came up to 
the Eundahs to escape the fiery heat below.* They still often 
stray from the Batyamangalam hills to the jungle round about 
Mettup^laiyam, but in former days they were common in those 
parts and one fine morning ^ ' an ofiicer was compelled to 
Uy as &st as his horse could carry him, with his horsekeeper 

1 Jenris' book, 45. 

' Sir Fredeviok Price's Ootaoamund, a hist-jry^ Madras, 1908. 

* Genenl Morgan's paper iu the Ditirict Manual^ 470. 

* Aaylnm't report for 1885-86. 

* Cha and the Slue Uouniaint by Lient. Hichi)i*d Burton, aftoi wards Sir 
Bidiard and author of the famous edition of the Arabian Nights (Bontley, 1851)» 
M7. 

« Jerria, 87. 



30 THV VttSlBJM, 

OHAC. I. and grass-outter clinging to its tail/ to escape a charge bj 
ZpotooT. one of them. So trdublesome were the animals, indeed, that 
about ^1840 the Collector of Coimbatore obtained a party of 
elephant hunters from Chittagong and employed them for some 
years in catching the herds in kheddahs. They used also to 
be exceedingly common in the Ouchterlony Valley, but the 
opening up of this tract to coffee cultivation has driven them 
. away. Their chief h&unt in the district at present is the belt 

^ of forest below the nortlif side of the plateau (round aboot 

Masinigudiand^Anaikatt^ and the Wynaad. There they are 
still so numerous as to be sometimes a serious nuisance to travel- 
lers and cultivators. Many cases have occurred in recent years 
of eartmen travelling along the two roads running from Mysore 
to Big6r and to G6dal4r being held up by a herd of the brutes, 
and at the last revenhe settlement of the Wynaad the immense 
damage they did to paddy-flats was urged by the Collector as a 
reason for leniency in the assessments proposed. Elephants also 
come down the Bhavani valley in the north-east monsoon as far 
east as Tai Sh61a. 

Xigcrt. Tigers occur all over the district, both on the lower levels 

« and on the plateau. They are commonest on the latter from 

March to June, when the heat and the forest fbes drive them up 
from below. General Douglas Hamilton mentions ^ seeing five 
of them (two full-grown and three younger ones the sise of 
large leopards) all together on one occasion near * Ounamand ' 
(apparently what is now called ' One mand ' ) sh61a. In 1908 
a sportsman at Naduvattaui succeeded in killing, one after 
the other, four which had gone down into a deep ravine after a 
dead pony. Not long ago one was caught in the Ouchterlony 
Valley in a barl]^fl wire running noose fastened to two trees, 
which had heeJk set by Kurumbas for sambbar, but after terrific 
struggles succeeded in breaking two of the wires and getting 
away with the loss of a great deal of hair and blood. 

In the Wynaad the Wynaadan Chettis (the chief landowning 
class), aided by the Paniyans (their field-labourers), make a 

1 See h\n Records vf Sport im Southern Iinlvi (L)ndoii, 1898), 203. He had 
a shooting-hat in a small ihdla about half way betwoen tho Paikira trarellera' 
bungalow and the Liddellsdale entatc, to tho right of the bridIe>road, which wae 
a famooa sporting rendeivous in his time and the remains of whioh are etill 
visible. Other books dosoribing sport on the Nilgiris include Game by ' Hawkeye * 
(his brother, Gen. Rirliard Hamilton), a neries of lettpra originally contributed 
in 1870 to the old South of India Obnerver and published at Ooiy in 1876; Ool. 
Walter Caih)»beiri The' Old For^tt It^ngtr (I^ondon, 1863) and l/y Indimm 
JoMrnal (Edinburgh, 1864) -, Mr. O.Hoyal Dawson's Nil^iri Spirting BeminiweenetM 
(Madras, 1880} ; and Sir Frederick Prioe*8 Ooiammund, a hifiory (Madras, 190B), 



PHYIIOAL DBgQBIPTION. 31 

piBotice of netting both leopards and tigers whenever thej get CHAP. I, 

a chance. In most houses a length or two of stout net is kept, Zoology- 

and when a tiger kills and lies up in a convenient bit of jungle 

word is qoickly passed round and the nets are produoe*d and 

joined together. The occasion is a general tamasha, the women 

coQecting in their smartest toilettes and the owner of the bit of 

jungle keeping open house. FAjers for success are offered to 

the varions neighbouring deities and one or more of the priests 

nsnallj eventually work themselves isp into a prophetic frenzy 

and foretell the success of the venture. The nets are then 

arranged in the form of a V round the spot whefe the tiger is 

lying up. Armed with long twelve- foot spears and directed by 

Paniyans up trees, the men next gradually drive the tiger up into 

the point of the V, and finally by degrees close up the opening 

so that the animal is entirely encircled. * 

Protected by the spearmen, the bolder spirits then get under 
the nets and cut away the jungle so that the circle can be gradu- 
ally narrowed, and the frequent charges of the tiger against the 
barrier are repulsed with shouts, clubs and the long spears. 
That niffht^ fires are lit all round the enclosure and the party 
remains on guard, singing songs and recounting stories. In the , 

morning half a dozen Paniyans march round the enclosure three 
times with spears and all kinds of music, stopping at intervals to 
shout ohaUenges to the tiger to come out. The nets are thereafter ~~ -^ 

gradually closed in day after day until the tiger, half dead with 
thirst and constant harrying, is at last speared to death. His 
body is pulled out and (after a scramble to secure the whiskers, 
which are potent protectors against all evil spells) is propped up 
on a horizontal pole, as if still alive. The tip of the tongue and 
of the tail are cut off and burnt lest magicians should secnre them 
for working black magic, and eventually the skin^is borne off to 
the taluk oflSce and the Government reward is claimed. In former, 
and less practical, days it used to be left to rot where it hung. 

Leopards, like tigers, are common in all parts of the district. Leopardi and 
Bo many cases of black leopards are reported that there is some 
ground for supposing' that they are commoner on the hills than 
in the plains. Bears are seldom seen on the plateau itself but 
are frequent on the slopes and in the lower country. According 
to * The Old Forest Ranger,' they were formerly numerous in the 
Orange Valley. 

Bambhar are also found all over the district wherever there Deer 
ia ioitable cover, and on the plateau the favourite Btalkin{^«ground 
ii the KundahSy where the protection afforded by the Oame 



32 THB HILGIBU. 

CHAP. I. Association has resulted in a marked increase in their numbm. 
ZoouMY. The heads do not ran "as large as in North India, the reooid bemg 
42 inches measured from burr to tip along the^ ourve. Three heads 
of this* size hare been shot— one bj General Douglas Hamilton in 
the siztiest one by Colonel Hadfield about the same time, and the 
third by the latter's son Mr. Edward HadEeld at EbbaaM in 
1905. * Tlie earliest European Arrivals on the hills used to call 
these animals *elk ', whenoe the Elk Hill at Ootacamund. 

Spotted deer never come to the higher levels and are common- 
est round Masjnigudi. J!he barking, or rib-faced, deer (munt- 
jac) still go by the old incorrect name of ' jungle-sheep ' which 
was given them by the earliest visitors to the hill%. Like the 
sambhar, they often prove too strong a temptation for the more 
riotous of the Ootacamund hounds. Four-homed deer are 
uncommon. The Uftle mouse deer only lives in the thick jottgle 
on the slopes and is very.rare. 

Antelope are only found round Sig6r and in small numbers. 

Biios. Now and again a stray specimen or two of the bison or gmnr 

(called * the wild buU' in the old days) finds its way from the 
Satyamangalam hills to the jungle round M^ttupilaiyam, but as 
c a rule they are only met with round Masinigudi and in the great 

Benne and Mudumalai forests in the north of the Nilgiri Wyna^d. 
Binderpest has more than once committed havoc among them. 
Bison are never seen nowadays on the plateau, but Jfy Indian 
Journal (p. 374) mentions that one was once shot on the Kondahs ; 
General Douglas Hamilton killed another near Pirmand there 
in 1866 ^ ; and the ' Bison Swamp ' not far from that spot must 
have originally been so named from its connection with theee 
animals. 

Pig. Pig are numerous. As the country is nowhere rideable, the7 

are allowed to be shot. Now and again the Ootacamund hounds 
have rioted after one and, as fox-hounds do not tackle, the mahes 
of an old boar at bay have proved most disastrous. On one 
recent occasion thirteen hounds were more or less severely cut 

Tli« Vilglri Tho Nilgiri ibex {HemiiraguB hylocrms^ really a wild goat) ia 

perhaps the most interesting of the game animals of the plateaa 
as it belongs to a strictly Indian genus the only other speoiee in 
which is the tarh of the Himalayas ; occurs nowhere in the world 
outside the Madras Presidency ; and, with the exception of ati 
ibex on the higher mountains of Abyssinia, is the only goat 
living south of the north temperate zone. When luiopeaas 
first came to the hills it was unknown to science and 

* p. MO of hii book abroftdy quoted. 



ibex. 



PHT8IGAL DSSCBIPTION. 38 

commonly called 'the chamois.' It is not, as its name would CHAP, i, 
imply, peonliar to the Nilgiiis, but is found all along the Western Zooloay. 
GMts to the southwards (including the Anaimalais and Palnis) as 
far as Cape Comorin. In this district it lives only on the*plateaa 
and is commonest on th§ precipitous southern and western sides 
of the KundeJis. Its arch-enemy is the leopard. Though the 
horns are not impressive trophies (the record head, shot many 
years ago by Mr. Rhodes Morgan at Tai^iot Mand near Glen 
Morgan, measured 17^ inches along •the outer curve) they are 
valued for the difficulty in obtaining them occasioned by the 
extreme wariness of their possessor and ^e dangerous nature of the 
ground on which he lives. In 1876 a Mr. Butcher was killed by 
falling down a precipice on the Paik^ra side of the hills ^hen 
after ibex, and lies buried in St. Stephen's churchyard.^ 

As in many other places, the wild dogs afe the greatest foe of Wild doge, 
the deer tribe, hunting them in packs Relentlessly. They appear 
to come and go in accordance with no clear reasons, being 
frequent one year and scarce the next. This year (1906) they 
Rwarm along the western side of the Kundahs and.sambhar are 
correspondingly scarce. Luckily they seem to be liable to some 
infectious disease which periodically reduces their numbers. In 
1893 nine were found dead in the jungles round Sig6r, all wasted 
and thin from disease, and three more near Nellak6ttai in the 
Wynaad. 

The shooting country in the district is very small, and the The Oamt 
number of sportsmen has always been large ; and soon after the '^™<><5'**i«" 
first regular occupation of the plateau by Europeans, fears began 
to be expressed that the game would shortly be all lulled out, 
more especially as public opinion did not then, as now, condemn 
the slaughter of females, immature males and stags in velvet. 

The letters written in 1870 by * Hawkeye ' (Qeneral Bichard 
Hamilton) to the old South of India Observer at length called 
attention to the matter ; Lord Napier, the then Governor, evinced 
much interest in it; in l^ 77 a Game Association was founded to 
take action; and the eventual result was the passing of the 
Jfilgiri Game and Fish Preservation Act II of 1879, which 
provides for the establishment of a close season for game animals 
and birds of certain specified kinds, gives power to frame rules to 
regulate fishing and shooting, and lays down penalties for violation 
of its pro\^ion8. It does not apply to the Wynaad, shooting 
and fishing in which are governed by rules under the Forest Act, 

' Bee Bfr. G. &. Dawson'e book already quoted, p. 11, and Mr. BBtoher*! 
losabtioiie. He is laid to haye been knooked off a ledge hj a wounded buck 
wliioh tried to bolt back past him. 

f 



84 



THB KILOIBIS. 



OPAP. T. 

ZOOLOOY. 



The •mailer 



Since then, armed witb the powers conferred hj YmaaoB 
notifications onder thia Act, the Nilgiri Game and Fish Preserva- 
tion Association, of which the Collector is ex officio President, 
has done mnch to save the existing game from over-shooting and 
something to introduce new game birds and fish. Among other 
things, close seasons have been established within certain classes 
of foBest reserves and grazing^grounds for certain large and 
small game and fish : watchers have been appointed to check the 
native pot-hnnter and rewards paid for the killing of wild dogs 
and other animals and birds destrnctive to game ; a fee (Re. 30) 
for shooting anJl fishing licenses has been prescribed ; the killing 
of the females of certain game, of hornless males, stags in velvet, 
sambhar with heads onder 26 inches and spotted stags nnder 
22 inches has been prohibited and the mazimnm number of 
sambhar and ibex ifihe shot by each license-holder fixed; the 
eggs of jnngle-fowl and peafowl are protected ; the catching 
of fish by poison, dynamite, traps etc. is forbidden ; and certain 
sh61as have been closed to beating and others to all shooting, and 
certain waters closed against all fishing. 

In Appendix IT to this chapter is given a list of the mammalia 
fonnd on the Nilgiris.^ In addition to the game animals ri*ferred 
to above, a few of these deserve a word or two of special mention. 
The Nilgiri langur, Semnopithecus Johnii, conunonly known as the 
black monkey, lives in the quieter sholas on the platean and does 
not go down t-o the low country. Its beantifnl coat, which is 
long, glossy and black except for a reddish -brown portion on the 
head and nape, leads to its being much shot by the natives. 
who have not here the nsual religions objection to killing 
monkeys. 

The lion-taile4 monkey, Mncacus ailenm^ chiefly inhabits the 
dense and remote forest on the western side of the platean and is 
seldom seen. Mt has a black coat with a toft at the end of its 
tail, and surrounding its face is a reddish- white ring of hair 
which gives it a very antiquated and venerable expression. 

Only three kinds of bats have so far been reported. The 
hedge-hog, which is chiefly found on the eastern and lower slopes, 
is the ordinary South Indian varitty. Two mu^ielidm occnr, 
namely, the Indian marten and the clawless otter. The latter 
is abnndant in the streams and is most destructive to fish^ and 
the Game Asaociation pays rewards for its destruction. 

* This and most of the iiotea which follow are Uken. from Sargeoo-MAjor 
Bidie*! oon^ribatioo to tho origin*! Vihtfict Manual. Mr. E. Thurston, 8upenn> 
t«ndent of the Mudrat Museum, has been kind enough to correct tho nomenclatTire 
in Appendioee II- V. 



PHYSICAL . DBSCRIPTION. 35 

The felines include, besides the tiger and the leopard, the CHAP. !• 
leopaid-oai, the jnngle-cat, the common tree- cat (Indian Palm- Zoology. 
civet) and a larger species which Surgeon- Major Bidie thought 
was the Paradoxurua Zeylanicus^ vAr./uecus, of Kelaart, but which 
is not noticed by Jerdon and up to then had not been regarded as 
a natiTB of Sonthezn India. The exceeding commonness of these 
various kinds of cats may be judged from the fact that from , 

1895 to 1906 the Game Association paid rewards for killing 939 
of them. • 

Three kinds of roungoose occur oe the hilb^ . namely, the 
stripe-necked, the ruddy and the Nilgiri brown variety. Some 
hundreds of these have also been killed for the sake of the 
rewards put upon their heads. 

Of the seven species of squirrels, the Nilgiri striped squirrel 
ia peculiar to the hill ranges of Southern India and Ceylon, but a 
nearly allied (if not identical) specie^, the Sciurus insignia of 
Homiield, is found in Jav3. The beautiful Malabar squirrel 
ocouTS in the Wynaad. The flying squirrel, which inhabits dense 
forests low down on the western slopes, is nocturnal and thus 
seldom seen. ^ 

The rats include the mole rat, which does much damage to ^ 

turf by burrowing underneath it, chewing up the roots and 
throwing up in heaps the earth excavated from its tunnels ; and 
the bush or coffee rat, also common in Ceylon, which is so called 
because at certain seasons it appears in great numbers and nibbles 
off the young branches of the coffee trees and eats their flowers. 

The poroupine of tbe hills is the usual variety. He does much 
damage in gardens, being especially fond of potatoes, and has 
now developed a keen liking for young rubbe/ plants. He also 
occasionally proves himself an unpleasant antagonist to any of 
the Ootacamund hounds which riot on the strong scent he 
carriesi 

The history of the Ootacamund Hunt is so fully detailed The OoUoa* 

in Sir Frederick Price^s forthcoming book that only the shortest "^^^^ Hunt. 

reference to it is here necessary. The first regular pack of fox- 

hoonds was started by Lieutenant (afterwards Sir Thomas) Peyton 

about 1845 but was sold in 1846 on the ground that the country 

was onrideablet From 1854 until the Mutiny broke out and 

interfered, the 74th Highlanders kept a pack at Wellington which 

hnnted one day a week at Ootacamund; and from 1859 to 1863 

the 60th Rifles at the same cantonment maintained a, bobbery 

pack which came over now and again. In 1864 and 1865 the 

Madias hounds came up for the season, and rather desultory hunting 



86 THB KiLonns. 

niiAP. I. ocourred in the years immediately following. At laat, in 1869, 
ZooLooT. Mr. J. W. Breeks, tie first Commissioner of the Nilgiris, got 
together the first regular pack, and then began the oonoection 
with Che Hunt of the well-remembered Colonel ' Bob ' •Tago, 
then in charge of the forests of the district, who was the real 
father of the Hunt and whose portrait now hangs in the Clnb. 
Mr. BVeeks died in 1872 and his successor Mr. Cockerell (known 
to his friends as ' Cockey/ and the name-father of ' Cockeyes 
Course^ on the Downs) * became Master. Colonel Jago, who 
had been on l^ve, returned in 1874 and was elected Master and 
Huntsman. *He resigned the post in 1887, when he retired. 
Since then the Himt has gone from strength to strength and 
nowadays has always 30 couple of hounds in kennel and a 
subscription list of Bs. 15,000. The reservation in 1896, when 
Lord Wenlock was frovernor, of the 30 square miles of grass and 
«h61a lying immediately F^st of Ootacamund and ofiiciaUy called 
* the Wenlock Downs,' has not only preserved for ever a mnoh- 
needed tract of grazing-laud, but has provided the Hunt with a 
' home country ' the like of which no other pack in India can 
boast. 

B rd% The birds of the district are more numerous and more varied 

at the lower levels, from 2,000^to 4,000 feet above the sea, than on 
the plateau itself.^ During the worst of the south-west monsoon 
many of them migrate to the eastern side of the hills to avoid 
the heavy rain. In Appendix III to this chapter is given a 
list of the chief species found in the district, the nomendatore 
and classification being those given in the Fauna of British India. 

^ Unhappily no connected account of them has ever been written, 

and it is to be hoped that some one may arise to do for them what 
Wight did for the "flowers and plants of these hiUs. 

Of the Hapioresy or birds of prey, the largest are the two 
vultures — the long-billed brown variety and the white scavenger. 
Both are fairly common emd are said to breed on the hills. 
The Game Association offers rewards for the slaying of sevei^ 
of the more destructive of the falcon family and also of the 
orow-pheasant, and a fair number are killed annually. Barer 
migrant Baptorea include the peregrine {Falco peregrinuSf Gm.J, 
he pale harrier {Circus Macrurtu, S.G. Gm.) and the marsh harrier 
' (0. wrugino9U4f Ion.) ; and the common buzsard {BuUo deBer- 
imwn, Daud.) and the white stork {Oieonia alba, Beoh.) have 

* MotUof the following iioteii an* taken from Sarg^eon-Mbjur Hiiie'a »coouBt 
in the original Ditiriet Man marl. 



FHT8I0AL DESOBIPTIOK. 87 

also heen seen.' Ten speoies of owls occur and, as 'elsewhere in CHAP. T» 
South India, are regarded hj the natives as birds of ill-omen. Zoologt. 
The swallow family are also well represented. The edible-nest 
»wiftlet breeds in the cave in Tiger Hill at Ootacamund "^aboye 
the toll-bar at the top of the gh^t road to Coonoor. The nests 
consist of a frame- work of grey lichen, glued together with 
inspiasttted mucus. Bee-eaters, king-fishers, hom-biUs anckpara- 
keets are each represented by two species^ the beautiful blue- » 

winged parakeet being especially noticeable in the Wynaad; 
there are as many as eight of the handsome woodpecker &mily , 
eight cuckoos occur, four shrikes and" numerods* fly-catchers, 
thrashes (several of which are migrants from the north and some 
of which sing as well as the English variety), babblers, bulbuls, 
and warblers. Some of the tree-warblers, though they do not 
look like birds capable ^f long flights, bfe%d in Kashmir and 
the Himalayas and even in Central Asia and Siberia. 

The game birds include two kinds of green pigeon, the 
Imperial pigeon and the Nilgiri wood-pigeon, peafowl on the 
lower levels, the grey jungle-fowl, spur-fowl, two kinds of quail, 
snipe and woodcock. The two last arrive between the end of 
September and the beginning of November and there is some 
competition to secure the first cock of the season. The woodcock ^ 

resemble their English cousins in their - peculiar fondness for 
haunting exactly the same spot year after year. Snipe feed in 
the bogs on the plateau, but they are not plentif al and a bag of 
eighteen couple is apparently the record for one gun. Practi(^y 
all of them are of the pintail variety. 

The Gtame Association has made many fruitless efforts t'O 
introduce exotic game birds. Chik6r, English, Himalayan and 
Chinese pheasants, partridges from the plains,, black partridge3 
from North India, red jungle-fowl and guinea-fowl have all been 
tried in turn without success ; and in 1896 the Assodiation decided 
to abandon further attempts and devote aU its energies to the 
introduction of exotic fish into some of the many excellent streams 
on the plateau. 

These streams contain only two indigenous fish; namely, a Fish, 
stone-loach and a small variety rarely exceeding 3^ inches in 
length which Dr. Francis Day, the fish-expert, named Danio 
Nilgiriensia and which is commonly called a minnow. The streams 
below the plateau are, however, much better supplied. Dr. Day 

' This anU one or two other facts below are taken fi*om a LOto on the 
migratory birds of the Niigirit bj Mr. W. DaWgon, F.Z.8., kindly leii't by Mr. 
I. TbantoB. 



88 



THB 1IILOIBI8. 



OHAF. I. stated ^ that in a stream on tlie Cleveland estate^ about ten miles 
Zoology, below K6tagiri and • 8,500 feet above tbe sea, be found the 
' Indian trout ' (BarilnM rugosua, Day), which is really a carp 
and grows to aboat six inches in length ; and a little lower down, 
at an elevation of about 3,000 feet, a sn[^all carp {Puntius Grayii, 
Day) and a little loach {Nemachilm Guentheri, Day). In Ihe 
8ig6r*river he found the Carnatic carp [PunWtw (Barbus) OamaU- 
ct$8, Jerdon], two other loaches — Nemaehilus semi^rmatus, Daj, 
which grows to six inches in length, and N» Denisonii^ Day— 
Danio aurolmeaiiMy Day, which is about five inches long, a 
fine minnow {Baabora NtlffiriensiSf Day) which is said to attain 
eight inches and breeds rapidly, Garra gotyla^ Ham. Bach, 
and IHscognaihua Jerdoni, Day, which are abundant and run op 
to six inches, the Indian trout again and the small murrel, 
Ophiocephaku gachuci, Ham. Bach. 

In the Bhav&ni the species were far more numerous, and 

Dr. Day captured 
those shown in the 
margin. Of these, 
the striped murrel 
(0. striatua) grows 
to about tlyee 
feet in length, \^ 
thought good eat'* 
ing by 'Europeaiu 
and natives and is 
also found in tanks 
and wells. The 
orange murrel (0. 
ManMua) attains 
the same size hot 
is only found in 
rivers. The mur- 
rel have hollow 
heads wherein they 
are able to retain 
water and so can 
live a oonsiderahle 
time out of their 
native element. The small murrel (0. gachwt) is »only about a 
foot long but bears transporting better than the other two. 
The C%matio carp runs up to 25 lb. in weight and occurs in 
regular droves, but is almost too bony for the table. 



Ham. Baoh. 
„ HtHatuB^ 

Bloch. 

Ham. Budh. 

Laoep. 

NoU^t»rH9 Fallaaiiy Cut. 
and Yal. 

B^mUbaffus j)iiiic/a*u#, Jer- 
don. 

flyjwtlo^rtM eawuuMy 
Ham. Baoh. 

Wallago aitu, Bloch. 

„ MaltiHfrim, »Ouv. 
and Yal. 

Bjkm. 
Ifrnnaehiluf Qumtkeri^ 
Day. 

Day. 

Qo/rra gotyla, Ham. Baoh- 
Dideognaihu* Jerdcmi, Day, 
lobfo konUH$, Jerdon. 



Laheo DiMMMnMrt, Out. and 

Val.. 
Labeobarlms ior^ Ham. 

Buch. 
Funti^B yroctit^, Jerdon. 
„ dn&HM, Day. 
„ CavTiaticiu^ Jer. 

don. 
„ Cfrayti, Day. 
„ Jilafn9ntog%9, Cnv. 
and Yal. 
Barlmi arutiua, Qoaiher. 
Amhly^hatyn^odnn J^T" 

doni, Day. 
Rtubora wooJarm^ Day. 
fian'ifiM rugosus,' Day. 

„ eocnoj Ham. Bnoh. 
D^mio tmr^in9atM, Day. 

„ eie^nt^ Day. 
Bwmut MademapQi9H§ia, 

Day. 
Chela argenteaj Day. 
Belong caneilat Gov. 

Bach. 
Mwrmna fiiac«U«la, Ham. 
Baoh. 



FHTIUQAI. niiOKFTIOK. SO 

The mahseer (Barbus mosaic Cav.) in the upper waters of the €HAP« i. 
Bhavini, e8peciall7 near where the Kondah and Siray&ni riirers SooLoeT. 
jdin the main stream, used to afford first-class sport. The Poaoh^on 
biggest fish on record (caught hj Mr. H. P. Hodgson) weighed the Bhavi&i. 
74 lb., Mr. ' Nick' Symons captured another of 72 lb., and several 
over 60 lb. were killed. But of late years the natives have 
killed thousands of this and the other Bhav&ni fish by vtirioas 
poaching tricks. In the hot weather, whe^ the water is low, 
they dynamite thi pools in which the fish have taken refuge, 
poison them with lime and with barks which stapefy them 
and cause them to float on the surface, set banftnoo traps for 
them across the natural ladders up the falls, and catch them by 
setting night lines consisting of a small fish hooked through 
the back and tied to the whippy end of a branch of an over- 
hanging tree which automatically plays, until^it is tired out, any 
tish which takes the bait. 

The big fish run up the river to the spawning-beds (which 
are in the uppermost waters, amid the dense jungle above Atta- 
()4di village) during the monsoon floods and attempt to return when 
the river begins to fall again. It is then that the jungle men 
pal forth all their energies to capture them. They build 
across the river, especially in places where the stream is broken 
up by islands, great barriers made of plaited bamboo through 
which no fish of any size can pass, and in the middle of these 
they leave a single openiner in which they insert a bamboo trap 
something like an English eel-trap. Very few fish ever get past 
these contrivances. Even more harm is done by the poaching 
which is practised just below the spawning-beds. There the 
methods adopted are similar, but more thorough. The barriers 
are made of sitones packed with leaves and biranches and are 
ijuite impassable ; and the bamboo traps are so closely woven 
that not even the smallest fry can get through them. Thousands 
upon thousands of the tiniest fish are thus killed in their attempts 
to follow their natural instinct to descend the river, and the jungle 
rnen themselves admit that the supply of them has in consequence 
enormoosly decreased in recent years. 

The first attempt to import exotic fish to the waters of the Ezperimenti 
upper plateau appears to have been the stocking of the tank at ^^^ exotic 
Billikal on the edge of the plateau above Sigir. In this, Sir 
William Rumbold, then owner of the neighbouring bungalow, 
put fish from the plains about 1830. In 1844 Mr. Martelli, 
who wag then the owner, put in other fish from the Si^r river, 
among which were some Gamatic carp which grew afterwards to 



40 THi miiOiRis. 

CHAP. I. 5 lb. in weight.^ The first attempt to introdaoe Eniopean fish 

ZooLoer. into the plateau was made in 1883,' when about 500 troat 

(apparently brown trout) ova were sent out from Bngknd. 

Thej* were not kept sufficiently cool and all died before thej 

reached Ceylon. 

In 1866 Dr. Day made a far more earnest attempt witK abont 
6,000 more ova of the same kind at the cost of the Madras Gbrem- 
ment. The ova were packed in ice, kept in the ship's ice-room 
(nine tons of Lake Wenham ice were sent toiSuea speciaUy for the 
experiment), ^refully guarded against vibration in the tnuns bj 
being slung* fh>m the roofs of the carriages, and carried up from 
Coimbatore (the then terminus of the railway) with every precau- 
tion to a masonry hatching-house which had been specially built 
for them according to Dr. Day's directions in the Oovemment 
Gardens at Ootacaftiund. The ova had stood the journey fairly 
well, the percentage o{ dead ranging only from 10 to 220, bat 
owing to the high temperature of the water in the batching-hoas^} 
the impossibility of getting water quite clear of fine silt and tbe 
attacks of several kinds of water insects, not one hatched oat.' 
Dr. Day next directed his attention (in the same year 1866) to 
bringing up fish from the rivers of the plains. He had them 
caught in the Bhavdni and established a stock-pond at Woo4cot 
in Coonoor to break the long journey. Constant supervision wa.<t 
necessary, as the coolies employed to bring them up were both 
careless and cunning. One of their tricks was to lighten the barrel 
and chatties by emptying them of their water as soon as they were 
out of sight of M^ttup^laiyam and filling them up again just 
before they reached Coonoor — ^the inevitable result being the death 
of all the fish in them. Dr. Day eventually succeeded in trans- 
porting to the Ootacamund lake, the Paikdra river, the Sig^r 
river and the ponds in the Government Gardens, KJ eels, 2^ 
Camatic carp* two orange murrel, 10 striped murrel, 149 small 
murrel (0. gachua)^ and 116 other fish including Lubeo Du99umieri. 
Rasbora Nilgiriensi^, Danio aurolineatua, Barilius rugoeusy Punim 
gracilie and P. filanientosus. In July 18'>7 Dr. Day netted the 
Government Gbrdena ponds and found that the Danio auroUneati^ 
and the Rashora had bred and that the Barilim were healthy. He 

1 Or. Day's article in Madras Quarterly Journal of M§dieal Se<enc$t lii* l'^'^* 
dates and uames he givet are in some oatee inaccurate, and hare been oorrecteH 

* Dr. Day's article. 

' An interr^atiig and detailed acconnt of the whole experiment from 'tart 
to finish will be foand in Dr. Day'a report printed in G.O., No. 660, PabliCr 
iatad 2Sfli Jnne lS66,and anabairaot of it in hia paper in *he Iftd. Qumt. Mm> 
ir«rf . 8ei. alrehdy cited. 



PHYSICAL DBSCBIPTIOK. 41 

abo obtained six G-arami (a Chinese fish which the French had CHAP. X. 
introdaced in Manritins) which he pat in the Ootacamand lake. Zooloqy. 
Nothing has since been heard of these last. • 

At the end of the same year Mr. W. Mclvor, Superinten- 
dent of the Government Cinchona Plantations, reportied to 
Govenunent that he had brought out from Europe, on his letum 
from leave, 15 lake trout frj, 10 carp, 24 tench, 12 rudd, 12 silver 
eels and three gold-fish, that he had put them into the hatching- 
house built in the Qovemment Gardens for Dr. Day's trout ova 
and that they were alive and healthy. The nttifliods he had 
adopted ^ were to keep the fry at first for ^ome three months in 
an aquarium with a strong flow of water (gradually diminished) 
passing through it, to accustom them to artificial conditions, and 
then to place them in a series of small metal tninks suspended one 
above the other in a wooden frameworjc which could be slang 
when on board to mitigate the effect of the vessels motion. 
From each tank the water flowed through a tap to the one below, 
so that the water in all of tbem was constantly aerated. 

In 1869 Mr. Mclvor reported that the fish had been trans- 
ferred to the Government Gardens ponds ; that the trout, tench 
and rudd had spawned and that there were from 200 to 300 
young fry one or two inches in length of each of the two former 
kinds and three dozen of the last. Government sanctioned 
money for distributing these fish among the waters of the plateau 
and in the same year Lady Napier and Mttrick, wife of the then 
Governor, put the first lot into the Ootacamund lake. Mr. 
Mclvor subsequently reported ^ that with the remainder he had 
stocked all the waters on the Nilgiris, including the Kundahs. 
He said that the trout (which hewi been placed by themselves in 
the Paik^ra, Avalanche and ' M^karti ' rivers, and ^Iso with other 
fish in the Ootacamund, Bumfoot and Lovedale lakes) had not 
done well ; that the fry of the others had escaped down the lake 
weir into the Sandy Nullah stream, where tench, c£^rp and rudd 
(but no trout) had been caught in hundreds for months past with 
small-meshed nets by the natives ; and that fifty had been 
captured so far down as the pool below the Ealhatti fall. He 
begged for the protection of the fish from the natives, who 
caught even the smallest of them and wantonly destroyed those 
which they could not eat. A municipal bye-law was framed 
accordingly. 

' Thej are described in detail, with iUustrations, in his report printed in 
0.0.,No.2262, Bevenne, dated 6th August 1869, which is partly reprinted in 
tiie original JHtiriet Mwimal, pp. 167-70. 

' Hii letter in G.O., No. 899, Bevenne, dated 28rd Angost 1878. 
6 



42 THS KILGIBIB. 

CiiAP. I. Of the tront, some were said ^ to have been afterwaids 

Zoology, caught in a stream near Nadnyattam and six (at the end of 1875) 
near the Paik^ra bungalow.' Doubts having been expreased as 
to whether these fish had really bred as supposed in hill waierSj 
one of the latter was sent to Mr. H. S. 7!homas in spirits and was 
eventually identified by the Linnasan Society as a Loch Levwi 
trout/ Mr. 'i'homas subsequently put some Labeo ealbctses and £• 
nigrestis in a pond in the Adderley estate, but they got into tlie 
coffee-pulper and were killed. In 1877 Mr. Wapshare fimd Mr. 
Hubert Knox put into the Paik&ra some carp caught in the Hope 
river in the*^ Ouchterlony Valley. In 1879 Mr. Barlow, than 
Commissioner of the Nilgiris, reported that mahaeer had also 
been put into the Paik^ra (when and by whom he did not say) 
but that the natives frustrated aU such experiments by netting ths 
river as soon as it Was low. Nothing seems to have been dons 
to stop this wholesale destruction until 1884, when the Game 
Association and the Collector reported that dynamiting and 
netting with small-mesh nets were daily increasing in freqaenoy. 
A notification was then issued under the Act II of 1879 above 
referred to prohibiting these and other similar practices in the 
chief lakes and rivers of the plateau. 

As far as can be gathered, the net result of all these nnmerqujt 
experiments is that the Ootaoamund lake, which was reoentlj 
specially netted by the authorities to ascertain what fish it held, is 
full of small tench and carp of different kinds (which are caught in 
hundreds by natives with rods) and contains a few JBort/iiis; and 
that in the fine pools in the Paik^ra river round about the traveUeis' 
bungalow are large quantities of carp which take a fly unwiUingly 
and are almost too bony to be eaten. The largest of these last on 
record weighed 7 4b. and was caught by Captain Beadnell. 

Later on the success of an attempt by Mr. Marsh to import 
and hatch trout ova led in 1893 to the Game Assooiation 
endeavouring to do likewise. The first lot of 40,000 ova were 
put into the ice-room of the steamer and, of course, were froaen 
to death at once. The next lot (20,000) arrived in March, the 
hottest time of the year, and nearly all died in consequence. For 
the reception of future consignments, a fry pond and a stock pond 
were made in the Marlimand plantation near Snowdon House, 
and an elaborate series of seven fry ponds and a stock pond at 
Paik^ra. Mr. Rhodes Morgan, the Association's honorary seore* 
tary, took immense interest in the matt'Cr. The two Bnowdon 

> The original Diifrxet ManwA, 1G5. 

* Mr. H. S.ThomiM* T/>« Rod in India (London, 18S1). 192. Mr. Hodftoa 
pOMOMO* tome tront fry about five inches long, iircaerved in ipirits, whioh Mr. 
Molror said wens Lrcd in Ootsoamnnd by him. 



PHYSICAL DKSCBIFTION. 43 

ponds were also afterwards utilized and a hatchery was made in OHAI. I. 
the 8H6k to the eas( of them. Between 1893 and 1897 a series of Zoology. 
consignments of troat ova of yarioas kinds (the English Salmo 
Lwemnaia wnd/ario and the American /on/itiaZis and irriSenSy or 
ninbow treat) were imported and hatched with varying success 
and pat oat to the number of many hundreds in the Paik&ra, 
Avalanche, Emerald valley and Kundah rivers, in the BiAmfoot 
lake, the Marlimand and Dodabetta reservoirs and the Snowdon 
ponds.' Except in the Snowdon ponds and the Emerald valley 
stream (in which latter Major T. N.^ Bagnall ^killed in 1902 
one weighing as much as 7 lb.) nothing was ever*seen of any of 
these afterwards. It seemed clear that though the fish put down 
lived and throve in some cases, the temperature of the water was 
too high for them to breed in successfully, For when this rises 
above 60** F, the ova of both brown and rainbow trout hatch out 
so qoickly that the alevins are too weak jbo survive. 

Interest in the matter gradually waned, but in 1904 another 
20,000 ova of the rainbow trout, which can stand somewhat 
higher temperatures than the brown variety, were imported and 
^b fry laised from these were turned down in the Parson's valley 
stream. In July 1906 the Ceylon Fishing Club allowed their 
expert, Mr. H. 0. Wilson, to bring over 100 yearlings of the 
same variety. These travelled safely as far £ts Erode, but there 
the train bringing a fresh supply of ice was late and they suffered 
sf^versly. Eventually 27 survived tlie journey and were put out 
in the Parson's valley stream. This water was subsequently 
searohed and fished from the Kr^rmand crossing upwards, and the 
rainbow troat then seen and caught (one was 14 inches long) 
proved beyond dispute that some of the fry put down in 1904 had 
bred there and that this fish can at last be said to be established 
on the plateau. The stream contains an abundant food-supply 
and the high fall just below the Krdrmand crossing prevents the 
carp from the Paik^^ lower down, from coming up to interfere 
with the trout. 

Government have now obtained the services of Mr. Wilson 
to report on the measures necessary to check the indiscriminate 
slaughter of fish, in the upper waters of the larger rivers of the 
district and to stock these vidth rainbow trout and other suitable 
fish. He has found that the native poachers on the Bhav&ni 
(the aoooant of whose methods given above is partly taken from 
Ws reports) are rapidly emptying that river of all its fish; 
proposes to improve the spawning-beds on the Parson's valley 
stream by gravelling them and planting shade round them ; has 
^ded to the scanty supply of fish food in the Avalanche stream 

' OeWfli wiU be foand in the Aisooiation's printed annual roporU. 



44 



THE ND^lRtS. 



ORaP. I« by putting down moUusoa there; is remodelling the Snowdon 
ZooLOGf. hatchery on modern lines ; and is importing rainbow troat ova to 
be hatched there. He considers that of the many streams on the 
plateatL the Billith^da halla (which rises in the big hills just west 
of the Ayalanohe bungalow and is one of the chief soarces of the 
iBhav^ni) is perhaps the most suitable for stocking. It contains 
excellent spawning-grounds and a large supply of fish food, and 
* its temperature is unusually low. 

Beptilet. In Appendix IV to ^this chapter is given a list ^ of the 

reptiles — lizards, snakes and frogs — as yet detected in ike 
district. Of*flie venofnous snakes, only two — Trimeregmiis 
strigatus and CaUophis nigrescens — usually ascend to the plateau, 
and they appear to be confined to the western and northern sides of 
it and to have never been met with near Ootacamund or (?oonoor. 
Trimere8uru8 anamatiensis and Anciatrocbn hypnale are common in 
the moist forest and in coffee estates on the slopes. Naia bun^^anu 
(the hill, or king, cobra) and the three species of CaUophi% are 
very ittre. Naia tripudians (the cobra), Bungarua ewrukua (the 
krait) and Vipera RusaelUi (the chain, or Russell's, viper) are 
common only about the foot of the hills. The last hHS once or 
twice been encountered uear the top of the plateau. The little 
* Echia (the carpet snake) is very numerous in rocky ground but not 

at anj height. It is doabtf ul whether the Hab/ao MUotii (Tropido- 
notus plumbioolor) is really a Nilgiri snake. Probably further 
species remain to be detected on the western slopes of the plateau. 

Bhellt. I^ Appendix V is a list ^ of the land and fresh-water shells of 

the district. The grand Helix ampulla and the fine Cyclophcrua 
Nilgiricm are only found in the moist forest on the western 
slopes at from 3,000 to 4,000 feet. Both are very rare in 
collections and of considerable value. Diphmmaiina^ Jerdama^ 
CroFpedotropiay Opiaihoaiomay Cyclophortu Shiplayi, and some 
of the Cyathop^maa, SireptaxiSy many small Helicea and some of 
the Achatinaa abound in the sh61as of the plateau. Helis 
Moileraapatana is common on the grass land there, sometimes in 
association with HeUx Nihgirica and BuUmua Nilagiricua. The 
three species of Pieroeycloa are found at or near the foot of the 
hills, and most of the Cyclophof^i in the woods on the slopes 
(Sispdra, Coonoor, and Sig6r ghits). There are very few fresh- 
water shells. Neritina Perofetiana occurs in some rivers on the 
plateau, and PalucUna Bengaienaia, Planorbia exuaiua, and Amputtaria 
glohoaa are found in tanks. 

^ Prepftred for the ori^nal District Manual by Colonel B. H. Beddome, 
then GonMrvator of Forest*, and corrooted by Mr. Thurston. The notes whioh 
follow are also the former's. 

' Also prepared by Colonel Boddomo for the original District Mmnual 
and oorreotod by Mr. Thurston. Beferenoc may also be made to the papar by 
Mawre. W. T. and H. F. Blaaford la J.A.S.B., niz (ISSO), 117-97. 



^HYBIOAt ta8GRI|>tI0K. 



46 



APPENDIX I. 



CHAP. I. 
Appendix I. 



List of the flowering plants^ feme, and fmseea found on the hills. 

DICOTYLEDONS. 
Banuhculacbx. 



Clemtitis Bmiiaoifolia, Wall, 
n Goarian*, Bomb, 
^ WighfciaiiB, Woll, 
Ntfftvelia zejlanioa, DC, 
Aaemoae rhmlftrii, flam. 



DiUeaia indioa, L, 
M braoteftta^ 



mght. 



Miohelia Ghampaca, L. 
n nilagirioa, Zmk, 



.Thaliotrnm *IaTaiiicam» Bl, 
BannnoAlus reniforiAic^ Wall, 
„ diSvuiJUh DC, 

,, Walliohianas, Wight, 



DlLLBNIACEiE. ^ 

u 

I Dillenia pentagyna, Roxb, 

Magnolxaceje. 

I Kadsnra WigbMaua, Am, 

1 



Anonaoejb. 



UTaria le/lanica, L, 

Aztabofcryi leylanioua, H. /. et T, 

Uaona pannosa, Dalt, 

Polyaltlua ooffeoides, B^nth, et Bh,f, 
„ fragrant, Benih, $t E, f, 
„ oeraaotdes, BenUh, tt B, /. 
„ KittnLU,BmUh.etH,f, 
t, tnberosa, B&nth, et JET. /. 

PlKBaathnt malabaridiw, Bedd, 



GoniothaiamM wynaadenais, Bedd, 
Milinsa indioa, Leseh, 

„ nilagirioa, Bedd, 
Sacoopetalnm tomentosnin, H, /. et T, 
Alphonsea latea, H,f. ei T, 

„ madraspatana, Bedd, 

Orophea ThomBoni, Bedd. 
Booagea Daliellii, H,f, et T. 



Menhpebmacea. 



Tiootpora malabarica, Miers, 

,, cordifolia, Miera, Tonio 
and diuretlo.^ 
AjBainirtaoocciilns, ]r.e«A. Poiaonoat; 

mad aa omiment. 
TUttooca raoemoaa, Colebr. 



Cocoulna macrocarpna, W ^ A, 
Coocnlna Tillosiia, bC\ 
Stephania rotunda, Loyyr, 

„ hemandifolia, Walp, 
Ciaaampelos Pareira, Linn, 
Gyclea peltata, H, f, et T, 



Barberis aepalpnaia, Bpr, 



BERBEKIDEifi, 

I Berberxa ariatata DC, Tonio 
I febrifuge ; yielda a yellow dye. 

PAPAYEmACEiB. 



and 



Argemone meEicaaai L, Freah jnioe need for muacnlar paina j oil of aeeda 
employed in akin diaeasea. 

' JTbia and the other notea regarding the propertiea and naea of the plants are 
ukaa from the paper oontribnted to the original Dietriet Uemual by Surgeon- 
Major BIdie, icji.» then in charge of the Madras GoTemment Ifnaenm. 



46 



TttB mtofiii. 



CHAP. L 
AFPSHiyizI. 



FrMAJUACIJL 

Fvman* parriilon, Lcmk. 



Naatnxtram offioiBale, Br, 
ibe BBst yield edibfe on 
NMtocliani indioam, DC. 
Cardamine AfrioMm, L. 



CtLVCiWEEM, 

This and 



Gardamine aaboHibellftta, Book. 

w himiU, L. 
CapaeDa Bana-paatoda, Mmneh, 
Lapidiam latiTiim, £. 



Oappaxidx^ 



Cleome monophjlla, L, 

„ ▼iieoaa / C 
Qjnandropaia penlaplijUa, DC, Jiaoe 

of leavea a rabefacieat. 
Niebiihria Unaaria, DC. 
GratoBra relig^ioaa, Forgi. 
Gadaba indioa. Lamk. ^ • 
Gapparis grandiflora, Wall. 



Gapparia seylaaioay Litm. 

difa ri e ala , Lmmk. 
« aphjDa, BotA. 
n Rosbntflui, DC. 

graadia,L./. 
,t honiday L.f. 
n tanera, Dmlt. 



Viola Patrinii, DC. 
„ aerpens. Wall, 



Coohlospermam Gosaypinm, DC, 
Soolopia crenata, CZo«. 
Flaoourtia montanay Orah. 



PiUoaporam tetraapermiiin, Wf A. 
„ nilgliireDM, W. ot A. 



yiOLACEJk 

, lonidiiun taffniiiooaBmy Otag. 

BlXINKB. 

. naoouitia tepiaria, Boab. 
I Hydnocarpna Wi^tiaaa, Hi. 
alpiiys ITif M. 

PiTTOBPOBEC 

Pilioapomm lloriViuuhim, W. ot J 



POLTGALCC. 



Poljgala arillata, Horn, 
javana, DC. 
lepUlea, DO. 
peraicarinfolia, DC. 
eriopteA, DC. 
eloogata* KUin. 



Sileue galUoa, L. 
CanMtiam indioum, W. et A. 

„ Tiilgatam, L. 
Stellaria panioalata, Mdg, 
8tellaria aliginosa, L. 



I Poljgala ohinenais, L. 
I „ sibtrioa, L. 

I M telei^ioidet, WUld. 

Salomonia oblongifolia, M. 
I Xanthopiijlliun flaveaoeas, Sodb. 



CABTOPHTLLB.f:. 



Arenaria naeigerreuna, H'f A. 
Spersfola arvensis, L. 
Drrmarta cordate fVilld. 
Poljcarpisa apicala, W it A. 



POBTULACAOBiC. 



Portolaca olemcea, L. Learea of tliii | Portnlaoa WighUaoa, WoU. 
and tha nest are eaten aa greeni. I Talionm onneifoUam, ffiUd, 



Blaiina amarkaaa, Amt. 
Bergia ammaa»ioidea» Moot. 



Klatihbjb. 

Bergia tarfcioaUalA^ WiUd. 



PHTiiqAL DttomrrioK. 



47 



Hypvbiciiiba. 



Hjparionm myfloreiuse, B9yn$, 
M Hookeriaanm, IF. «t A, 

n kamifiuiiiii, Xr. 



Hyperioam napanleafe, Ohoi^, 
„ japonioan , Thwifh. 



CHAP. I. 

Appendix I. 



GUTTIFBBil. 



QaraittiA Gainbogia, D9sroM8$. Thit and 
the next yield gamboge, a drattio 
porgatiTe and pigment. 

Oarciaia MoreUa, Desronas. 
„ ovalilolia, HboJk/. 



Calophyllam tomeniotom, W. • 
Galophyllnm Wightiannm, Wall. 

„ Walkeri, Wight. 

MesnalPerrea, Lkm* 
Poecilonenron indioam, Sedd. 



TBBNSTBdinACBiE. 



Ternatrtmia japonioa, Thwnb. 
Eurya j^ooloa, Tkwib. 



Gordonia obtasa. Wall. 



DiPTBBOCABPEJB. 



Dipiarooarpna iurbinatiis, Oceri. The 
gnxjon balaam ; oil naed in leproty. 
AneistrocladiiB Ueyneanus, WoU. 
Vatioa Boxbnrghiana, Bl. 
Bborea Talura, Rowb, 



Hopea parviflora, Bedd. 
H Wightiana, Wall, 
„ Malabarioa, Bedd. 

Yateria indioa, X. Yields 
dammer allied to oopal. 



white 



MAtYACBiE. 



Malvaveriioaiala, I. 
Stda hnmiUt, WOld. 
„ myiorenma, W. ei A. 
„ ipiaoia, £. 
„ oarpiaif <dia, L. 
^ rhombilolia, £. 
„ oordtfolia, X. 
Abntikm asiationm, O. Don. 
„ indioam, Q. Bon. 
„ gniTeolenat W. •< A. 
rt crivpsn, Q, Don. 
„ neilgherrense, Ifimro. 
Hrena lobatA, X. 
„ sinnata, X. 
„ repanda, Bo^. 
PftToniaglecliomifoliay <<i. Hiek. 

„ odorata, WilU. 
Decaachlstia trilohata, Wight. 



StowOia fcetida, L. Seeds yield oil 

aad are eaten ; bark aperient, 
iterealia nrena, Rowb. 
TiUoaa, Bo&b. 
„ guttata, fioab. 
„ eolorala, ffoc6. 
H«lioterBtI«)ra«X. 
PWroqpermum Heyneannm, Wall, 



Decaachiatia crotonif olia, W. et A. 
Hibiscus Solandra, L'Ber. 
canescens, Beyne. 
lunariifolius, Willd, 
pandorsBformis, Bi*rm. 
vitifolins, X. 

cannabinns, X. Deocan 
hemp ; yields good fibre. 
„ angnlosus, Moat. 
Thespesia Lampas, Dais, and Oihs. 
Kydia calyoina, Boah, 
Bombaz malabaricnfh, DC. Gam 
astringent ; frail yields silk-cotton. 
Eriodendron anfractnosnm, DC. 
Ovaries used as condiments ; yield* 
gum and silk-cotton. 
Gallenia excelsa, Wight. 



Stkbculiacbas. 

Pterospermnm glabresoens, TY. ef il. 
£riol89na Hookeriaoa, W. et A. 

„ qninqtielooiilaris, Wight. 
Melhama ino«na, Beyne, 

„ cannabina, Wight. * 
Meloohia corohorifolia, X. 
Waltheria indioa, L. 
Leptonjohia moaonrroides, Bidci. 



48 



THS NILOIHIt. 



OHAP. I. 

Appbndix I. 



TlLIAC£JB. 



Or&wia colamnaris, Sm. 
„ emarginata, W,9t A. 

tf * popnlif olia, Vahl, 
„ salvifoHa, H^yne, 
„ orbicnlata, BotU. 
„ tilifBfolia, VafU, 
i, pilosa, Lam, 
„ villoia, WUld. 
„ mnltiflora, Juas. 
„ Issrigata, Vahl, 

,, abatilifoli», Juss, 



Triaanfetta piloca. Both. 

„ rhomboidea, /acq. 

f, rotnndifolia, Lam, 

Corchoraa olitoriiu, X. 

„ triloonlarii, £. 
ElflBOoarpiia oUoagns, Omrtm, Kersela 

of BMdi are eaten like aliaimde. 
ElBDOoarpiie taberoolatoa, JSocb. 
„ mgosDi, Xioad. 

ferrogineiiBy Wight, 
„ Monronii, McM, 



LlNBA. 



Limun mjiorense, Beyne, 
Eeinwardtia trigyna, Planch. 



Hugonia Mjttaz, I. 
Sjrythroxylon monog^nan, Boub. 



MALPieHIACBiC. 

Hiptag^ Madablota, Omrtn, 



Gkkaniacjli. 



Geraniam nepalente, 8w, 
Osalis oomionlata, Limn. 
Biophytam poljphjUum, Mwnro, 
Impatiens aoanlit, AmoU, 

„ Beddomei, Hk,/. 

„ Leying^ei, OtmbU, 

„ modetta, Wight. 

„ DeniBonii, B$dd. 

t, Lawsoni, Bh,/. 

„ orohioidei, B$dd. 

„ Jerdonifls, tFighi, 

„ ohinenais, X. 

„ diTersifoliH, Wight 
Kleinii, W. ^ A. 

„ tenella, Heyne, 

,, inoonspioaa, Benth, 



Impatiens oppositjfolia, . 

„ tomeatota, Begm, 

„ GardneriaBa, Wight. 

„ Letohenanltii, Wail. 

UUfolia, X. 

M onapidbta, Wight, 

„ floribnnda, Wight, 

„ ladda, B§yi^, 

„ soabrimonla, flisy»«. 

„ daayaperma^ Wight. 

,. Munronii^ Wight, 

„ Heniloviaaa, ^m. 

M frnticoea, DC. 

M oampannlata, Wight. 

,, Qonghii, Wight, 

n macolata» Wight, 



RVTACRJl. 



Brodia Rozbarghiana, Benth. 
Melioope indica, Wight. 
Zanthozylun OTalifoliam, Wight. 
t, tetraspermnm, W.9tA, 

„ Rhetaa, DC. 

Toddalia aonleata, P«rf. Roota yield 

yellow dye and their bark is a iMma- 

laat and febrifoge. 
Aoronychia Uarifoh'a, SI. 
Glyooamis pentaphylla, Corr, 
Murray a exotica, X. 
Clansena WilldeaoTii, W f A, 
Limoaia«-aoidiMima, I. A very aoid 

Ume. 



Idmonia alata, W. €t A. 
LuTonga eleatheraadra, DmlB. 
Paramignya monophylla, Wight 
Atalantia monophylla, Oorr. 
,. raoenuMa, W. 9t A. 
M oeylanioai Oltv. 

Citrus Aurantium, X. The orange. 
Feronia Elephantnm, Corr. Pulp i* 

eaten; half-ripe fruit aeMngent. 
JBgle Marmeloa, Cvrr. BaeJ-froit; 

green fruit used in dysentery ; ria<i 

yields yellow dye. 



SiMAlirBBJI. 

Ailanthna eioels% 2006. 



PHT8I0AI. DBflOBimOK. 



49 



Oohaa aqnanosa, X. 

Botwellia semta, Rwtb. 
Garn^a pinnatay BO06. 
BftlflMnodenditm Berryi, Am, 



OCHNAOKJE. 

I Gomphia angnstifolia, Vahl. 

BUBBERACEJB. 

Protiam oaudatain, W, et A, 
Canarium ■triotom, Boxh. 



CHAP. I. 
Appxndu I 



Meliacea. 



Xaregamia alata, W.et A. 

lloBroilia f^alliohii. Wight. 

Melia Aiadtraohia, Z. Hargosa ; seeds 

jrield oil. 
Melia Aied»raoh, £. Leares oontain 

green ooloorizig matter. 
Cipadeata fratiooea, Bl, 
Djunylum malabarioam, Bedd. 
Aglaia Boxbnrghiana^ Miq. 



Lansiam anamalayaanm, Bedd» 
Amoora Bohitnka, W. ei A. 
Walsnra pisoidia, Boaib. 
Heyneg trijnga, Boafi, 
Beddomea indioa, Book /. 

,, simplicifolia, Bedi. 
Soymida febrifaga, Adr. J%a$, 
Gfaiokraseia tabularis, Adr, Juts. 
Cedrela Toona, Boxh, 
ChlorozylA Swietenia, DC, 



Chailletiacejb. « 
Cbailletia gelonioidesi Hook /. 



OlaxWighftiaiia, TToZ/. 
CtBSjera Rheedii, GHmH. 
Opilia amentaoea, Bo*h. 
Gomphandra aziUariBf W»U, 
• ,, polymorpha, Wight. 



Hex malabarioa, B^dd, 
^ denticalata, Wall, 



Olacineje. 

Apodytes Benthamiana, Wight. 

„ Beddomei, Jfa^f. 
Mappia foetida, If iert. 
Saroostigma Kleinii, W, Bt A, 

iLICINEJE. 

Ilex Gtardneriana, Wi(thi, 
„ Wightiaua, Wall, 



CELASTBINIiB. 



KuoAymna indicns, Heynt. 
tt orenulatue, WaU. 
„ serraiifoliiis, Bedd 
„ angnlatne, Wight, 
GljFlopetaliLm grandiflorum, Bedd, 
Mierotropia latifolia, Wvfht. 
„ ramiflora, Wight 

denaiflora, Wight, 
„ miorooarpa, Wight, 

,. ovalifolia, Wight, 



Lophopetalum Wightianum, Ami, 
PlenroatyHa Wightii, W, et A, 
Celaatrns panioalata, WUld. Oil of 

seeds used in J>eri-beri. 
Gymnoaporia emarginata, Both, 

„ montaiia, Boxb, 

Elseodendron glanoum, Pert, 
Hippooratea obtosifoiia, Boxh. 
Salacia prinoidea, DO, 

„ oblonga, Wall, > 



Branneji. 



Ventilago madraapatana, Qmrtn, Boot- 
bark a Talaable dye. 
Vfltttnago bombaienaia, Bait, 
Zityphns Jnjnba, Zamk, The jnjnbe- 

frnit; bark naed by dyers. 
Zisyphas glabrata, E9yne, 
„ nanumilaria, W, el A, 
n (Enoplia, MUU 
xylopyrna, WiUd, 
1 



Ziayphns inourva, BotA, 
,y horrida, Roth, 

„ mgosa, Lamk, 

Bhamnas Wightii, W, et A. 
Soutia indioa, Brongn, 
Sageretia oppositifolia, Brongn, 
Colabrina aaiatioai Brongn, 
Gonania miorooarpa^ J),C, * 



48 



THE NILOIttlt. 



OHAP. I. 

Appbmdxx I. 



TlLIAC£iB. 



Or^wia oolumnaxifl, 9m. 
y, emftrginata, W.9i A. 

tf * popnlif olia, Vahl, 
^ salTifoUft, HityiM. 
„ orbicalata, BotU, 
„ tiliaofoUa, Fahl. 

,, * pilosa, Lam, 
„ Tillota, ITUld, 
„ multiflora, /um. 
„ IsBTigata, Vahl, 
„ abatilifoli^ /ubs. 



Trittonfetta pfloaa. Both. 

„ rhomboidea, /acq. 
,t rotnndlfolia, Lnm, 

Corohorat oUtoriat, Z. 

„ trilooiilaiia, L, 
El8BOoarpi4« oblongns, Omrti^ KarneU 

of seeds are eaten like almoada. 
Elsooarpna taberoalatoe, Bee6. 
,, ragoaaa, Bos6. 

ferrogiaeiUy Wight. 
„ MoBTomi. MaM, 



IdKMM, 



Linnm mjtoreose, Heijns, 
Reinwardtla trigjna, Plofieh. 



Hugonia Mjrttaz, L, 
Krythrozylon monogynim. 



MALnOBIACIiC. 

Hiptage Madablota, Qmrtn, 



Gk&aniaci 



Oeraniam nepalenie, Bto, 

Osalia oornioalata, Lmn. 

Biophytam poljphjUiuii, Mwnro. 

Impatiena aoanlU, Arr^tt, 
„ Beddomei, Hk.f. 
„ Leying^, OombU, 
,, modeita, Wight, 
,, DeniBonii, B^dd. 

„ LawBoni, UJk./. 
,, orohioidea, B$dd, 
„ Jerdonifls, fright, 
„ ohinenaii, £. 
„ diTonifollH, Wight, 
„ KleiDii, W, ^ A. 
„ tenella, flJBfUf . 
,, inoontpicaa, Benth, 



Impatiena oppotitifolia, . 
„ fcomentota, fleime. 

Qardnenaaa, Wight. 
„ Leaohenaiiltii, Wait. 

laUfolia, X. 
„ ooipldbta, Wight. 
„ floribanda, Wight. 
„ ladda, ff«yiM. 
It soabriotoala, fl«y««. 
„ daayaperiDa^ Wight. 
„ Munronii, Wight. 
„ Henilo^iaiia, Am. 
„ fruticoM, DC. 

oampaniilata» Wight. 

Googbii, Wight. 
M macolata, Wight. 



RVTACKJC. 



Srodia Roxbarghiana, Benth, 
Melioope indica, Wight. 
Zanthozylun OTalifoliam, Wight, 

„ tetraapermiun, W,$tA. 

„ Bhetaa, DC. 

Toddalia aonleata, P»r9. Roota yield 

yellow dye aad their bark is a ■t.ima- 

lant and febrifuge. 
Aonmyohia Uarifolia, Bl, 
Glyooamia pentaphylla, Corr, 
Marraya exotica, L. 
Clansena WilMenoyii, W f A. 
Limoaia •aeidiatima, L, A rery acid 

lime. 



Limonia alaU, W. «f A. 
ImTnnga eleatherandra, Dal*, 
Paramignya monopkyUa, Wight 
Atalantia monophyUay Oorr. 
raoemoaa, IF. a# A. 
M oeylanica, Oliv. 

Citrna Aarantiami L, The orange. 
Feronia Elephantam, Oorr. Palp i« 

eaten; half-ripe f mit aetringent. 
iSgle Marmeloa, Corr. Bael>frait.; 

green fmit oaed In dyaentery i ria<i 

yields yellow dye. 



BiMAmmJB. 
Ailanthna exoeIa% Roah. 



PHTUOAL DBSOBIPnON. 



49 



Odua aqiiMTOBa, £. 

BoswtUia lemta, Roa^. 
Ganigft pinnatft, Roab. 
BalmmodendraiL Benyi, Am, 



OCHNAOKS. 

I Gomphxa angnitifolia, Vahl. 

BUBSEBACEJB. 

I Protiiuii oaudatam, W. et A, 
GanariTim Btriotam, Boxh. 



CHAP. I. 
Appkmdxx I 



MELIACEiE. 



Naregmmia alata, W.et A. 

ManroBia V^alliohii, Wight. 

Melia Axadiraohta, £. Margosa ; seeds 

yield oil. 
Melia Aiedsraoh, X. LeaTee contain 

green oolooring matter. 
Gipadessa fratiooea, BL 
DywnyliLm malabarionmi Bedd. 
Aglaia Bozbnrgbiana, Ift^. 



Lansiam anamalayannm, Bedd» 
Amoora Bohitnka, W, et A. 
Watsnra piscidia, Bostb. 
Hejneg trijnga, Boa^. 
Beddomea indioa, EbSk f. 

ft simplicifolia, Bedd. 
Soymida febrifaga, Adr, Jusa, 
Gfaiokrassia tabularis, Adr, Juts, 
Cedrela Toona, Boxh. 
Chlorozyljk Swietenia, DC. 



GRAlLLETIAC&fi. , 

Cbailletia g^lonioides* HooTc f. 



OlttWightiaBa, VToU. 
Caasjera Rbeedii, Omel. 
Opilia amentaoea. Bosh. 
Gompbandra azillariB, Wall, 
* „ polymorpha, Wight. 



Bes malabarica, Bedd. 
n denticnlata, Wall, 



Olacikem. 

Apodytes Benthamiana, Wight, 

„ Beddomei, Mtut. 
Mappia foetida, If tert. 
Sarcostigma Kleinii, W, et A. 

iLICINEJE. 

t Ilex Gardneriana, Wight, 
I „ Wightiaua, Wall, 

Cblastrinia. 



Knoaymni indicu, Heyne, 
„ orennlatne, WaXl. 
„ serraiifolins, Bedd 
„ angnlatne. Wight, 
Olyplopetalnm grandifloram, Bedd, 
Miorotropis latifolia, Wight, 
^ ramiflora, Wight 

denaiflora, Wight, 
„ miorooarpa, Wight, 

^ ovalifolia, Wight, 



Lophopetalum Wightianiim, Ami, 
PlenroBtylia Wigbtii, W. et A. 
Gelastrns panionlata, Willd. Oil of 

seeds used in J>eri-beri. 
Oymnosporia emarginata, Both, 

„ montajia, Boxh. 

BIsBodendron glanonm, Pere. 
Hippooratea obtnsifolia, Boxh, 
Salaoia prinoidesi DO. 

„ oblonga, Wall, - 



Bhamneje. 



Veniilagoniadnspataoa,C9^»rlH. Boot- 
bark a Talnable dye. 
Ventilago bombaiensis, Dais, 
Ztsyphns Jnjnba, Lamk, The jnjnbe- 

frvit ; bark niied by dyers. 
Ziiyphtis glabrata, Heyme. 
„ nammnlaria, W. et A. 
n CEnoplia, MUU 
„ zylopyran, WiM. 



ZiayphuB incurya, Bo«6. 
,9 horrida, Both, 

„ mgosa, Lamk, 

BhamnQS Wigbtii, W, et A, 

Soutia indioa, Brongn, 

Sageretia oppositifolia, Brongn. 

Colubrina asiatioa, Brongn. 

€k>nania miorooarp% D.C. * 



60 



THB NILOIRU. 



OHAP. I. 
ArPMoix I. 



AMPKLIDSil. 



Vitii qaadran^laris, Wall, 

„ repens, W.et A. 

,t diapolor, DaU, 

„ adnata, Wall. 

„ tomeatosa, Heyne, 

, latifolia, Roxb, 

t iniica, L. 



7itia Bheedei, JF^^tA, 
„ himalayana, Brumd, 
,, anrionlata, Bomb, 
„ lanoeolaria, R<mh, 
„ pedata, Fahl, 

Leea maorophylla» B<mp6. 
„ aambiioiiia, Willd. 



SAPINDACBiC. 



Cardiospermum Halioacabnm, L. 
„ cai)^8ceD8, Wal^. 

Hemigyrosa deficiliiis, BecM. 
Eriogloasum edale, BL 
Allophyllas Cobbe, Bl, 
Sohleiobera trijnga, WiUd, 



BapindiiB erectns, Hi$m, 
Nepheliam Longana, Camk* 
Harpnlia onpanoidet, Rnmb. 
Dodoncea Tisooaa, Lmm, 
Torpina pomifera, DC, 



Bfelioima pungens, Wall. 
,f simplioifolia, Roxb, 



Sabiacbjb. 

Maliosma Amottiana, mght. 



ANACAmDIACBAB. 



Bhiis mysoreiiBis, Heyne. 

Mangifera indica, X. 

Bnehanania latifolia, Romb. The 

Cnddapah almond} bark uied bj 

djert and iannen. 
Odina Wodier, Boxh. Bark need in ikin 

diMates. 



I Semeoarpoi Anaoajrdinm, £. Joiot of 
, nnt used with lime a« marUnf-iKk . 
Holigama Grahamij, Hoek, /. 
Holigama longifolia, Both, 
Nothopegia OolebrooUana, B/. 
Spondias mangifera. Pert, 



CoHNAmACIJi. 

Gonnarai monooarpos, L, 

Lboumznomb* 
Bnb'Ordf fa^Uonae$m, 



Crotalaria biflora, X. 

,, hnmiftita, Orah. 

y, aoicnlaris, Ham, 

„ evolvnloidei, Wight, 

„ robiginosa, WiUd. 

^, „ Tarieties, toab- 

rella and Wightiana. 
hirta, WiUd. 
,, mysorentiie, Roth, 

,, albida« Heyne. 

„ nana, Btirm. 

^ Unifolia, L. 

„ teota, Both, 

,, oalyoina, Sehranh. 

• tpeoiota, Heyne, 
„ dnbia, Oh'ah. 



Crotalaria retaaa, X. 
„ aerioea, Beit. 

„ Leschenaaltii, DC, 

„ lormoea, Orah. 
„ barbata, Orah. 

longipee, W, f A. 
„ Terrftooaay X. 
„ semperiiorene, Vent* 
„ Janoea, X. 

M obteota, Orak, 

„ madnreuii, Wight, 

„ f nlvai Be«6. 
„ pnloherriaa, Both . 

Notonii, W, f A. 

olarata, W. # A. 
„ lobnmifoUa, X 



PftTBICAl DKSOKIFTtON. 



51 



LsouMi SOBM — eont, 
Sub'Ord0r Papilionacem — bont. 



CHAP. I. 
Appendix I. 



Trifofium repena, L, 
Panwheiiis oomouiDiv, Hamik, 
loiigafera oardifoli», Htyne. 
„ esneaphyllft, X. 
nniflora, HamUt. 
,. pentophylla, L. 
„ fiieosa, Lam. 

tmraifoUa, BoUl. 
padioelkta, W. * A. 
Aiibiilata, Vahl. 
„ parrifloTS, Eetfne, 
., urgentes, X. ^ar. ccerulea. 
pnlchella, RosA. 
Psoaka corylifolia, L, 
MflMa aplendeiiB, IT. # ii. 
Kimdulea Baberoaa, Benth. 
Tephroata oaSophyllA, Bedd, 
„ iinotorU, P^s. 
„ pnrpniea, Ptra, Tar. puioila. 
,, vflloaa, Par«. Tar. inoana. 
Qeinapaia eriaUtft, W.fA, 
Zoraiadiphylla, P«r«. 
Saiiihia aetulosa. Vol*. 
„ gramliB, B^nih, 
oapilata, Dab. 
blanda, Wall. 
Laplodeaada congeata, Benth, 
Pjroaoapoira hedjaarioidea, fi. Br. 
Pieodartliria wcida, W. ^ A, 
Aljaiearpaa monolifer, DC. 

„ ymgioMUM, DC. var. nam- 

mmlari-folioa. 
M nigoeiiay i>C. 
,. n ^u:. f l^raoifolina. 

„ belganmenaia, Wigh. var. 
moemonui. 
Oagetni* dalbergioidea, B^nih, 
DeamodiDiii Oepbalotea, WM. 
triqneinim, DC, 
Scalpe, DC. 
latifolimn, DC. 
Wightii, Grah. 
nifaaoena, DC. 
poljoarpuniy DC. 
hoterophyUum, DO, 
gyrans, DC. 



AbroB preoatorins, £. 
Shnteria -veatita, W* ^ A, 
Dnmaaia villoaa, DC. 
TeramnuB labialis, 8pr, 
Muoana monosperina, DO. 

„ giganteft, DC. 
Erythrina indioa, Xom." 
„ stricta, Rowh. 

„ 8nberoa%fio«&. 
Galaotia tenniflora,^. §■ A. 
SpatbolobuB Bozbnrghii, Benth. 
Bntea frondosa, Boxh. 
Ganavalia ensif ormiB, DC , 
Pneraria tuberosa, DC. 
PhaBeola8*DS«ngo, £. 

„ trinervinB, Heyne, 
Yigna Vightii, Benih. 
Clitoria Teniatea, L. 
Dolichoa oiliatnB, Klein. 
„ falcatoB, Klein. 
Afcyloeia Candollei, W. ^ A. 
„ albioauB, Benih. 
rngosa, W.^A. 
„ BoarabaBoides, Ben$h. 
Dnnbaria ferrnginea, W.§r A. 

„ Heynei, W. f A. 
CyliBta soariosa, Ait. 
HhysohoBia fiUpea, Benih. 
„ minima, DC. 
,, velntina, Wf A. 

„ serioea, Spanoghe. 

Flemingia Grahamiana, W^ A, 
„ oong^Bta, Bomb. 
„ veatito, Benih Tar. nilgheri- 



Dalbergia latif oli», Bomb. 
„ lanoeolaria, L. 
n panioolaia, Bomb. 
PierooarpuB MarBapiam, Boxh. 
Pongamia glabra, VenU 
Derria acandens, Benih. 
„ oblonga, Benih. 
Sophora glaaoa, Lesch. 

„ beptaphylla, Lmn. 
Calpurnia anrea, Baker. 



Sub-Order CmMlpimm. 

Ceaalpinia Niiga, Aii. I Pterolobinm indicnm, Rich* 

„ mimoaoidea, Lam. Poindana elata, Linn. 

Meaoneamii ononllatiim, W^ A, I Wagatea apicata, Dala. 



52 



THE HlLGIfttS. 



GHAP. I. 
Appinoix I 



GaMia Fistula, Linn. 

„ ocoidentalis, Linn. 

„ aarioulats, Linn. 

„ tomentoM, Linn, 

1, fliontana, Heyne, 

M timoriensit, DC. 

,t pamila, Lam, 

„ Kleinii, W. f A. 

„ mimoBoides^ L. 



„ „ " var. Walliohiai\a. 

Hardwiokia binata, BosA. 



Leo miNOiiJE— eoiU. 
Sub'Order Cmsalp i nim cont. 

HardwioVia pinnata. Bomb. 
Tamarindas indioa, L, 
Hnmboldtia Bnuionia, Wall, 
„ TahUaiia, Wtght, 
Baubtnia racemota* Lam%. 
* malabarioa. Bomb, 
yBhm,WfA. 
pboenioea, Heyn€, 
, purpurea, Linm, 
, rariegata, Linn, 



I 



Xylia dolabriformiB, Benth, 
Eutada soandeiiB, Benih*. 
ProBopiB spioigera, Linn, 
Diobrottaobyt oiaerea, W f A, 
MimoBa mbricauliB, Lam. 
Aoaoia arabioa^ WiVA, 
„ lenoopbloea, WiUd. 
„ Sandra, DC, 
„ ferroginea, DC. 



Parinariimi indioiim, B^dd, 
Hyg^enm Wigbtianum, Bl, 
Hnboa molnooanoB, X. 
, elUptioaB, Sm. 

lanooarpm, ^i. 
„ raoemoBDB, Bomb. 
Fragaria indioa^ Andr. 

„ nflgerrensls, Behldl. 



firjopbyllnm calyciniiiii, BaUth. 
KalaDcboa grandi flora, W,^ A, 



Drosera Burmaani, VaUl, 
„ indioa, L, 



Sub'Order Mimo$m. 

Aoaoia InBtia, WiUd. var. oaeaia. 

„ pennata, WiUd, 
AlbisBia Lebbek, Benih, 

„ odoratiBBima, Bonih. 

„ prooera, Bonth, 

„ Btipalata, Boiv. 

„ anara, Boiv. 
Pitbeoolobiam doloe, Banih, 

bigeminnm, Bonth, 

BoSACBiE. 

PotoDtilla LeaohonaiiltiaDa, 8mr> 
n Kleiniaoa, W, # A, 
„ Bnpina, Linn, 

Alobemilla indioa, Gardn, 

Roaa LeBobeDaultiana, W.f A. 

Pbotinia Undleyaiia, W, f A, 
„ Notoniaaa, W. f A. 

OotoneaBter bozifolia, WaU, 

Saxifkagaoms. 

Wigbtjana, WM. 

OlASSVLAOlJ!. 

I Kalanoboe laoiniata, DC. 

DtOSEBACBiE. 

I DroBora peltata, Sntith. 



Kerpicnla tDdioa, Thir, 
IfyriopbylluiD iDiermediiiiii, DC, 



flALOBAGBiB. 

I Calliiriobe Btag oaliB, Scop. 



Bbiiopbobbjb. 
Oarallia intogerrima, DO, 



PHYSICAL DBSORIFTION. 



53 



GOXBBBTACBA. 



TermiiiaUft Gktapp*, L, 
„ belerioft, Roxb. 
„ Ghebnl*, BetM, 
„ Aijana, Btdd, 
„ tomentoM, Bedd, 
„ ponicnlata, Both, 



Anogeissns laiif olia, WeUL 
Combretnm oTalif olinm, Boxb, 

„ exteotnm, Boxb. 

Qttisqnalis malabarioa, Bedd. 
Gyrooarpns Jacqaini, Roxb, 



CHAP, !• 
Appendix L 



Mtbtaoejs. 



Piidinm OnyaTa, X. 
RkodoBjrtiis tomentosa, Wight. 
KafSDia Mimroiiii, Wight, 

„ bemitpfaerioa, Wight. 

„ lota, Bttm. Tar. panciflora. 
Araottiana, Wight, 

„ Wightiana, Wight, 

„ leylaaioa, Wight. 

,, montana, Wiffht. 

„ caiyopbyUaea, Wight. 



Eugenia reToluta, Wight. 

„ oalophyllifoliB, Wight. 
„ mabibarioB, Bedd. 
„ Jambolana, mihJe. 
„ braoteata, Boab, 
„ argentea, B$dd, 
„ Mooniana, Wight. 

Barringtonia raoemosa, Bl 

Careya arbofiMur Roxb. 



Melabtomaceas. 



Otbaokia cupiilaris, Don. 
aipera, Bl, 
Wightiana, BmUh. 
„ Leaoheiianltiaiia, DC, 
„ Wynaadensis, 0. B. Clarke. 
Mebatoma malabatbrioiuii, X. 
Sooerila speoioaa, Zmik. 



Sonerila grandiilora, Wall. 

„ eleganfl, Wight, 

„ versicolor, Wight. 

„ Wallicbii, Bmm, 
MediniUa Beddomei, 0. B. Clarke. 

„ malabarioa, Bedd. 
Memecylcn edule, Bo»b, var. typioa. 



JiTTHBACEJB. 



Woodfordia floribiinda, SaUeb, 
LagentvoBmia parriflora, Botif, 



JoHiea ■ufEratiooes, L, 
Lndwigia proBteata, Bocb. 



Lagerstrcemia lanoeolata, WaU. 
,, Flofl— Begin», Beta. 



ONAOftACBA. 

Circada alpina, Wight. 



SAMTBACEiB. 



Oiksearia escnlenta, Roxb. 
„ tmnentoaa, Boob, 



Pawi6ora Lesohenavltii, DC, 



Tnohon&theB palmata, BO06. 
Gymnopatalam Wigbtii, Am, 
Uiaaegypttaoa, ITitt. 
Homotdioa dioica, Rosth. 
Cnomnis pobeaoenB, WUld, 
CitraUu Golonynihia, Schrad. 
Cepbabodra indioa« Namd, 



I Caeearia Wynadensis, Bedd, 
I Homalinm zeylanionm, Benth, 

PASSIFLOBEiB. 

I Modeooa Wightiana, Wall, 

CUCUBBITACBJS. 

Bi'jonia laoiniosa, L. 
Mnkia aoabreUa, Am, 

„ leiosperma, Thw, 
Zebneria Baneriana, Sndl, 
Ctenolepis Garoini, N<md, 
Zanonia tndioa, X. « 



64 



tAn iriLGiftn. 



CHAP. I. 

AmiTDIZ I. 



BlOOllIACBX. 



Begonift falUz, A, DC. 
' „ orenats, Dryand. 



Mollnpo Spergula, L. 



Begonia subpelUt*, Wight 
n^alabarioay Lamk, 



Datiscijb. 
Tetrameles liEidiflora, B.Br. 

TiCOIDIJC. 

I Oisekia phamaoeoid^a, L. 

c 

Umbillifbbjk. 



Hydrocatyle javanica, TKmmb. 

„ oonferta, Wight. 

„ TOtnndi foUa» Bo»b. 

Saiiioula enropesa, L. • * 
finplennun plaQtaginifolium, Wight. 

„ mvoronatam, W, ^ A, 



Bupleiiniiii dittiohophyllwB, W, # As 
Pimpinella Leaohefiaiiltii, JK. 

OaodolleaiUK W. f A. 
Heradeiim Hookarianam, W.fA, 
rigena, IToll. 
M Sprengelianam, W, # A. 



Araliacxje. 



Aralia malabarioa, Btdd. 
Peatapaaaz Leaohenanltii, Stem. 
Poljtoiai aoaaaiiiata, Far§t. 
Heptaplenmm rottratum, BML, 



Alangivm Lamarokii, Thw, 



Hepiapleamm racftmoraiB, B^dd. 
■toUatam, gmrH. 



COftNACBJB. 

I M aaturia arborea, C. B. CUrkt. 



OAFEirOLlACBA. 



Vibarnimi punotaluD, Bam. 
„ ooriaoeuai, Bi. * 
,, hebantbaiq, W.fA, 



AnthooepbalnB Gadamba, Miq, 
Adina oordifolia, Book.f, 
Siephegyne panrifolia, Korth. 
Nanolea purpurea, Bomb. 
Hymenodictyoii exoeUam, WaU. 
„ oboTatvm, Wall. 

Wendlandia Notoniana, WaU . 
1>eiiteUa repent, Font. 
Argottemma oonrtalleBte, Am. 
NeorooalTzWigbtU, Am. 
FergiUKmla lejlanioa, Hook, /. 
Hadyotia f mtiooaa, L. 
• ttyloaa, Br. 
arlioalaria, Br. 



I yibiiniiiin erabeaoens, Wall* 
' Loaioera Leaobenaaltii, WoU, 
„ ligoatriBa, Wall 



BUBIACBiB. 



Hedyotii pminosa, W,f A. 
hiraniiaiiiiia, BaULf 

„ vertioiUaria, W f A. 

„ LawaonisD, W.^ A, 

„ Anrioularia, £. 

„ nitida, W. # A. 
Oldenlandia Heynii, Br. 
„ aspera, t>C. 

Anotia Leaohenaultianat W,f A* 

„ Bbeedii, ir.^l. 

„ foetida, Dalf . 

„ Wigbtiaoa, Wall. 

„ monoaperma, W. f A, 



PHT8I0AL DSi(»IFnOK. 



5» 



Bpbiacmji •g||#. 



OphiMriiiia Mniigot, L, 

argtmiea. 
,» Brimonis, W.^A, 

„ hiraatala, TFt^fct. 

Mvataeada firondoM, liinn, 
Webera ooiymboM, IFf titf. 
laoMis, Hook./. 

« ailagirioa, Hoofc. /. 
Bandiamaiiibftrioa, Landr. 

,t niffiUois, 2h«7. TftT. speoiosa. 
Gardenia Inoida, JSo«6. 

gommilerm, LJ. 

„ latifolia. Ait. 
Diiitoapora apiooarpa, Dal%, 
Knosia corTmbooa, Wikld. 

„ W%litiaiia, WdLl. 
Canthinm didjmmn, Bcxh, 

„ nmbellatiua, WighU 

M neil^errenae, WighU 

., Rheedii, DC. 

It aagustifoliiiui, fio«6. 

n parriflomm, Larrik, 

Ixora lanoeolaria, Co2e6r. 

„ Nofcooiana^ Wall. 

„ paryiflora^ FoAi. 

,t aigricanaj Br. 



PaTetta indioa, h» 

hitpidula, XT. # il. 
,, broTiflora, DC. • 

n Rrunonis, WM. 
I „ Wightii, Hoo*./. 
I Morinda nmbellata, X. 
' Psyohotria oongesta, W.^ A. • 
I „ elongate, Wight. 

I ,, hituloata, W. # A. 

GharoluT ounriflora, Thw, 
Geophila reniformii, I>on. 
Laeianthilb JaokiannsJ* Wight , 
„ oiliatus, Wight, 
„ aoaminatns, Wight, 
„ YennloBOB, Wight. 
„ oapitulatns, Wight, 
Saprosma indieiyn, Daix. 
„ fragrant, Bedd. 
„ •oeylanionm, Bsdd, 
Hamilionia Baaveoleni, fioa6. 
Spermooooe Btriota, Linn, /. 
I. ooymoideB, Bwrm, 
I, hispida, L. 
[ Bubia oordifolia, X. 
' Gallon: rotandifolium. rar. javanionm 
j ,.. Mollngo, L. 
I 



OHAF. h 
hvfwxmn I* 



VALSBlANKiE. 



Valeriana Hardwiokii, Wall. yar. 

ArDotUana. 

» Hookeriani, W f A. 



Valeriana LeBohenaoltii, DC. 

9f „ yar* Bnmoniana. 



DiPBACBiB. 

DipBaouB Letohenanltii, Coult. 
GoMPoeiTJB. 



Ceniratliemm retionlatom, Benth. 
^eraonta malahariea, Hook. /. 

„ cinerea, Lest. 

„ diyergena, Benth, 

n Caadolleana, W, ^ A. 
elBBagmfolia, DC. 

„ indioa, Clarice. 

u peotinifomuB, DC. 

n arborea, Bam. 
Elephantopao 8oaber» X. 
A<leii08temma yiBOOBnin, Foret, 
Ageratom oonyaoidoB, X. 
Bichrooephala latifolia, DC. 

n ohrysanthemifolsa, DC. i 

Cyathiooline lyrata. Cast. 
OfiofeaaBadaTaapatftna, Foir. | 



Myriaotis Wightii, DC?. 
Erigeron alpinno, X. 
Oonyta Btriota, Willd. 
Blnmea neilgherrenaifl, Hook. f. 

„ hieraoifolia, DC. 

„ laoiniata, DC. 

„ virens, DC. 

ft membranaoea, DC. 

„ flexnoBa, Clarke. 
Laggera alata, SehnUa, 

„ pterodonta, Benth, 
Floohea tomentota, DC. 
Sphaoi-anthuB indiooB, X. 
Anaphalia oblonga, DC. % 

» Kotoniana, DO, 

» ariBtatft, DC. 



56 



THB NILGIBIt. 



CHAP. I. C011PO6ITJI— eoirt. 

▲ppkmdiz I. Anaphalis Wightiftn*, DC. 

"^ „ maroesoen*, Oiorke. 

„* neelgherriaiia, DC. 
GnaphaUum bypoleaoam DC, 

„ indioam, X. 

HeliohrjBom bnddleioide^, DC, 
• Wighfu, ClarU. 

« Viooa Hurioalata, Cass, 

Garpesinm oemvom, X, var. nilagiri- 

oniii. * , 

Chrytogonam heterophyllun, B^nth. 

„ Ailiottianum, Msnth. 

Xanthinm Strumarium, X. 
Siegesbeokia orientalif, X. 
Bolipta alba, Bassh. 
Wedelia nrtaonf oUa, DC, 

„ biflora, DC. , , 
Spilanthes Aomella, X. 
GloMooardia linearifoUa, Cast. 
Bideni pilosa, X. 
Gantipeda, orbioalarii, Lour, 
Artemisia parfiflora,Bo«b. 

„ vnlgariB, X. 
Gjniira nitida, DO, 
Bmilia sonohifolift, DC, 



Smilia •onohifolia, DC. vmr. Soabva. 
Nctonia grandiflora» I>0* 
Walkeri, Olmrhe. 
Seneoio nilgheryanas, DO. 

„ laTandnlnfoliiiB, DC, 

„ aazatOia, WaU, 

„ polyoephaliui, 01«rfc<. 
LeMingianiis, Oi0rft#. 

„ Hohenaokeri, H9ok. /. 

„ tenutfoliiia, Bmrm. 

„ Bdgewortbii, fleofc./. 

„ araaeosQS, DC 

„ ooiymbotns, IToU. 

„ ■oandens, Don. 

„ oaadioaiM, DO. 
Oniona Wallichi, DC. 
FolatarellH diTarioat% Btmih, 
Piorls hieraoioides, X. 
Orepia acanlia, Hook /. 
Tarazaoam ofloinale, Wigg. 
Laotaoa Hejneana, DO, 

„ haatato, DC, 
Sonohofl oleraoeiia, X. 

„ arrenuB, X. 



Gavpanulacije. 



Gampanula oolorata, WM, 
Alphonaii, WaU, 
,, falgens, Wall, 



Lobelia trigona, Roah, 

„ niootianaBfoUa, Eogno. 

„ exoelaa, XtM^ea. 
Wablenbergria graoilii, DO. 

TACCIMIACBJil 

Vaooininm nilgberrenee, Wight. \ Vaodniam Lew^henanltU. Wig^. 

EBlOACKii. 

Qanltheria fragrant iftti ma, ITaW. | Rhododendron arboreum. 8m. 



Lyaimaohia Leechenaaltii, Dahy. 
deltoidea, Wight, 



Peimulacbx. 

Anagallie arreiiBia, X. 



MTB8IHBA. 



MeaM indioa, Wall. 

Myrdne capitellaU, Wall. Tar. Laaoe- 

olata. 
Embelia Ribee, Bur^n. 
„ robimta, Rozb, 



Embelia viridiflora. Behif, 
„ Gardneriana, Wight. 

Ardiaia panoiflora, Rogna. 
„ hamiHt, Vahl. 

AnUatrophe ■erratifolia» Book./. 



Sapotack;b. 



Chryaopkyllaot Bosbarghii, Doti. 
Iflonandra OandoUeana, Wigh*, 
Perottotianai Wight. 



laonandra lanoeolata, Wight. 
[)lohopaia elUpkloai Bonth. 
llimiMopa BozbarghiaaB, Wight. 



PHTOOAL DBBCRIPTION. 



57 



BBVNAC£iB. 



DiotpTiot pinrienB, Dah, 
r, montana, Ro9b, 
», Embrjopteiis, Pera, 
oralifoUa, Wight. 
Ebenum, KcBnig. 



•^ymjilocoe spioata, ItoaEd. 

„ microphylla, Wight, 

„ Gardneriana, Wight. 

foliona, Wight. 



Diospyros sylvatioai Scab, 
I, melanozylon, Roxb, 

„ Candolleana, Wight, 
„ nilagirioa, Bedd. 
„ panionlata, Dah. 



Sttbacejb. 



Symplooos palohra, Wight, 
», obtnsa, JPgll, 

„ pendulai Wight, 



CHAP. I. 
Appsnbiz ]. 



Olbacbji. 



Jasminnm Sambac, Ait. 

„ Botilerianiim, Wall, 
„ oordifolimn, WoU, 
„ i%idniii, Zenkr, 
„ triohotomiun, H^yne, 
n breyilobam, A. DC, 
„ flezOe, VaM, 
>, oalophyllnm. Wall, 
hnmile, Linn. 

lioociera Intermedia, Wight. 



Olea glandalifera, Wcdl. 
„ polyflrama, Wight. 

liiguatTutA robust am, Bl, 
„ Walkeri, Dene, 
„ Roxbnrg^bii, Clarke. 

,, neilgherrenae, Wight, 

„ Perrottetii, AJ)C, 

„ Deoaisnei, Clarke. 

Myxopymm smilacifolium, Bl, 



Apoctnacba. 



Chilocarpna atro-Tiridit, Bl, 
CariMB CaruidaB, X. 

r, pauoinerria, A, DC, 
Haawolfia nerpentiiia, Benth. 

t. deniiflora, Benth. 
Plumeria aoatifoHa, Poiret, 
Alstonia toholaris, Brown. 

.« yenenatnt, Broum. 



Holarrhena antidysenterioa, Wall, 
TabemsBmuntana dichotoma, J^xh, 
Wrigbtia tinctoria, Br. 

t, tomentosa, Boem §r Seh, 
Beanmontia Jerdoniana, Wight, 
Chonemorpha macro pbjlla, QJ)on, 
Anodendron panioqlatum, A,DC. 
Ichnocarpus frutescena, Br, 



AsCLBPJADBiB. 



}I(5]iudea&iLi indimiB, Br, 
Hrachylapii nervosa, W. f A, 
^^^cvaone emetica, Br. 
Calotropit gigantea, Br. 
OiMnia extenta, Br, 
Hoio«temma Rheedei, Wall. 
^ jnancham alatnm, W. f A. 

»i pancifloram, Br, 

u Callialata, Ham, 
^utsoitemma Bnmoiuannm, W,^ A, 
^T^asmmA sylTestre, Br. 

It himtum,W.f 4, 

If moDtannm, Hbolk./. 
elflgBOB, W. f A, 
8 



Tylophora fasdoulata, Ham, 
„ macrantha, Hook. f. 

if Iphisia, Dene. 

„ pauoitiora, W, ^ A, 

„ t'enuis, Bl, 

„ moUiBsima, Wight. 

„ asthmatica, W,4r A, 

Dregea Tolnbilis, Benth, 
Hoya paaciflora, Wight. 
„ Wightii, Hook, f, 
„ oralifolia, W. # A, 
„ pendala, Wight. "* 

Brachystelma maculatam, Hook, /. 
Geropegia pusiila, Wight, 



56 



THB NILOIBII. 



CHAP. I. 
▲mvDiz I. 



GoMPoBXTJi^eoiii. 
Anaphalifl Wi^htiaiiA, DC, 

„ maroesoen*, Clarke, 

„' neelgherriaaa, DC. 
Gnaphalium bjpoleaoam DC, 

y, indicam, £. 

HeliohrjBam bnddleioides, DC, 

I Wighfu, Oiark9, 

Vicoft aurioalAt*, Ca»a. 
Gorpemiim oeni«nm» L, vmr, niUgiri 



Chrytogonnm heterophyllnm, Sm^ih, 

„ li^ottianam, Xenih, 

Zanihinm Strumarium, L, 
Siegetbeokia orientAlii , L, 
BoIipU alba, Hassh. 
Wedelia nrtioefoUa, DC, 

biflora, DC. , . 
Spilanthes AomeUa, L. 
Glotsooaidia linearifoUa, Cast. 
Bideni pilosa, £. 
Oeatipeda, orbionlarii, Lour. 
▲rtemiBia parfiflora,Bo«6. 

„ ▼nlgaris, I. 
Gjnnra nitida, DC. 
Bmilia sonohifolift, DC. 



Bmilia •onohi^olia, DC. var. Boabia. 
Nctonia grandiflora, DO. 

,, Walkeri, Okurln. 
Seneoio mlghexyaniu, DC. 
I „ laTandnUBfoliofl, DC. 

„ aazatilia, WaU. 

„ polycephalna, OlmHtt, 
Leaaingianni, Chrke, 

„ Hohenaokeri, Book, f, 

„ tenaifoliat, Bwrm. 

„ Edgeworthii, Hook./, 
I ,, araneovna, DC. 

I, oorymbons, WaU. 

„ ■oandens, Bon. 

„ oaadioaiM, DO, 
Onioua Wallidu, DC. 
FolutarellH divaiioat^ Bomih. 
PioriB hieradoides, L. 
Orepb acanUs, Hookf. 
Tarazaoam ofloinale, Wtgg. 
Laotnoa Hejneana, DO. 

hastata, DC. 
Soaohaa oleraoena, L, 

„ arrenaii^ L. 



OaMPANUXiACIA. 



Lobelia trigona, Bomb. 

„ niootiansBfolia, Bepio. 

M exoelaa, LoMchon. 
Wahlenbergia graoilii, DC. 



Vaooiniam nilgberrente, Wight. 



Ganltheria fragrantMma, Wall. 



Lyiimaohia LesohenAaltii, Duby. 
deltoidM, Wight. 



Oampannla oolorata, Wall. 
Alphonaii. WaU. 
,, falgent, WM. 



TAccnrucBM. 

I Taodniam Leaoheaaaltii, Wighi. 
Bbioacka. 

I Rhododendron arboreon, 8m, 

Peimulackje. 

AnagalliB arTeosis, L. 



MTBSIlflJi. 



MsDM indioa, WaU, 

MTTBine oapiiellata, Wall. Tar. Lanee- 

olaU. 
Efflbelia Ribes, Burm, 
„ robnnta, Rosh, 



EmbeUa viridiflora, Sehif. 

„ Gardneriaaa, Wight. 
Ardiaia panoifloim, fl^yiM. 

„ humilis. Vahl. 
Antistrophe Berratlfoliay Bo$k.f. 



Sapotacij!. 



Chryeopkyllam Roxbnrghii, Von, 
iKNiandra Oandolleana, Wighi, 
„ Perottetiana, Wight, 



Itonandra lanoeolata, Wight. 
Diohopsia elUpiioa, Bonih. 
Mimiiaope Rozbttrghiaaas Wight. 



PHYnOAL DBBCRIPTION. 



67 



BBIHAC£iB. 



DioflpyitM pmriens, Dah. 
M montanft, Bowb, 
«, Embrjopterit, Pera, 
n OTalifoliay Wight, 
I, EbBnnin, Kcenig. 



Symplocoe tpioatft, Bogb. 

o microphylla, Wight 

,f Oardneriana, Wight. 

foKona, Wight. 



Diospyros sylvatioa, Boxh, 
„ melanoxylon, Boxb, 
,t CandoUeana, Wight, 
tt nilaginoa, Bedd, 
„ panionlata, Dalz, 



CHAP. I. 

IPPINBU ]. 



Sttraceje. 



Symplooos palohra, Wight, 
„ obtnsa, JPgll. 

„ pendnla, Wight, 



Oleacbje. 



Janniiiiiiii Sambac, Ait, 

p BotUeriannm, Wall, 

eordifoliiim, FoK. 
t, rigidnm, Zenkr, 
n triobotomnm, Heyne. 
M breTilobum, A, DC, 
u flezOe, Vahl, 
H oalophyllam, WaXl, 

,. hnmile, Linyn. 

LiDOcien intermedia, Wight, 



Olea glandalifera, WdLl. 
„ polygama, Wight. 

Ligasfcrniift robostam, SI, 
„ Walkeri, Dene, 

„ Roxbnrghii, Clarice, 

„ neilgherrense, ^ghe. 

„ Perrottetii, AJ>Q, 

„ Deoaisnei, Clarke, 

Myxopyrnm Bmilacifolium, Bl, 



Apoctnacea. 



Chilocarpva atro-iriridit, Bl, 
CariMa Carandas, L, 

» pauoinerria, A, DC, 
RanwoUla serpentina, Benth. 

,t dentiflora, Bewth. 
Plumeria acntifolia, Poiret, 
AistODia Boholaris, Brown. 

» Tenenatni, Brawn. 



Holarrhena antidygenterioa, Wall, 
TabemsBmontana dichotoma, Boxh, 
Wrightia tinctoria, Br. 

f, tomentosa, Roem ^ Seh, 
Beanmontia Jerdoniana, Wight, 
Chonemorpha macrophylla, QJ)(m, 
Anodendron panioqlatnmj A.DC, 
Ichnocarpns frutesceni, Br. 



ASCLBPJADBJE. 



Ilomideamiis indions, Br. 

Hrachylepis nervosa, W. f A, 

Secamone emetica, Br. 

Calotropie gigantea, Br, 

Daamia externa, Br, 

Holofltemma Rheedei, Wall. 

< 'rnaochnm alatnro, W, f A. 
(I panoifloram, Br, 
„ CaUialata, Ham, 

^arooetemma Bnmoniannm, W,f A, 

Symnema lylveetre, Br, 
t. himinm,W,f A, 

,# montaanm, Hook./, 
elegatig, W, ^ A. 

8 



Tylophora faaoionlata, Bam, 

macrantha, Hook, f, 
Ipbisia, Deno, 
panoiflora, W,^ A, 
tennis, Bl, 
moUiRsima, Wight, 
„ asthmatica, W,f A, 

Dregea Tolobilis, Benth, 
Hoya paaciflora, Wight. 
„ Wightii, Hoofc./. 
„ oralifolia, W. ^ A. 
„ pendala, Wight, * 

Braohystelma macnlatun, Booh, /. 
Geropegia pnsiila, Wight, 



58 



THB NII1GIBI8. 



CHAP. I. 
Appbndix I. 



ASOLEPIADBJI — COfli. 



CeropeuiaeleganB, Wall, 
„ • taberosa, Raa^. 
„ ciliata, Wight. 
y, Deoaisneana, Wight, 



Mitreola oldenlaDdioides, Wall, 
Buddleia asiatica, Lour. 
FagTSDa obovata, Wall. 
Stryohnos oinnatnomifolia, Thw, 



Garallama afctenoaU, Wight. 
Boaoeroaia ambellata, W.% A. 
diffata, Wight. 



LOGAVIACEJE. 



StiyohnoB nux-vomioa, L. 
OiBrtnera Kcenigii, Wight. 
Qardneria ovata, Wall. 



Gkntianacka. 



Bxaonm Perrottetii, Qriseh. 
„ bioolor, Roxh. 
„ Wightianam, Am, 
„ pedanoalatam* L . 
sessila, X. 
Enicottema littorale, Bl. 
Canaoora diffusa, fir. 

,, ■eaailiflora, fioem ^ Sch. 



Cansoora deonasata, Boem f 8€K 

„ peifoliata, Lamk, 
Gentiana qaadrifaria, Bl. 
Plenrogyne ? minor, B§nth, 
Swe^ia oorymboaa, Wight. 

„ triohotoma, Wail, 
Halenia Perrottetii, Oris^h. 



BolAGIN£il. 



Cordia Myxa, L. 

„ obliqna, WiUd.^mr. Walliohii. 

9, xnonoioa, i^ofld. 

„ Bothii, Romn f 8eh, 
Ehietia Ueris, Bosb. 

» Tar. aapera. 

M oTalifolia, Wight, 



Bhabdia Ijdoidet, Mart. 
Tounefortift Heyneana, Wait. 

u xetioosa, Wight. 

Tziohodemift indiomii, Br. 
Ojnogloaaam faroatnm, WaU. 

„ deoUoulatiitn, AJX:. 



OoHTOLTDLACIjI. 



Eriojbe panionlata, BmA, 
Bi^ea hypoorateriformii, Ohoi$, 
Argyreia tiiisofoUa, Wight. 

„ apeoiOBa, Swtat. 

tt popnlifolia, Chois. 

„ pomac^ ChoiB. 

„ Leaohenanltii, Chai$, 

„ nellygherya, Ohoin, 

„ hirtata, Am. 

„ oymoaa, Bweet. 

„ ooneata, Ker. 
Lettsomia aggro ^ta, Roxb, 

,, Betoia, Bcxb. 
IpomsBa hederaoea, Jacq. 
„ digitaU, L. 



8o1nniim verhasoifoliom, I, 
„ bigeminatum, Neea, 
ff ]a)ve, Vunal, 
,, * deutionlatuin, Bl, 
„ gigantenm, Jacq. 
ft feroz, L. 



Ipomfldft Wightji, Ohoig. 

„ pM-tigzidit, I, 

„ eriooarpa^ Br, 

,t ohiyaeidM, Ktr, 

9, obioiira, Xar. 

„ Mpiaria, JTmh. 

,, Belabamdoe, Bo«m f 8ch. 

,f oampamilata, L. 

„ Tnrpethmn, Br. 

M vitifolia, 8wmt. 

„ pOoaa, 6toM<. 
GonTolvnliia flama, WWd. 
EToWoliit alalnoidaa, £. 
Breweria oordata, M, 
GnBOQta re6eza, Bo9^, 



SOLAHACBA. 



Solannm WighUi, JTma. 

„ tomun, 8w. 

,f indionm, I, 
Phyaalia pemfiana, £. 
Withania aonmifOTa, Dun. 
Datura fattaoaa, L, 



PHYStCAL DBSOKimoN. 



59 



SOBOPUULASIACEiB 



Yer fa — e m n virgatnm, Wiih, 

llasas •uroalosus, Don, 

lAamophilm hinata, Benth, 

y, hjperioifolia, Benih. 

Herpetiia Monnierw, H,B. f K, 

DopaliriiuB janceam, Ham. 

Artanema oooinmoides, Benth. 

ToTMiiA Mifttica, L, 
„ rmgntBtBctO), 
„ hirtelb^ Book./. 

Ttndellia oniBtaoea, Benth, 



lUjaanthes hyssopioidee, Benth. 
BomubTa veroxuosBfolia, Sprengl. 
Veronica Anagallisi L. * 

Bochnera hispida, Ham. 
Striga lutest, Lour. 
Centranthera procumbens, Benth, 
Sopnbia delphinifolia, G* Don, * 

,f trifidai Ham. 
Pedioularis PerrottetU, Benth. 

m 

„ seylanioa, Benth, 



CHAP. I. 
Appekdix I. 



OBOBARCHACEiB. 



JSgeoetia pedunoalata, fFaU, 
Christisonia •nbaoaalis, Owdn. 



Utricnlaria flezuosa, Vahl, 
„ ezoleta, Br. 

„ affinis, Wight, 

„ ooernlea, L. 



Ohristiionia bioolor, Oardn, 

,f neilgherrioa, Gh^rchi, 



LXNTIBVLABlBiE. 



Utricularia retioolata, Smith. 
„ bifida, L, 

„ Walliohiaiia, Wight, 

„ orbionlata, Wall. 



Gesnebaceje. 



<£Khyiiaiithii8 oeylanioa, Gardn, 
DidjmooarpQS BotUeriana, Wall. 
* „ tomentofla, Wight, 

Klngia Hotoniana, AJ)C. 



Jerdonia indica, Wight. 
Epithema carnosum, Benth, 
leylanioa. 



BlONOlfUCEiE. 



Oroj^lam indiomn, Tent, 
DolioliBiidroDe Shaiidii, S§em, 
„ oiispay Bum, 

„ anmatay CUurIf, 



StereosperiuaBi saaveoleus, DG. 

„ xylocarpnm, Wight. 

Pajanelia Bheedii, DG. 



AOANTHACEiB. 



Thimbergia fragrans, Bemb. 

„ tometosa, WM. 

„ Hawtayneaiia, Wall. 

,t mysorenris, T. Andert, 

„ Wigbtdana, T. Anders. 
Klvinuria oranata, VaM. 
Keltonia oampestriB, Br. 
Ebarmaiera glaooa, Nees, 
Cirdanthera balsamica, Beftth. 
^Jgrvp^aiik Serpyllnm, T. Andere, 

„ salioifolia, Neee, 
RoftDia patnla, Xaeg. 
Phajlopaifl panriflora, Willd. 
Ihedalaoaiithaa roieiu, T. Anders, 

IV moaUuniB, T. Anders, 

UomigTaphiB dura, T. Anders. 

i> elegans, Nses, rar. crenata. 
Steaonplioidaiii oonfertnai, Nees, 



BienOBiphoniam fiasBelliaaum, Neu, 
Btrobilaathei foliosiu, T. Anders. 

„ KunthMnns, T, Anders, 

n gouypinos, T. Anders. 

„ cuBpidatus, T, Anders, 

„ oonsangmneas, GlarJce* 

„ barbatiu, Nees, 

„ heteromalluB, T. Anders, 

„ WightianuB, Nees. 

„ pabieyensis, Clarke, 

„ neilgberrenils, Bedd, 

J, FerrottetianuB, ^ee<. 

,, Zenkerianus, T. Anders, 

3, oiliataB, Nees, 

„ deoanenB, Nees, 

J, oskudtkinB, T, A%ders. 

„ triBtis, T. Anders, 

„ anoeps, Nees. 



66 



tHR NILOIBIS. 



OHAP. I. 



ACAMTHACBJt— eoia. 



Appkndix I. Strobilanthes lapulinuB, Neea. 

„ HeyneanaR, Nees, 

«, mioranthus, Wight. 

I, papilloBns, T. Anders. 

„ luridas, Wight' 

t, boIamputtensiB, Bedd. 

♦,, atper, Wight, 

^ „ setBilif, Nees, 

„ ,; Tar. semiioides. 

yf sexenois, Nees. * 

„ homotropns, Ness. 

„ ^q^aceai, Beddf 

„ rubioundnSi T. Anders. 

„ panioalacns, T. Anders. 

, paloheirimai, T. Anderi 

„ amabilis, Clarlte. 

Blepbarit boBrhaaTi8afolia,^er«. 
Barleria PrionitiB, L. 

owpidata, Heyne. « 
involocrata, Nees. 
cristata, L. 
Btiigota, Willd. 
aitida, Nees. 
CrOBsandi'a nndaladfoUa, Saliab, 
▲a/siatia coromandelina, Nees, 
,f ohelonoidei, ^/ee$. 
„ orispata, Benth, 
AndrographiB panioalata, Nees. 
„ alata, Neea, 

,, viBOOBiila, Ikes, Tar. 

ejtplioata. 



AndrogiapbiB Neeaiana, Wight, 
BteUulata, Clorke. 
., lineata, Nees. 

yy lobfdioidea, Wi§hU 

„ ecbioideay Nees. 

HaplanthuB TertioiUariB, Nees. 

„ tentaoulatiLB, Nees. vmt, 

nilghiirensiB. 
OymnoBtacbyum oanescena, T. Andtrf. 
Lepidagathia triBenria, Nees. 
„ hyalina, Nees. 
tf . faaoioulata, Nees, 
Honotheciam ariBtataniy T. Ander$. 
Juiitioia montana, WalL 
„ Betonioa* 1, 
„ nilgberrenBis, WaiL 
,, trinerTxa, Vahl. 
„ glanoa, RotUer. 
„ WynaadensiB, WalL 
„ glabra, Kosriig. 
RhinaoanthuB oommunia, Nees. 
Diantbera leptostaobya, Benth» 
Eoboliam LinneaDam, Kwre» 
Rungia BiBparensiB, T. Amders, 
„ latior, Nees, 
„ repeiu, Nees^ var. 

purriflora, lie—. Tar. peetimto- 
PeriBtropbe bioalyoalata, Sue, 
„ undalata, Nees. 

montaaa, Nees. 



Lantana indioa, fiosb. 
Btaohytarpbeta indioa, Vehl, 
CalUoarpa lanata, L. 
Teotona graadis, £tn% /. 
Prenuia TilloBa, Olarks. 

„ purporaaaeiiB, Thw. 

,, tomentoBa, Willd. 

„ herbaoea, £o«6. 
Gmelina arborea, X. 



Vbbbenackjb. 

Omelina watioa* i. 
Yitez Negando, L. 

„ altiBBiiiia, L. f, 

„ leaoosylon, I. /. 
Clerodendron Berratuii, Sprang. 

I, infortuiatiim, Omrtn* 

Symphorema polyaadram, Wight 
Spbenodeama panioolata, CUtrU. 



Ooimum oanum, Sims. 
„ gratiBBimnin, L. 
„ BaBctnm, L. 

Pleotrantboa riTnlaris, Wight, 
„ Wtghtii, Benth. 

„ nilgbiricuB, Benth, 

„ nepetofoliaB, Benth, 

„ menthoideB, Benth. 

„ ooleoidea, Benth, 

„ ortionfolinB, BoeJc. f. 



Labiaim. 

ColeiiB barbatoB, Benth, 

„ malabarioQB, Benth, 
AniBoohilu oamoBOB, WaU, 

„ dyBophylloideB, Binih, 
,f Biifbmtioosiia, Wight, 
PogoBtomon Oardneri, Book. f. 
Patcbouli, Pelktisr. 
„ palndoBiiB, Benth. 

I ,. Wighta, Bm^h. 

„ hioIUb, Bmth. 



t&XnCAL Dl(SOBd>tlOM. 



«1 



Labiatji*— eone. 



PogotleiDOii rotondatai, Benih, 
„ fttropnrpnrensy Benth. 

,t specioeoK, Benih, 

Dytophyllft oraoi»t», Benth. 
Micromoria bifion, Benih. 
Cakmintha nmbrom, Betvth. 
Scotdkria Tiolaoea, Heffne. 
„ liTnlaris, Wiall, 
Bnmella migarie, L. 
Anisomeles ovata, Br, 

malabaiioa, Br. 
Leonnnit dbboiia, L. 
LencM wtionfolia, Br, 
ianata, BBnih. 
proeambeoB, Dm/. 
„ marmbioidet, Dettf. 
„ angolarifl, Benth, 



Leaoas pnbesceni, Benth. 

„ Buffruticosa, Benth. 

„ rosmarinifolia, Benih. * 

„ heliantbemifolia, Desf, 

„ Issnoeeefolia, Deef. 

„ eriostomai Eook.f, 

ft lamiifolia, D0^f, 

„ hirta, Spreng. 

„ oiliata, Benth, 

„ Gepbalotet, 8pr, 

„ i^laoioa, Br,^ 
Leonotis oepetsBfolia, %r. 
Gk>mpbo8temina Btrobilinum, WaU, vkt, 

Heyneana. 
Tecorinm tomentofnm, Heyne 
„ Wigbtii, Hook, f. 



CHAP. I. 
Appbndiz I. 



BcerbaaTia repens, X. 

„ ropanda, Wxlld, 



Celoiia argentea, L, 

pnlobella, Meq, 
Banaisa thyniflora, Meq. 
Allmania nodiflora, Br, 
Digera arvenoa, Foreh, 
Amarantiia panioulatas, X. 

„ oavdatna, X. 

„ gangeiioaty X. 



Plantaginij:. 
Plantago majors X. 

Ntctaqihxje. 

Puonia aonleata, L, 



Amabantaci 



Gyatbola prostrata, Bl, 

Mmm javanioa, Jues, 
9, Ianata, Juea, 
„ Monsonia, Mart, 

Aobjiantbea aspeia, L. 

„ bidentata, Bl. 

Altomantbdra sesiilia, fir. 



Chenopodiackji. 
OlieBopQdiiunambroBioides, X. | Atriplez bortensiiy L. 

POLTGONACKA. 



Polygonoiii glabram, WiUd, 
„ nunai, Bude, 
p, barbalum, X. 
„ alatoxn, Jlani. 
u BpbtDrooepbaliim, WaU. 



{ Polygonum obinense, X. 

„ strigosiim, Br. 

I „^ pedunculare, WaU. 

Bnmex nepalensit, Spreng, 



PODOBTBMONACEJC. 

Podoitemon diobotomiu, Gardn, \ Podnsiemon oli?aceQ9) Qardn, 

„ „ var. Wigbtii. 



BfigM^Walliohii, Br. 



AftiaroLOGBUOU. 

I AmMoohkindioB,X.« 



66 



tHR NILOIBU. 



CHAP. I. 



ACAMTHACaS— COlK. 



AppKNDix I. Strobilaathes lapnlions, Kees. 

„ Heyneanan, Nees, 

„ micranthus, Wight, 

„ papillo8U8, T. Andera. 

„ luridas, Wight' 

„ boIampattensiB, Bedd, 

«,, atper. Wight, 

^ „ setBilU, Nees, 

,, „' Tar. seMiloides. 

,1 sezenDis, Kees, • 

,1 homotropns, Nees. 

„ wq^oeat, Bedd^ 

„ rabionndns, T. Andtri, 

„ panioalacus, T. Andere, 

, puloherrimni, T. Anden 

„ amabilii, Clarke. 

Blepharit boBrhaaTiSBfoliay ,Per«. 
Barleria Priooitis, L, 

„ oupidaia, Heyne. « 
„ iiiToliicrata, Nees, 
, cristata, L. 
„ BtrigoM, WiUd. 
,y nitida, Nees. 
Crossandra nndoLef olia, Salisb . 
Aa/statia coromandelina, Nees. 
« „ ohelonoidet, Mees. 

„ oriepata, Benth, 
AndrographtB panioulata, Nees, 
„ alata, Nees, 

„ ▼itoosola, Nees. Tar. 

eipUoata. 



Androgiaphis Neeaiana, Wighi. 
„ atellulata, Clarke. 

., lineata, Nees. 

,, lobelioidet, WighU 

„ echioides, Nees. 

Haplanthns TertioiUaris, Nees. 

„ tentaoolatoa, Nee&. var. 

nilg^hirrenaiB. 
Oymnoetaohyiim oanesceni, T. Anders. 
Lepidagatbia trlnerria, Nees. 
„ hyalina, Nees. 

,t . faaoioulata, Nees. 
Monothecium ariBtatum, T. Amders. 
Jostioia montana, Wall. 
„ Betonioa« Z. 
„ nilgherreiiBiB, WaiL 
„ trinerTia, Vahl. 
„ glanoa, RotUer, 
„ WynaadePBiB, WaiL 
„ glabra^ Kaenig. 
RhinaoantboB oommimiB, Nees, 
Diantbera leptostaobya, Benth, 
Eoboliun Linneanum, Xum. 
Rangia BiBparenBiB, T. Anders, 
ft latior, Nees. 
„ repenB, Nees, var. 
„ pajriflora, Nees. Tar. 
Periatropbe bioalyoolata, Saft . 
„ nndalata, Nees. 

yy montana, Nees. 



VEIBXNACKJB. 



Lantana indiea, Bomb, 
Staohytarpbata indioa, V0M. 
Callioarpa lanata, L, 
Teolona prandia, Linn^ f. 
Premna Tilloaa, Clarke, 
,, pnrpuraaaena, Thw, 
,, tomentoaa, WUld. 
„ herbaoea, £o«6. 
Qmelina arborea, L. 



Gmelina aaUtioa, t. 
Vitez Neg^nndo, L. 

„ alUBBima, L, /. 

,, lenoosyloii, I. /. 
ClerodendroB aerratam, Sprmng, 

„ infortimatain, Qmrtn^ 

Symphorema polyaadrum, Wight, 
Bpbenodeama panioolata, CMka. 



Labiates. 



Ooimum canom, Sims. 
,, gratiBBiffiam, L. 
,, Banctum, L. 
Pleotrantboa liTnlariB, Wight, 

„ Wightii, Bsi^th. 

, , nilgbiricuB, Benth . 

», nepetsBfoliaa, BBnt^i. 

„ menthoidea, Benth, 

„ ooleoidea, Benth. 

,f urtiosf olina, Book, f. 



Coleoa barbataa, Benih» 

„ malabarioTiB, Benth, 
AniBoobiloa oamoaiui, WaU. 

„ dyaophylloidaa, Benth, 

,, BofEmtiooaiia, Wight, 
Pogoatomon Gardoeri, Hook. f. 

„ PaiobouU, Pelleiior. 

„ palndoaua, Bonih, 

Wightii, Bmth. 

„ moUia, BmKA. 



PtTCiaCAh OX80Bd>tlOM. 



ii 



LABiArm-^eont. 



Pogofttemoa rotnndAtot, Semth, 
„ stropnrpureus, Benth. 

,9 BpedoeoH, BnUh. 

Dyiophyll* omoiats, BeiUh, 
Micromeria biflora, BmUh. 
CalaminihA ombroM, BnUh. 
ScntelkriA vioUoea, Hwffne, 
,, riYiilftris, Wall. 

Bnmella viilgarit, L. 
AniMmeles ovata, Br, 

„ malabarioa, Br, 

Leonvnu mbiroiis, L. 
LeocM nrtionfolia, Br, 
lanatft, Bmih. 
pToonmbcDSy D9a/, 
„ marrobtoidei, D9iff. 
„ angalarif , Benth, 



Leuoas pubescens, Benih. 

Buffruticoaa, Benth, 

rosmarinifolia, Benih. * 

helianthemifolia, Desf, 

Issnoeaefolia, Desf, 

eriostomai Book»f. 

lamiifolia, De^f. 

hirta, S^eng. 

oiliata, Benth, 

Gepbalote«, 8pr, 

le^lanioa, Br,^ 
LeonotiB Depetesfolia, %r. 
Gh>mphoBteinina strobilinom, Wall, vbt, 

Heyneana. 
Tecorinm tomentotnin, Heyne 
„ Wightii, Hook, f. 



CHAP. I. 
Appkndix I. 



B<BrliaaYia repens, X. 

M repanda, Wtlld, 



CeloaiA argentea, L, 

pnlsheOa, Moq. 
BanaKa Uiyniflora, Moq, 
An«»iS^ nodiiloTa, Br. 
Digara arveniis, For§h. 
Amarantu panioolatas, X. 

„ oandatai, X. 

„ gangeUonty X. 



Plantagini<e. 
Plantago major, X. 

Ntctaginxje. 

Piaonia aoaleata, X. 



AMAmANTACB4B. 



Cyathula prostrata, Bl, 

iErna J&mnioa, Juss, 
f, lanata, Jwa, 
„ Monsonia, Mart, 

AohTranthea aspora, X. 

„ bidentata, Bl, 

Aliamanthera seaailii, Br» 



GHXNOPOOIACKiK. 

CheBopodiom ambroaioidea, X. | Atriples hortensia^ L. 

POLTGONACKJS. 



Polygonnm glabram, WiUd, 
„ minaa, Hudt, 
„ barbaium, X. 
„ alatam, Ham, 
M BpbaBrooepbalam, Wall, 



t Polygonum cbinenae, X. 

„ atrigoanm, Br, 

I „^ pedanonlare, Wall. 

, Rumez nepalenaiB, Sprang, 



PODOanKONACEJE. 

Fodoatomoa diobotomoa, Gardn, I Podoaiemon oli?aceiiai Qardn, 

„ var. Wigbtii. I 



BragMi^WaUiobii, Br. 



AmiSTOLOCHUOXJB. 

I Ariafeiloohi*ixidioa,X.' 



02 



TAB NILOIRUL 



OHA?. I. 
▲ppbkdix I. 



PiPBEACEX. 



Piper g^aletam, Cos, DC. 

„ triohoBtaohyoD, Cos, DO, 

„ "bede, X. 

,, brsohystaohyum, WaU. 

„ Sohmidtii, Book, f. 

»9 nigrnmi L, 

„ attenoAtam, ITam, 



Piper HymenophjrllTiiii, Iftg. 
„ argyrophjUiim, Miq. 
„ Wigrhtii, Miq. 
„ subpoltatain, fPiOi. 
Peperomia Wightiana, Miq. 
„ dindi^olansii, Jfif. 
„ refleza, A. DUt§r, 



0HL0E4NTHACIA. 

Chlaranthna braohjttaohjnu, Bl 
« 

Mteisticbs. 



Nyristica lanrifoliai Hook./. ^ T. 
„ Farqn h ariana, Tfott. 



Myrittioa attennata, WaU. 



Laurina. 



Crjptooarya Wightiana, Thw. 
i\polloiiiaa Amottii, N«m. « 
Cinnamomiuii leyUiiioiUD, Br^yn, 
„ snlphuratiun, Nees, 

, Wightii, M9i88n. 

„ Porrottetii, Meissn. 

MaohilnB maoraatha) Nob: 
Phcebe lanceolata, ^oea. 
„ panionlata, If bom. 
Alfeodaphae lemioarpifolia, B—a, 



^ Actinodaphne salioina, JfdiMn. 

„ oampannlata, Booikf. 

„ lanata, UoisBn, 

I Lit! sea sebifera* JPtrt. 
, tt ligostrina, Nooo. 
„ oleddea, Moiun. 
„ Wightiana, Wall 
., Zejlanioa, 0. f Fr. Boos. 
Cassytba filiformit, ^. 



Pbotkacbji. 
Helioia nilagirioa, Bedd, 

Thtmilaaoes* 
Lafliosiphon eriooephalns, DcnB, 

BLJIAaNACCJE. 

ElsBagnoa latifolia, X. 

LoftANTHACEJB. 

Loranthiit intermediiia, Wight, | Loranthus 

„ ■oarrola, X. 

,, oordifoHos, Wall 

„ tomentosu, Boyno. 

,, braoteatuB, Boyno. 

„ reooTTiifi, Wall 

„ longifioniB, DoBrou$9, 

„ elaitioni, Do*roui$, 

„ neelgherreniiB, W, # il. 

SAIfTALACBJl. 



ijlifoUnt, W. # ^. 
M lageniferas, Wight 
u lonioeroides, X. 
ViBcum monoioiiiii, Beak, 
orientale, WiUd. 
orbioalatam, Wight, 
oapiteUatnm^ Sm. 
artioiilatiiin, Burm, 
Japoaioam, Thumb. 



Tbednm Wigbtianum, Wall. 
Btalalvm albiun, X. 



Oiyris arborea, WaU. 



Balawopioub. 
Balaaopbora indlM, WaU, 



PHT8ICAL DBiOBIFTlOK. 



BUPHOIBIACmB. 



Bnpborbift pjonottegU, Boin. 

„ hjperioifolia, L, 

,, pavlifera. L. 

„ TiraoftlU, X. 

„ antiqiiomin, L, 

„ trigona. Haw. 

„ helioMxypioA, L. 

„ Bothiana, 8preng» 
Bwoooocca pronif ormiB, Lindl. 
Brideli* retiua, Bpr, 
„ monUna, WiUd. 
„ stipolariB, Bl. 
CleitUniliaa oollinnB, B&iUh. 

n patalas, MubU. 

AoiepbiU exoelta. MumII 
Agyneia baooiformii, A. Juss. 
PhylkaihnB BmUi'oa, X. 

polyphylliis, WiUd, 

„ Lawii, Qrah. 

„ Sheedii, Wight. 

„ ■implex, B«<s. var. Gard- 



„ LeMhenaoltii, MueU, 

„ ftmbriatuB, IfaeU. 
^ Wightianiis, MusU. 

„ indionB, MuM. 
QloOkidion fagifoliam, Ht^. 
„ arborenm, Wight, 

„ neilghenrenie, Wight. 
„ malabariciim, Btdd. 
„ yelniinain, Wight, 
flaoggea miorooarpa, Bl. 

„ lenoopynis, WiUd, 
Bfeynia patenfl, Benih. 

„ rhamnoides, Muell. 
BaDopu qaadrangnlarii, MuM, 
Patnojiya Boxbnrghii, Walk 
HemioyQliaaepiarta, W.^A. 
„ Tfnusta, Thw. 

elata, Bedd. 
,• WighUi, Hooik./. 

Cycloatemon macrophyllni, Bl. 

Holoptoiea iategrifolia, Planeh, 
CeltUtetoaodra, Bo«6. 
„ Wightii, Planeh. 
Trema orientalls, Bl. 
Gircnniera retionlata, Thw. 
PhjrBoolilaiDjs ipiiuMia, Bureau. 
Strablvi asper, Lour. 
Pleoospermmii ■pinosnin, Tr§eul. 
I>anfteii]a iadica, Wall. 
Row DtlhoQfliv, JCi^. 



Biiehofia jaTaniea, Bk 
Aporota Lindlejana, BaiU, 
Daphniphyllnm glaaoesoens, BU 
Antidesma Ghaesembilla, Omrin. 

„ diandrom. Both. 

Baooaorea oonrtallensui, Muell. 
Jatropha Wightiana, Muell. • 
Croton malabaricns, Bedd. 

„ Klotztohianns, Wight. 
Gi-votia rottlerif ormit, Orif. 
Ottodes zeylanica, MueU. 
Blachia ftmbellaia, :ffkiH, 
,, refleza, Benth. 
„ oalyoina, Benth. 
Dimorphocalyx Lawianns, Hook.f. 
Agrosiistachys indioa, Dale, 

„ • sloiigifolia, BerUk. 
Claoxylon indionm, Baeak. 

„ * Meronrialis, Thw. 
icalypha panionlata, Miq. 

„ alnifolia, Klein. 

„ indioa, L. 
Trewia nudiflora, L. 
Mallotnf barbatiu, MueU. 

„ albns, Mudl. Tar. Ocoidentalis. 

„ marioatus, Bedd. 

„ philippinensis, Muell. 
Cleidion jaTanionm, Bl. 
Maoaranga indica, Wight. 

„ Boxbnrghii, Wight. 
Homonoia riparxa, Lowr. 

,t rettusa, MueU. 
Gelommn lanoeolatum, WUld. 
BaUospermum axillare^2. 
Tragia involaerata, X. 

„ bioolor, Mi^. 
Daleobampia Telatizia, Wight. 
Bapiam insigne, Benih. 
Bxcoeoaria orennlata, IFight, 

„ robnsta, Hook.f. 

Sebastiania Cham»lea, MueU, 



CHAP. I. 
Appikdiz I. 



Urticage.c. 

Float benghalensia, X. 

„ tomentosa, i?o«6. 

,, retusa, X. 

„ neorvosa, Both. 

„ religiosa, X. , 

„ Tsiela, Bo«5. 

„ infeotoria, BeA, 

y, maorooarpa) Wight. 

„ guttata^ jrttrf. 

,1 glomerata» Bmi6. 



64 



THE KtLOXRlft. 



OHAP. I. 
AFrMDIX I. 



UBTtCACllje— feOlU. 



Antiaris tozioaria, Lenihen. 
Artooarpus hlrtnta, lamlr. 

„ • integrifolia, Mm. /. 

„ Lakoooha» fiosb. 

Uriioa parviflora, Roth. 
fleorya interrapta, Oaud. 
Laportoa terminalia, Wight, 

„ orenalaia, OavA, 
Girardinia hetoroph jlla, Den«. 
Pilea Wightii, WML. 

„ trirenria, Wight, 
Leoanthai Wiglttlf, TTmU. ' 
PelUonia Heyneana, WML. 
Elatottema ■earile, Font. 

„ lineolatam, Wight* 

Wighm,Hook.f. 

„ ■aroQloiiiiof TH^/il. 

ProoHs IsBTigata, Blum9. 



Boehmeria malabarioa, ITmU. 
„ platn>l^yUa, Dim. 
▼arlonglariiiia. 
Chamabainia onapidata, Wifht. 
PoQioUia indioa, Oimd. 
I, aarioQlata^ Wight, 
pentandrs, Bmn. 

« tj '▼»'• 

,, Wightii, Bftm. 
oaadata, Bmm. 
„ Bennettiaiia, Wight, 
„ var. tomenioAa. 

rvt, Oaidaari. 
▼ar. q wadri a lata 
yaiebnmea intefrifolia, QoMidU 
Debregeaaia Telatina, Qamd. 
Drogaeiia diifnBO, WML. 



Blyxa Bozborghii, Rich, 



Baucivbje. 
BaUx totraapaniia, Bo0&. 

Cbbatophtllba 
Ceratophyllmn dememuD, L, 

Qnbtaobs. 
Gnetam loaadanB, Botch, 

Cycadacbji. 
Cyoaa oiroinaliat I. 

Hthdbocrabidba. 

I Ottelia alitmoidM, P«r«. 

Bubmaicniacbje. 
Borinaniiia ooDleatis, Don, 



Obchidrjk. 



ObaroniairidifoUa, Lindl. 

„ ▼•rtiotllata, Wight. 

„ Bnuioniana, Wight, 

,, LmdlejraBa, Wi^ht. 

„ Wightiana, Lindl. 
Miorottylic Bheedii, Wight. 

„ versicolor, Wight 

II n var. Inteola. 

„ orenplata, RidUy. 

Liparia Walkerien, Graham. 
„ baoba, Wight, 
,1 longipea, Lindl, 



Liparia Tiridiflora, Undk 

tf reaupinata, fitdlty. 
Dendrobiam Haoroi, Lindl, 

miorobnlboD, A, Rich. 
barbatnlum, Lindl. 
Jerdonianam, Wighi, 
maoroataoh jnm, LindL 
aqaenm, Lindk 
Bnlbophylliuii albidnin, Hook./. 

„ fnaoo-porpiueaiii, Wight. 

„ nflghermiae, Wigh^ 



PHY8I0AL DB80BIP310N. 



66 



Orchidejb— con<. 



BvIbopbjDiiA iremulun:, Wight. 
CiTThopetalam nilgherrense, Wight, 
^ Gamblei, Hook, /. 

», Thomtoni, Hook, /. 

„ acntiflorom, A. Rich. 

CbryBogloMam maoalattim, Book, /. 
Sri* reticulata, BtUh, 
„ retiooM, Wight, 
„ DAlasellii, Lindl. 
„ naii»» A, Bieh. 
„ polyataohyai A. Rich. 
„ pubefloens, Wight. 
„ panoiflora, Wight. 
Iptea If alabarioa, Hock, f. 
Aeaothepliippiiim birolor, lindf.. 
Joaephia lanoeolata. Wight. 

„ latifolia, Wight. 
C<idogyne hreyiacapa, Lindl. 
„ odoratiaaima, Lindl. 
„ ooimgata, Wight. 
„ g]aiidiiloaa» Lindl. 
PhoHdota imbrioata, Lmdl. 
CUanthe maaaoa, Lindl. 

„ veratrifolia, Br. 

Amadina bamboRifolia. Lindl. 

Ealopkia maorostachja, Lindl. 

„ caznpeafTiB, W«IL 

„ nada, Lindl. 

,» flara, Hook,/. 

CjiBbidiain aloifoliam, 8vmrt*. 

„ bioolor, Lindl. 

Oeodoram dilatatnm, Br. 
Poljrtaohjra Wtgbtii, Reiehh, /. 
Luiria teretif oUa, Otmd. 

f, teniufolia, Bl. 
Cottoitia maoroatachya, Wight. 
Bhyflchortylia retnaa, Bl. 
Sarcoobilva Wightii, Hook,f. 
^ridaa oylindrionin, Lindl, 
t, oiiapom, Lindl. 
,1 radicoBiiin, A, Rich, 
„ Hneare, Hook,/, 
Taada parriflora, Lindl. 
„ epathnlate, Bprongk 
n BoxbuTKhii, Br» 
Saocolabioin Bliforme, lindl. 



Saooolabinm nilagiricam, Hook, /. 
„ Wightianuin, Hogk,f, 

Sarcanthna peninaularifl, Jkd9, 

Clbiaoatoma teneram, Hook, /. 

Diplooentmm recnrvam, Lindl. 
„ oongeatum, Wigh^ 

Podoohilna malabaricua, Wight, 

Corymbia yeratrif olia, Bl, 

Tropidia ang^loaa, Bl. 

Anasotoohilua regalia, Bl. 

,0 elatioi^ ^xndA. 

Spiraathea anstralia, Limdl. 

Cheiroatylia flabellata, Wight. 

Zeuxine aaloata, Lindl. 

Goodyera procera. Hook, 
I Pogonia biflora, Wight. 

Eplpognm nailnar Bsiehh, /. 

flabenaciabarbata, Wight. 
,j ^ digitata, Lindl. 
„ « rariflora, A. Rich. ^ 
„ Saaannaa, Br. 

„ Biohardiana, Wight, 

„ oephalotea, Lindl, 

„ polyoden, Sook, /. 

„ longioomn, Lindl, 

M ' platypbylla, Spreng, 
„ plantaginea, Lindl. 

I „ longioalcarata, A, Rieh, 

„ orinifera, lAndl, 

„ Heyneana, Lindl. 

„ ovalifolia, Wight, 

,, yiriciiflora, Br, 

„ orassifolia, 4* Rich. 

„ bioomnta, Hook, f. 

„ malabarica, Hook,f. 

„ torta, Hook, f, 

„ robnatior, pook, f. 
„ Wightii, Trim on, 

, , saleandra, fia?t th . 

,, jantha, Benth. 

„ Perrottetiana, A, JUeh, 

Saiyrinm nepaleoae, Don, 

„ „ rar. Wigbtiaiia. 

Dinperia zeylanioa, 2Wman. 
„ neilgberrenaia, Wight, 



OHAP. I. 
Afpxndiz I. 



SCITAMINSAA. 



Globbabalbifera. Roxb. 
CvroBma neilghairenaia, Wighi, 

M arouiatioa, BaUob, 
Kaapraria rotunda, L. 

9 



Hedycbinm coronariom, Ktonig, 
„ Tennatnm, Wight,* 
' Amomiim oamuacarpam, Benth. 
Zingiber Wightianam, Thw. 



40 



T9B V¥MI«lf* 






SCITAMI«I|WP— «!»♦• 

Phrymi|i|| c%pit»tiu», W^ 
CannAiiidii^ L, 
Mom ioi9«Q«»> /{Kf . 

Hjbmojqbac^. 

PeUotanihea neilgherrienw, Wight- I Sanserieria KoxborfblaBa, AMiH. 
Ophiopo|^ii intermedins, Don. I . 



Zingiber Z^raqibet, Smi<^. 
Ooei«9 ipeoiotnt, Smith, 
EleUarta*Cardamoqiiim. Moton 
Alpinia AUughai, Bote. 



HypoziB aurea, boifr. 
Gnronligo FinlajBoniana, WaU. 



Dioaoorea tomontoea, iE|«yn«. 
„ pentaphjila, I.* * 



Smilai^apera, I. 
„ zeylanioa, I. 
,, maorophylla, fioa6. 
„ Wightil, A. J)C. 
Aaparagna Rottieri, Bakm: 
■ubulatne, '9lli«d. 
„ raoemoaot, ITiUd. 

„ mbrioaulia, Jafctr. 



AHiBTLLIDBA. 

Curoaligo orohioidea, 0»rfii. 
Crioum deflexum, fer, 

DiOSCoSBACBiB. 

Diotoorea oppofitifolia, t- 



lALJkOEX, 



ChlorophjtqBA QayBeaiiBia, WmU, 

Soilla indioa, Bdkfr. 

LiUmn neilgbeifaiiiB, Wi%ki. 

Jphi9eBiai«(iioa,JiMilh. 

Glorioaa iBpwba, |r. 

Diipomm Le^qfc f i w Wan BB^ I>oa. 



PONTBDBBIACBA 

Monooharia haf tufoUa, Fr$sl. \ UoDOoharia TBglaaUt, Prti. 



X/rit indloa, L. 



FoUla BonogoneDiii, Jlndi. 

'7oiiiflMllna saUoifoUa, RMb. 
,, benghaleiiBia, L, 
,, hirtuta, Clarke, 

„ glabra, jOtorlk«. 

„ paleata, Has$k, 

,, Knnii, Otor)k«. 

Anellema lineolatnin, K%mtK 
,, aparatom, Br. 
„ nadifloram, Br, 
t, alnkmm, Lindl, 
„ giganteam, B^. 



JniioiiB glauoua. Shrh. 

pritmatoofrpim, JS|r. 



Xtbidbjb. 

I XyrUaohoNMrfdaa, K«r<. 

OOMMBLIIIACBJI. 

Aneilama Roenigti WfHH- 

OYalifolimB, IfQQi./* 
Cyaaoifai oriaMBi St^nllM. i^ 
iabaroaa, gcMlMi /• 
„ WIghttt, C\fr^ 

ai^w^awwa^t^^f w^^^9^ 

Tino«a,SeMlM»/. 
fawiionlata, BcH^Um, f. 
„ aBiOarie, fio«M # gcJL 
> Floeoopa aoandant, loar. 

JUNOACBJI* 

Lainla oampeuMi* DC. 



F^VOOAL DESCRiPTIOV. 



<jf 



Palmrjs. 



JLieoA Cateohu, X. CuHitated. 
Piaanga DkAsoliiJ, Bl. 
Areogs Wightii, <?H#. 
OMjola ureas, hinn, 
PhaBaix •jlTeetrii, Bo«6. 



PhcBDix fariDifenit Boxl . 

GalamiiB Botang, L, 

„ trayaiicorioas, Bkddf 
„ Hneg^lianuB, Mart, 
t, Gamblei, Sece, 



PANOANEif.. 

Paudaoui fascioalaris, Lamk. 



Aroidbj:. 



AziMBtoa tortaotaiu, Sehoii. 
„ negleoiam, Sehott, 
„ LeaohenaoHti, Sehott, 
„ WightU, Sehoii, 

Typlioiiiam oivartoatain, Decne. 

Amorphoplianiifl oampanulatat, BL 



Amor^opbaUu dttfMus, Bl. 
ItoJnasatia vivipara, Sehott, 
Golooasia Antiqaoram, Sehoti, 
Bhaphidophora pertasa, Sehott. 
Pofehos •oandena, L, 
Aooms Gramas, L. 



Alibmaoba. 
Limnophyton obtoitifolinm, Mif, 

Naiadacbjb. 
ApODOgeton orispam, Thnnb. 

EmiOCAULBiE. 



Eriooaalon robfistafii, SUud. 

^* ■ ** ■ * ■«-■ 1 » > t^M.^ 
„ uivwuuBiTnn, Mm%, 



Eriooaalon sezangulare Xtnn. 
„ colliQam, HooTcyf, 



C/TPXriACBJS. 



CHAP. I. 
ArraNmi I- 



Kyllittga Ifluajily fi<yMD* 
M ejlindrioa, Jfltf*. 
mela^ospartta, Iflfl. 

„ moDOO^pMltt, B/oUSb. 
?jcwn» oapOhlfli, tf^9§, Hr. liiflAgirlonB. 
y, „ Tir. panotioiiiatai, 

JTM. 
Janceant itopeonfo^ffei, C 0. (7Iorik«. 
CjpcvuB oiffofniis, £r. 
oofiifnfoinui) £r. 
ariiWiiii, BoUb. 
Ma, L. 
„ dMMia, Ir/. 
fMttfraaa, £>• 
„ MbeayitotiBi, 0. ^. OltfrJke. 
digitate*, ilo«6. 
MaiiacaB Bnftemn, JTant^. 
oypetinni, Vuhi, 
■Magtoa,Af. 
oapitata, JBr. 



Fimbriitylifl polytriohoidM, VdM, 

„ Kingii,0.i9. OZorlw. 

„ sabtrabeonlata, 0. H. 

„ scboenoidog, Vahl, 

„ dicihotoma, FaTiL 

„ diphylla, Vakk 

„ argentea, FaAt. 

„ monticola, Steudl, 

„ qninqaangnlaris, XwfUh, 

„ iniliaoea, FoA^. 

», nliginosa, 6ioudl, 

„ monoitachja, fioj^Jk. 

„ barbata, SMnth, 
Bnlbotftylit barbata, Heyne, 

„ oapillaru, i!wnih. 

„ pabemla, Kunih. 
Sotrpni flnitani, X. 

„ ereotns, Pdr, 

„ subcapitatas, Thw. 

„ aqaarroius, L. 



; ». 



eorymbiwa, Ra:eb. 



H«d^jr. 




IVilit** 



GBAXI9X.B. 



I gevobicnlat&m, L. 

,, ■kOfwaaU, Latmk. 
„ rmf. dOiare. 

^ ^ ▼*r. GrifSthii. 

y, longMoraa, Beta. 
„ pediceUarv, Trkn. 
„ PerruetfltiL ffooi, /. 
iMcfane KanthianA, W, i' J. 
^ autralis, Br, 
„ difpar, Trta. 
^ Walkeri, W. # ^. 
,, Gardneri, Benth. 
Vuueam Cro»— galli, X. 
M pfroatratiun, Xamk. 

„ villofliim, Lamk. 

,, javaaicuDy Poir. 

^ letieeniB, Ae<x. 

„ iodicniii, £• 

„ montonam, Boxb. 

„ pfioainm, Lamk. 
„ tfigonnm, Rttz. 

„ pilipeCf J7ec< # ilm. 

„ patens, L. 

„ loDgipefl, HIigM. 

^ ttDCtnatiun, BmUi. 

Oplitmenas and alatif olios, Iteaar. 
^ oompositas, Btauv» 

„ Bnrmannii, Beauv. 

Arnndiaella setosa, Trin, 
,, Meisii, Boehiit. 

,, Tillota, Am f 8t€ud. 

^ fasoata, Nee$, 

„ leptocbloa, Book, /. 

^ LawBoni, Hook, f. 

Setaria glauoa, Btauv, 

ft intonnedia. Boom f 8eh. 
Paniiisetum Alopttoaros, Biomd. 
OrfsasaMta, l» 
P«otli tatifoU*. Aii. 



iJthopoda, Trim. 
InqMrata aroadiaaoea* CfrW'. 
j PoBiBia snlaalata. Trim, 
' „ SYgVBtca^ Trim. 

pbcotkriz, Bcdk. 
I cilia«a» IVia. 

I SacacharmD spoBtaaeam, £• 
fsehai'mam mistatvai, t. 
ft ptloanm. 



9, oouftatatiui, Bodk. 

^ m&tioQm, L, 

eillara, BslB. 
hirt«m« Hmdu 
Paf(oaadienna orinitaiD, Trim, 
Apooopia palUda, Hoai^, /• 
Arihzaxon lanoeolsiiiSt Boehti, 
„ oiHaris, Am»«. 
„ miorophyUas, BoekwL 
Aploda Tsria, Bmok. 
BoHboellia aaaJtata* X./. 

paifofata, Aoao. 

Manisaris graonlasia, £. /. 
AadropogOB longipea, Bsak. 
„ pertatus, WiUd. 

„ Poolkesu, flook, /. 

„ micranthas, JtaalA. 

„ Bchniidii^flook,/. 

halepaniis, first. 
,, aoioulatus, Boi: 

Wightianns, 8Uu4. 
Zajlaaioas, Noom, 
monUoola, SoKuUos. 
„ HaokeHi, Hook, /. 

,, oarioosos, X. ' 

ananlatns, Forok, 
„ oantortos, X. 

oligaathiis, HssM A Stsatf. 



^HTatCAt DBSCBli^ION. 



60 



GBAMiNKiE — eont. 



Andropogon Schoenantlms, L. 

„ liTidiii, Thw. 

A'athiatiriA imberbiB. B$iK, 

„ oifi»ta, Linn, /. 

„ tremula, Nb9s, 

vt oyinbaria, Roatb. 

Aristidft Adioensoionu, L, 
Ariiiid* Hystrix, L, f. ^ 

Oamotia ddhmidii, Book. /. 

„ striota, Bron^n. 

„ arandiiiaoea, Hook, /. 

t, covrteUenaU, Thw. 
Sporobohis diander» Beauv, 

,y piliferus, KwtUh. 

AgrottM alba, L, 

I, oanina, L» 
CalamagroatU pilosvla, Book f. 

,t Sohmidii, HooJe, f. 

Zonkeria elegans* Trin, 
Goelaohne pnlohella, Br, 
Mioroohloa tetaoea, Br, 
Entoropogon meliooidet, Nees, 
Tripogon oapillatiis, Jaitb ^ Spach. 

„ bromoides, Bdh, 
Cjiiodoii Daotylon, Pora, 
CUorifl Tirgata, 8u>, 



Ohioris barbata, 8w. 

„ polystaohya, Rossh. 

Elensine indioa Omrtn, • 

If aegyptiaoa, Dm/. 
Dinebra arabica, Jaeq. 
Leptoohloa nniflora, Hochst, 
Arando Donaz, L, • 

BragrostiB tenella, Boem ^ 8eh, 

„ aiuabilis, W ^ A, 

„ * elegantala, Stoudl, 

9, elongata, Jacq, 

„ * major, Ho^«i. 
EragroBtis WiUdenoviana, Neea, 

„ tennifolia, HochaU 

„ bifaria, Wight f Stand. 

Briza media, X. 

,^ i«aa^)ma, L. 

'Poa annua, L, 
Bromi;8 asper, Murray, 
Oropetiam Thomaeum, Trin, 
Arnndinaria Wightiana, New, 
Bambnsa arnndinaoesa, Willd, 
OzTtenanthera Thawaitesii, Mnnro, 
DendrooalamaB BtriotnB, Neea. 
TeiQoetaobjam Wightii, Bodd 
Oohlandra Bheedii, B0nth. 



CHAP. I. 
Appkndiz L 



Lyoopodinm Hamiltonii, Spr. 
„ ■erratum, Thunb. 
,« setao^um, EamiU, 

„ isarioatnm, Voaq, 

SelagtDella rapeairia, Spring, 
„ vaginata, Spring. 

,, atroviridiB, Spring, 

H flaooida. Spring, 



CETPT0GAM8. 
Lycopodxacbji. 

ILjcopodinm Pblegmaria, L» 
t, oemunm, L, 

„ Wightianam, WaU, 

Pflilotam triquetrum, Sw, 

Selaginbllacbjb. 

Selaginella brjop^iia. Baker. 
„ tnequalifolia. Spring. 

„ oauletoena' Spring, 

„ Pennula, Spring, 



FiLICES. 



Vyxinm BpinaloBa, WaU. 

AliophUa latebroaa, Hooft* 

H glabra, Hk. 

HrmenophyUam exsertum, Wall. 

». polyaathofl, Sw. 

ti javamoumt Spr, 

Triobmnanea eziguum, Bedd. 

n neilglierrenBe, Bedd, 



Gleiohenia linearis, Bwnn, 
Alaopbila orinita, Hk, 



Trioboncanes parvniam, Poir. 
„ pTolifemm, Bl, 

„ bipnnotatum, Poir. 

„ pyxidifemm, L. 

„ rigidum, Sw. . 





mm 





I sijfnm. L. 
Trifliuiniii— . £. 



Wiffhsiainm* PaA. 



anvitaai, S«ir. 



antiBt«ffttl«, !*!•*. 
h^t«rrx:«rpBin, H'aiL 
liuHntfttiiin, Don. 




p rar. msstrmle. 

Jbiiao{^oiiiwB etoolantaa, iVwI. 
AeiiBtoptertt dUotoMA, Ar«k. 



folyHilnhoin ftarimUtan, L. 

f^jrrt«iiiiliim fftln«tiin, tw, var. oftryoti* 
dram, Watt. 



Aspidinm deccirreiHh Prul. 

„ dcaotfiom, 5ic. 
Lastnea *ri«Ut», Aw. 
„ ooDiifolift, WaU, 
„ hirtipet , BZ. 

grtc iUw o o ai, il. 



PHTB|fX4]« «li09|ffION. 



n 



WmoMw-ftm^ 



oohtbod«|,J|H. 
thaljpierli, Z>«|«. 

„ voir, elongata. 

„ var. ooohleata. 

dliMotft, Fwr9t. 
qoabroMk, JGm. 
fnrrvgioMK Bedd. 



Phegopt«ri» 4i«lm, J)«». 
omatot IMl. 

Poljpodiua yMMiiiouB, Meit. 

,, mlifalofttiiiaf Bl. 

Kiphobolu a^wMoapi, »w. 

Drjaaria qaweifQlia, 1. 

UpUjiname Totte, Sei^i 
Gymaogmnma leptopbylla, Den, 
I« Qa ogi am m» laneeolata, 5io. ' 

„ iaTohita, Bon. 

MeniidniB trtphjllvin, 8v. 



„ tenerioauliv, W^* 
Kaphrodima Q^ria, Xs#. 
aiOliiiii, Ki. 
„ pteroi4«f> JN|f. 

„ oooMOatvni, B{. 

„ arboBonla, De^v. 

„ , pennigemm, B{. 

„ moUe, D88v» 

,t trnncatam, Preal, 

Nephrolepii oordifolia,*!?. 

„ exaltata, L, 

Olefip^ra miii«folia, Kte. 



9^4?. I. 



Pleopeltia Un^Mrj^ TMmi*. 
lanaaolata, £. 
*mamfansanea, Don. 
„ puQotata, £. 

hastota, f&imi. 
. aigreaoMU, Bi 
„ leiorhiia, TTaU. 



Antrophynm reticolattun, Kaul/, 

„ plantaginenm, KomI/. 

Vittaria elongata, 8w. 

„ lineata, 8to. 
DrymogloBsnin piloBelloides, Fr§fil, 
QaaMonUiB arifoHa, B«rm. 



BlaptiOfloMam, ronloimai Sw, 
M latif olinm, Svf. 

„ vf|OQn»fm air. 

SteaoeUma palmtre, L, 
Polybotrya appeBdionlata, IFilld. 



Polyboirya appendionlata var. aaplenli. 



Oymnopteris lanooolata, Hk. 

OQ^taiaii^f^* B^a/{. 



Oamunda regali^, L. 



AD«iii|a tomavtoia, i^tc. 



Lygodiam fle^ao^a^n, £Hp. 



AngiopU|4« aiWJW, Wfa. I Marattia fr!»Eis^fti 8m, 

JUNGSBHAKVlACSiE-(SCAIiS MOSSES). 



LopliooQl«i«iiflaila, liMf. 



Madotheoa Perrottaiii, 

Milgiiteaia, ifoal. . 
ligaliiamy AiyJar. 




wMlean tvtrt 



FlscTTWKnsM. L. WSLUr. 



Tmoa 






Immnncn. 



> uui. ^aM. ' 7ar«L^ li^Min.. Witt. 



Tmm iri.—OKTBOTStcszA. 



,, '-/iff/'1r<«*fT/u. C. MMiUr. 

On^^ftfU Uuttsft i «p. (So.4tiHBer^Bed . 



8cihBid£,C.JBilfr. 



I, Nflfirifluit, C. M«0«f. 

SchlotlMMift QwyflHa— > If Ot 



PBYSIOAL DB80BXFTI0K. 



73 



TmiBS VII.— FuNAmiEJB. 



EnKMthodon BuMtniiB, MiU. 
Perrottetii, MiU. 
phyaoomttrioidea, MUtler 
„ diTwaiaerrif, MUlUr. 



EntoBthodon nibmargiiiatxiB, MUU§r. 
Fanaria oonniveni, MUlUr, 
>f hygrometrioa, Dill, 



OHAP. I. 
Appmnx !• 



TBXBX Vin.'-SPLACHHEJK. 

Tajloria snbglabratiH UiU. 

TbIBB IX. — BABTBAUXXiE. 



Harti»«la (PbilonotiB) Rojiei, MiU. 
„ M pseadofontana, 

M „ faloata, XiU, 



Bartramia()*bi]oDotis)iiiaoroearpa,Ja{ter 
If ** i> si^pelliioida, JRl#. 

„ (Brentelia) Indioa, Jfttt. 
„ „ dicraiiaoea» MUller, 



TbXBB X.^BBTBiB. 



RryoB gigantown* Hook. 
.. Wightu.Jft«. 

•rgeiiteiun,LtiMi. 
A ramoanm* Book. 
„ Sohmidii, C. JQlUiar. 

HanrajBiiam, C. IQiZ^. 
^ flamidiaetam, C. JWar. 
„ Montagnaannm, C. MUUer, 
^ rngomm, C. iGi;22ar. 
H porpliyrioiietvoii, 0. MHlUr, 
„ ' alpmwD, ^. 

iBBaproategiim, C. MUller. 

(DicraiK>br7iUD)Weiaai8B, Mitt, 



Brynm (Bracbynoenium) yelatinum, C 

MUller. 
„ ( ' „ ) olayari»forme, 

CMHlUr. 
., ( ., ) Nepalense, Hook. 

t, leptostomoidea, 0, MUller, 
„ apalodiotyoidea, C. MUller. 
ft Zollingeri, i>ti&y. 
„ TOedianum, Miti. 
Mniam ro'stratum, Sehr, 

„ rbyiux>phorajn, Hook. 
Bbiaogoniam apiniforme, Braeh. 
Anomodon planataa P Mitt, 



Tbibb XL — Htpoptebyoxe*. 
HypoptMygium taneUam, C. MUller. | Hypopterygivm stmthioptaria, Brid, 

Tbibb XII.— RnAcoPiLEJt. 
Bbaoopilnm Sobmidii, C. MUller. 

Tbibb XIII.—- HooKEBiif.£. ' 



Lepidopnnm Oofeaoamandiaaiiin, Me^t, 
Diatiobophyllnm (Hniadelpbaa) Mon- 
tagnai, C. JGll^. 



Diatiohopbyllam (Mniadelpbna) aaoov 

lentnin^ Mitt. 
Hookeria (Callioatella) flabellata, Mitt, 



Tbibb XIV.— Ebpodikjc. 
A<ilaoopfloiii.tnmidnlnra, T%w. and Mitt. \ Srpodium n : sp. 

Tbibb XV.-— Neckebbje. 



Hedwigia Indioa, C. MUller. 
( rjpboBA (Braanla) Indiea, Mitt. 
,f (Dendropogon) femiginea« 

MiU. 
PhyUogoninaB elegana, Hook and Wih, 
PtOTobryam inroltitaiB, T. amd MitU 
,. CeylaaicaaiifT^. ond Jfi«. 

»0 



Pterobryam tumidam, Mitt, 

Gyrtopaa frondoaoa, Mitt. 

MateoHum faaoeaoena, Mitt, 
* „ blandam. Mitt. 

„ aqaarroaum, Mitt, , 

H floriboadum, D. and M, 

„ flezipea, Mitt, 



^3. .T- tFITI 




^-li£^ 



Ars. 









^ iimnl^iianTB, M cc 

BiiLrnanaax. Snm, 




rim nx. — sET^PHT^i*^ 
§rJi3iiiiii. C. lN.:4r. . Cgy^TWiii, nvy mJ ». 

murwiM^amam, Br. Poljtncham perieh«lii]«, JToiil. 

T«iBi XXI«— BrxsAUVivA. 
pfpH/tHorr/vp, | Diphjvdam ip. 

LICHE9ALK8. 

T)f^« «r* nQm«*roii« Hch«iii on thMe hilli, but ih«j h»T» imtw be«i worked out. 

PUV0ALX8. 

Fanf i ar« Domeroiui, but little it knovn aboai theai. 



PHT810AL DXRGB11»n01l. 



"^■i/ 



75 



APPENDIX II. 



CHAP, i: 

Appbndis lit 



OBDXB FBIKATB8. 
Family Sixudji. 

MaoaoDB silenus. Libn-taiUd Moni&y.^ 

SemnopiiiheoiiB priamns. Madras Langur. 
„ johDi. Nilgiri Langur. 

OBDSB OABNIVOBA. 
Family 7aLiDJE. , 



Felia tigxis. 
,y pardus. 
9, bengalensis, 
„ ohaiu. 



Paxluloxiuriis niger. 

,9 jerdoni. 
Heipestes smithi. 

», iosoDB. 

,, vitticollis. 



Oanis aureos. 
Cyon dnkhnnensis. 



Huslela flaTig^uU. 
Latralepionyx. 



UelurBUB uraincu?. 



Exinaoeus miaropus. 

Crooidnra mnnna. 
9j porrotteti. 



Tig^. 

Leopard or Panther. 
Leopard- Cat. 
Jungle- Cai. 

Family yiynuipja. 

Indian Falm- Civet. 
Brown Painy-Cint. 
Ruddy Mungooee. 
Nilgiri Brown Mungooee. 
Stripe-necked Mungooee. 

Family Oanidje. 

Jackal. 

Indian wild Dog, 

Family Mubtblidjb. 

Indian Marion, 
dawleee Otter. 

VAinLY Ubbida. 
Sloth Bear or Indian Bearm 

ORDEB INSSGTJTOBA. 
Family Eunaceidjb. 
South-Lidian Hedge hog. 

Family Boeicidj;, 

Brown Muek-Shrew. 
Indian Pigmy-Shrew, 



Till HIljQIftlS. 



Tm XT. — WmcictmEM — nmi. 



I. IhitBosuLm FoalkeBiBini, Jfitf . 

„« hiepidiiiii, Jfitf. 

V SBn>-nit«Bt, MiU. 

^ OLBVoli exit, Hitt. 

• 

KEECERK^. 

X€iok««m axrat&fi. Mitt. | Feckocm 8p. 

Sc^nidn. Jfitl. • „ frntiootmn, JNft. 

l«m2}a,Jiitt. j HomaHA Targioniaii^ Jfitf. 
Porotrir^ixm hgvjm fptiggi, Jfitt. 

Tsivi XVL — Sematophtllka. 



Metooriam Solunidii, C. Jr«/^' 
n fibunentosam, MiU. 

j a OQspidifemm, Mitt 

! Hecken Jf oategneana, C. iriAr. 

„ Goagfaiaiia, Jf •<«. 
i ,, atqaaJif otia, O. MmUr. 



Tubs xvll— SrKasoDoimii. 



StKreodoa (TazkadU) &l l|c a c>ca a % Jfitf. 
"iromnn^Jri^ 
«n>*aMf)Mi, C. Jfi:2«r. 
l^«tt»riiTaohoid6s, Jfitt. 



Stereodon (Sjmphjodon) Pei^^ vlietii, 

Ectodon poUoatat, 0. If it>% ^. 

H (Leptohjmeaioxa^ jvlilonBtt, 

Mitt. 



TUBI 

Frtroaia sccoada, Jfoal. 

Goafliii, Jf i». 
^ Sehmidii, C. Jfl27«r. 
Bypan a iltT i iMi natam, Jfoaf, 

Wiglitii, Jfitf. 

Boaplaadi, JfitfL 

„ Ijcri-n ;•'-§, '- 

^ hnHullimniii, 

BhcgBkaiodoii orthoi6te«naa, 
Tkacbypoa cn^i^ataJQi, Jfitf, 



XTIH,— Htpxka. 

• TraolijpidHiioolor, SeTHc 

i « atraias, mat. 

\ ^ Badianaani . C. JfiUr. 

pUcsBfoliiia. O. MmOm, . 
„^^^breTtimaa0Qa, C. JBBUr. 
Thail^^f^V^bifoHam, l>a«y an< Jf . 
^v' ^^^K^inufo, Jfitf. 

1. r. jriii*f 





Diphjteiam'ip. 




There are unniproui tiofaent o: 

Fun^ are nmneroiLjn^. 




PBTOCAXi HBbCKIFrieai. 



APPENDIX n. 



OEDIE FBDCASn. 



7S 



CHAP. I. 




OEDEB CAKXITOBi. 

TlftfT. 



curoa mger. 



S^ilfwi Brw/mn 

mild Ikf. 





Warn: 





i Km*. 



PWm imDhoA^ Jl^ 




Biackams 



WmH 



\m 



CTinieamla^ Mm 
fmkmtism^ LmmJL 

het^rocarpmn, WVi^(, 
lacimatum, JOon. 
fnrmtam, Thwmb. 



tooBifolhui, Om. 






AthjHam 



f vor. MifltrAle. 

^AAuosroBiBm Moalentoiii, iVw/, 
Aoiiiiiopteris didhotoma. fH^ • * 




Poljstioham anriciUatiim, L, 

»t Aoalettum, Sir. 

" vtur, angnlare. 

Cyrtcmium falcatnm. ^w. «ir. otryoti. 



Aspidium decnrrens, iVcji. 

»» oiciitaHni 

lAstram aruiUi 

«> ooiui/< 

M hiHip< 

fnoik 




HAP. I. 



♦UltroDima 'mr] 



•^•**i» F^ 






Vitt*»tt 



**''^«««ll«% 



.<»1,/# 






^.Ait:^-, 







to 



TBI MUiOnii. 



OHAF. 1 
Anrnvhtx I. Hmnnto pedat*, 8m. 

LevoMtegn inlm«Ml^ Wmlk 

^ palolirfty Don. 

Dft^li* bnllato, WM, 



I Miorolepia plttiypjUAf 6o9^ 
! M ttrigota, 8i0. 

j hirte, JTmiT 

I Stenoloma ohiiieiitii» iSfo. 



liindMya oaltrate) Hyo, 
9ohizoloiii4 lobate, ibi^. 



AdiMittun oaodatiinii L. 

„ oapOlbt-teiiMii, J^. 

„ iBtliiopioiiiii, X. 

„ lilipidiiluB, iSir. 
OheilaatliM myio^endfl, ffaU. 

„ tennifolia, fifto. 

„ ftoninoMt K^ul/. 

„ var. DaUumiiii. 

PellflM oonoolor, lowyt jf JVm^. 
f, Botrinif J^k. 
fatoata, ^w. 
Pteria longifoHa, L. 



Thamnopterii niAos, I. 

„ vor. phyllitidis. 

4apleiiiam enaifoncei ITaff. 

, Triohomaiies, L. 

„ normale, Don. 

WightianaiDi WM. 

„ limiila^iua, 8tfr. 

,, Zenkerianiiiii, JCm. 

„ aarilam, 810. 

„ orinioanla, Hanes. 

., faloatun, Lamk. 

fi flMMnrophyuufti 0t<'. 

oattdatllBlly rOT9tm 

onUatertf^i Imik, 
„ heterooarpam, Wall 
,t laoiniatum, Don, 

„ fnroatam, ThwiU>» 



Sohiaoloma autffoiyi, §». 

hatflropliylls, Dnf. 



Pteria peUaoida, Brwsl, 
eiififvrikiif, HhpAi. 
,, quadrtenrHa, ftilt. 

It M ••■^^ < 

Mb", asperiotalit. 
H patent, Hook, 
H loogipee, G. 0o«. 
„ aqnfliiia, Ir. 
Oampleria lilaiizita, L. 

Kleinlato, iViil. 
Ceratopterie thsliottoM8% £. 
Lomaria Pfttenoai, fl^. 
filechnam orientala, L, 



Asplenium nitldAm, 8w, 

n fontaDmn, BtHiK vi>. 
JijaptNiivi* 
yarians, Wt, f 0f99, 
„ temufoUomt Dim. 
Athyviom HohanaflkexiMran, Emb. 
maerooarpQA, Bk 
iiig|ripea» JMI. 
•elenopteritv Kimm* 
Oiplaiium lylTaticam, PtrniL 
M japonioun, ThmA, 

p0ly puMlof (Im, Mitt. 
acperaniy Al» 
i> tatlfolniiDy Oofi* 

Qinbronittt /. fm. 
,t var. auitrale. 

Aniso^oniiim eioulentaiD, IVtfl. 
Actiniopterig didiotoaia, JWtk. 



Polystiohom aoriciilatain, L. ' Aipidium decorrene, PrMi. 

,, aouleatuDi, Sir. „ oicntariiiiii, Sw, 

», M vor. an^nlare. lAstrsDa arifttata, tw. 

GjrtriiniQin lalcatam, iw, pair, caryoti- „ oonii folia, If aft. 

deiiiD, Tfaft. ; ,, birtipee, BU 

Aapidinm polymorpbva, Wall yraoihaowia, tu. 



PHTBIOil. mCUfflON. 



71 



fii^iois— ftmi. 



oohthod«|,4pH. 

synnftitt TfflH. 

VQisiRiW l*v%r. paW»lia«ii|ia. 

„ var. eloDgatft. 

„ var. ooohleata. 

spun, Don. 
orenatft, fonk. 
diasectft, Forst 
iioafaroM, Km, 



LMtiwa Borji^P^ 9VW* 

„ tenerifltulif, W^ll* 
Kaphrodii^m (H«ri»> *••. 

,, pieroi4«fi JN^. 

„ oooillla^ni, JH. 

„ arbnsonla, Beru, 

„ , pennigemm, Bl, 
„ moUe, D80V. 

„ tranc&iam, Presl, 

Nepbrolepis oordifolia,* 17. 
,, ezaltaUi L, 

Ole|||<|Tft mii««foIiai Kte, 



A^lif villi I. 



Phegoptcrit <iii>iii, I>q». 
omaU, WmU. 
„ poBotete, 99b«in6. 

PolTpodinM p«ranti<m», MtU. 

Mbfiiloaliiip, BI. 
Kiphobotaa Mmfwpa, 8*0, 

M ■■■in, «*. 

DrfBariB qnvoilQlia, X. 

Uptograame Totta, 8ekl 
QymaograTnma leptopfaylla, De»v. 
Loiognaas lanoeolata, 8w. ' 

„ iBToliita, Ihn. 

Meniieinm tripfajlhiin, Sir. 



Pleopeltis lin^arj^ TInmk, 

„ ^menfanaaoet, Hon. 
„ pmiotata, £. 

hastata, Whtmk, 
. nigr eaoa M , Bi 

leiorhisa, WaU. 



Antrophytim reticolatnm, Kaulf, 

„ plantaginenm, Kami/. 

Vittaria elongata, 8w. 

„ lineata, 8to. 
Drymoglossmn piloieUoidea, Pr€»l, 
H«BMoi|iti8 arifolia, Burnt, 



Rl^hngloawiwi, ronformai Sw, 
H laftif olinm, Bw. 

If ittgmtoWpis, Ff#. 

„ ¥||oqpi||i|, Sit. 

Bteaodilmia paliuifcre, L. 

Poljbotrya appendioulata, fTilld, 



PolybotrTa appendionlata var, aaplenii. 
Mia. 

Oymnopteria lanoecUafea, Hi;. 
a^li^ C9». 



OanQiiiidii rag^li^, L. 



Ao«iB|a tqim«9to|a, ^lP. 
LTgodiMn if^ofophjUoiQ, ^.Br, 



Lygodtaoi fle^uo^nin, 8w, 



^ngtoptai^ eveola, Mqf^. I Marattia t[^fiif^%, Sm. 

JT7KGE]lMAKKIACE^~(SCALi; HOSSSS). 
Madotheoa PerrottotU, 



Lophoodlat somiita, JiMf. 



Milgiitadi, ifonl. . 
ligttlitoa, fkyhr. 
aMiiialia, fahm. ^ i4frf . 



72 

OEAP. I. jrV6EKMA5nAGEiB-<8CALJI M088B8>-€9fit. 

Amrpn I« Le}«»oiuA ■liiiBiiiriMi. Hnawt. StMrUoa crispKU^ Am. 

^ csdJlat*. Abbs. DuMrtiflra hirasta, Am. 

,, * KOgiiiuia. GvUache. * Mairhantim nitida, L. 

rnilUBU gkmenta. L if- £A«. FiaWaim lepiophjU*. VofU. 

^ WaUichiun, if«li0». Bkxm flviteBB, ItMi. 

•Mtiloba, ITtltp*. O c adtMia dioraM, Ibyi. 



Eqaifletnm debila, Sosi. ' | BqnintUi,sp. 



Manilaa qudrifolia, L. 

BBYAO&S-<UBN MOBSE8). 
Tubs L — ^Diceaxacbjb. 
Plevidiiiiii deatioolatfH^irtit. < OaBiiylopiiB NOfiriaBtta, Ifttt. 

Leptotriclmm phMooidM, Jfilt. •Sbmcmm, O.MMiUr. 

Bdunidii, C. inifar. latiBerre, JBtt. 

Tiemfttodon Sohmidii, C. JfiaZcr. „ fli«elUfera% O. MmUr. 



in^lotu, O. HCUir. 
OMdatiu, O. WttUr. 
erioetonmi, MitL 
Modlor, C. WaUr. 
flrythrogiittphaloiit C. MUtor. 



pMoifoUiu, c. inuiM-. 

Cjncmtodlmii udsdiud, T. ^ JVtl*. 
Pseflophjiliim tenenim, MUt. 
„ Tbylori, MiH. 

nitent, MiK. | „ Sohmidii. C. JfilU«r. 

„ ftflKeBO-Tireiis, JftH. > „ nodifloniBi 0. ]f>ll«r. 

Gampylopiifl reeomis, MUt, „ iitiidai» Ifttt. 

M Oonghii, JVili. * Did jmodon stmooarpus, INIf 

TBIBB If .— <}Bni]QBJB. 

Ghriamia otbU, WA* and IToAr. j G)jplioiiiitriBM(BrBoli7Ste1eiiBi} tsnoB, 

„ Nflgiriensis, a m/^. 1 CMMlUr, 

TbIBI in.— LBOCoBBTBJt. 

Ootoblephajram albi^am, Hedw, \ Lenoobryam NngirieaaiB. 

Lencdbrjam Javeiiae, Mitt. | „ Bowringii, Jftfl. 

Wiyhtii, If i<i. i 

TBIBB ly.— STBBROPODOIff BJK. 

Oalymperes tp. 
Tbibb v.— Tobtulbje. 
Weittia (Gymnotloma) iavolata, UmIt. I Tortula aofuUta, MitL 
Tortala orthodonta, jmier. I „ (Sjmtriohia) SchmidU, C. 

t, lUnophjrlla, Mitt. I AncBOtangliuii Sohmidii, 0. WUUr. 

Tbibb YI.— Obthotbxchbjb. 
Zygodon acatifoUna, 0. MMlUr. j Maoiomitrium Sohmidii, C. MMiUr. 

„ oylindrioarpm. C. MUllf, j ,, Maelknaniim, Iftll. 

„ tetragoiio8toma«, BfHun. „ ■nloatam, BHA. 

nioU SchmidU, Ifill. „ imoiiiatinay C. mil«r. 

OrlhotHahnmn ; ip. ( No. 468 JS»rh Bed.) ' ,» fasoioalare, Iff It. 

Macromitrium Perrottetii, C. Jf«22er. „ NflgirientiB, C. ITiUA^. 

», iqiiami1omiB&, C. UUU9r. ' Sohlotheiaia OrerUUaiUK Jiilt 



PBYSIOAL SBSORimOR. 



73 



Tube VII.— Funabi&a. 



EntcMthodon Bvseaiina, MiU, 
„ Perrottatii, Miii. 

„ pbyaoomttrioidM, MUUer 

t, dirvrpnerrii, JDUUr. 



EntoBthodon •nbmarginattiB, MUU$r, 
Fanaria oonnivena, MUll§r. 
II hygrometrioa, Dill, 



GHAP. I. 

APPBVOIX I. 



TBXBB Vin.^SPLACHNEJE. 

Tayloria anbglabrati^ MiU. 

TBIBB IX.— BABTBAMUBiE. 



Bartrsfl^a (PhOo 



oils) Boylei, JfiM. 
paeadofontana, 
JDUUr. 
falcata, Xitt. 



6artraima()*hiloQoti8)maoroearpa»JniUer 
>, ** ,1 adVpellaoida, Jfitt. 

,. (Breatelia) Indioa, Miti. 
„ „ dioranaoea, MUller. 



TbIBE X.—BBTBiE. 



Rryoa gigaatoBm, Book. 

,. wightti.Jfitt. 

argenieunyLtiMi. 
A ramoanm, HmXc 
„ Sohmidii, C. JQiUer. 
,« Harre7«&am, C. JQli2i«r. 
. flaoeidiaetam, C. Wi^. 
», Montagneaniuii, C. XUll$r, 

^ porpliyrioneiiroii, 0. MUlUr, 

,, * alpiAiun, ir. 

laatprofUiram, C Mller, 
(DioraiK>br7iun)Weit8ia9, Xiti. 



BryjXBk (Brachyoaenium) velatinam, C. 

XUller. 
„ ( ' „ } olavarisBfonne, 

C.miUr. 
., ( u ) Nepalense, HmXe. 

„ leptoBtomoidea, C. JGllZZer. 
„ apalodiotyoidea, C. JR^/fr. 
„ ZoUing^ri, J}a5y. 
„ medianiUB, Miti. 
Moium rostratmn, Schr, 

„ rhynoophorain, Hook. 
Bhiiogoniam tpiniforme, Braeh, 
Anomodon planatas ? Mitt, 



TbIBE XL — HtF0PTEBT6IEJ£. 

Hypoptorygium tanellnio, C. XUUer. | Hypopterygiam strnthioptmris, Brid, 

Tbibb XII.— Rhacopzlek. 
Bbaoopflnm Sohmidii, C. MUller, 

TBZBE XIII.— HOOKEBIVJE. ' 



LepidopQun Ooiaoamandiaaiim, Mont, 
DiaiiohophyUam (Mniadelphas) Mon- 



DistiohophyUiim (Mnia&elphna) saooa- 

lentam. Mitt. 
Hookeria (Callioitella) flabellata, Miit. 



Tbibb XIV.— Ebpodie^. 
AQlaoopflain.tniiudnliiin, Thw. and Miit. \ Srpodioxn n : sp. 

Tbibe XV,— Neckebeje. 



Bedwigia Indioa, CMUlUr. 
Tryphcea (Bramiia) Indioa, Mitt. 
„ (Dendropogoii) lerragineai 

Miit. 
FliyllogoniiUB elagana. Hook and Wih, 
PtarobrjBin iariAtttaiii, T. and Jftlt. 
,, Ceylaaiciim»TlUo. and Jftitt. 

10 



Pterobr3miii tumidum, Mitt, 
GyrtopQB frondoBOB, Mitt, 
HaieoHum faBoeaoenB, Mitt, 

I, blandum, Mitt. 

., BqaarroBum, MiU, , 

„ floribnadiim, D. and M, 

,, flezipes, Mitt, 



74 



THB HILQIBIS. 



TlWBl XV.— NKCKKEBil— COWt. 

CHAP* I* 
AFPliiDlx I. Meteirium FoiilkeSianum, MfiH. ^ Metoorinm Sohmidii, 0. IIIIU#r. 

— „ reolinatumt Mitt, 

„• hiB]^dum, Mitt, 

„ auro-nitens, Mitt 

„ oonToWeni, Miit. 

^ „ punctnlfttnm, O. Jf*il«r. 



Neokera arcu»n&, Miti. 
Sohmidii, Ifilf. 
„ parvnla^ Mitt, 
PpTotrichum lign^olium, lf%W. 

Tribe XVI.— Simatophthea. 



filaiiiaitoaiiiiiy Jfitt. 
„ oaspidifemm, MitL 

Neokera Hontogneana, O. MMIUr. 
„ Oonghiana, MitL 
„ BBqvaUfolia, O, Vitter. 

Keokera sp. 

,, frotiooanm, MiU. 
Homalia Targioniana^ MiU, 



StereodoD(TaxioaTiliB) albetoent, Mitt. 
^, „ ^yoreanits, Miti, 

aabhnmilis, C. MliUer. 
„ leptorhynohoidee, Mitt, 



Tbibb XVII.— Stibbodontba. * 

Stereodon (Sjmpbyodon) Perrotietii, 

MitL 
BDtodon polioatnt, C. M9^Ur, 

,9 (Leptohymeniain) jnliforaiiii, 

Klf. 



Fobroaia seounda, Mwni, 
Goiigbii^lftU. 
Sohmidii. 0. M^lUr, 
Ejpnnm diieriminatam, Jfont. 
Wightti, Mitt. 
Booplandi, Mitt. 
^ plnmoanm, Mitt, 

ljohnitie,O.Bflfl/(ir. 
„ proonmbeni, Mitt, 
,, bamilUmnm, Mitt. 
„ Bnohanani, Booh, 
Rhegmaiodon orthoategini, Mont 



^BiBB XVia.— Htpnba. 

Tradhjpnl^ioolor, 8e^w. 
„ atratns, Miti, 

„ BaohananI , O, MtU^r. 

plicsBf oUiis, C. Jlf«/I«r. . 
breThrameiu, C, JBtft^r. 
Thnidiam oymbifoliiuBa, Doty and If. 
,, gUuoinum, Mitt. 

blepharoph/Ua, 0. MWm, 
pristooalyz, 0. MiU$r. 
tamariaoella, 0. MMUor, 
Plenropu Nilagtrensis, Mitt. 
Letkea oontanguinea, Mont. 
,1 prionophjlla, Mitt. 



TrachypuB oriipatuluB, Mitt. 

* Tbibb XIX.— Sxitophtllbjk. 
Fieeidens anomalof, Mo%t, i Fistidens MrratuB, 0, MuUt. 

,, Sohmidii, 0. Kiil2«r. | „ OeylonaiiBiB, Deay cMa If 

Tbibb XX. — ^Polttbichba. 



Pogonatnm hexagoniiflii, Mitt, 
Polytriohiim periohailale, lfo«l. 



Pogonatnm Neetii, 0. MUUor, 
„ miorottomnm, Br. 
aloidea, Brid. 

Tbibb XXI.— BuxBiuMiBii. 
Diphyeoinm'tp. I Diphytolnm sp. 

LIOHENALBS. 

There are nnmerone Uohene on iheae hiUa, but they hare aerir bean worked out. 

FUHQALS8. 

Fnngi are nameroiui, bnt Utile i9 knoim aboBi theai. 



pmrsioAL tmcBXPnov. 



•1 



75 



APPENDIX II. 



CHAP. l; 
Appendix II • 



OBDXB PBIMATEB. 

Family SmnDJi. 

MaoaoQB silenna. Lion-taiM Monkiy.^ 

Semnopiiheoiis priamiiB. Madras Langur, 
J, johDi. Nilgiri Langur. 

OBDEB OABNIVOBA. 



Felistigzis. 
,9 pardus. 
yy bengaLensis. 
„ chans. 



Partidoxiiriis niger. 

,9 jerdoni. 
Hezpestes smiihi. 

n fasooB. 

,, vittioollia. 



Oania aureuB. 
Cjon dnkhnnensis. 



ICnatela flaYignla. 
lALtra Idpionyx. 



Melnrsua tursinQB. 



Unnaoens mioropiiB. 

CroddiiTa morula. 
ft perrotteti. 



Family Fblidji. , 

Tigir. 

Lecpard or Panther. 

Leopard- Cat. 

Vungh-Cai. 

Family YiYBSBiPii. 

Indian Palm- Civet. 
Brown Paim-CtPet. 
Ruddy Mungooee. 
Nilgiri Brown Mungooee. 
Stripe-necked Mungooee. 

Family Canida, 

Jaekal. 

Indian wild Dog. 

Family Uvbt^udm, 

Indian Marten. 
Oawleee Otter. 

Family UBsioii. 
8kth Bear or Indian Bean 

OBDBB IN8SCTTT0BA. 
Family Ebxnacbidjc. 
South-Lidian Hedge hog. 

Family Soeicidjs. 

Brown Must-Shrew. 
Indian Pigmy-Shrew, 



?6 



THX iriLOIBIS. 



Bhino}ophaB petersi. 
Hippoddems bioolor. 

^ciftoejus knhli. 



Pteromys oral. 



OHAP. I. OBDKB OHIEOPTBBA. 

ippBNDzx 11. Family Bhznolophidjb. 

Pder^U Haru^hoe Bai. 
Bieoloured haf-noiid Bat. 

Family yBSPEKTiuoKiDii. 
Common yMow Bat. 

OEDXB BODSNTIA. 

Family ScxumiDjt. 
Larg$ hroum Flying- Squirrd, 
SoiiiropteniB^«*fQBcica- Small Travaneon Itying»8quiml. 

pilluB. 
Soiums indiciis. Largo Indian Squirrol. 

( Varieties. Sciuruo ElphinotUmii and Sciuruo MMbaricut). 
ScdnruB macmrxis. ^ Chrmlod Indian Spnrroh 

,, palmarnm. Palm Sfuirrol or oommon oir^od Sgrnrrol. 

tristriatns. Junglo Striped Sqmrrol. 

BublineatuB. Dutiky Striped Spdrrel. 
Family Mubid.v. 
PlatacantliomyB lasinrnB. Malabar Spinf Moueo. 
Yandeleuria oleracea. Long-tailed Troo-Mouee. 
Common Indian Bat. 
Whtto-taOed Bat. 
Common Bouse Mouse. 
Indian Mole Bat. 
The Lidian BuJ^Bat. 






Hub Tatioa. 

H blanfordi. 

,, muBonltis. 
Nesooia bengalensiB. 
Golunda ellioti. 



Hystrix lenoura. 
LepuB nigriooUiB. 

ElephaB maximns. 



Bob ^auruB. 

HemitragnB hyloorins. 

TetraceruB quadricomiB. Four-homed Antekpe. 

Family Ckstida. 



Family Htbtbiciikk. 
Indian Porcupine. 

Family LiPoaioA. 
Blaoh-naped Mare. 

OBDKB UXOULATA. 
Family Blsphawtiojb. 
Indian Blephant. 

Family Bovidjk. 
Gaur. 
Nilgiri wHd Ooai. 



CermluB mnntjac. 
OerruB nnioolor. 
,. axia. 



TragnliAi meminna. 



Sob eriBtatuB. 



Bib-fieed Deer or Barking Dear. 
Samhhar or Busa Beer. 
Spotted Bear. 

Family TmAOtrLiDA. 

Indian Choorotain or Mouso^Deer, 

Family Bvidm. 

Indian wild Boar. 



^HYSICAI. SBiaiPTION. 



n 



APPENDIX m. 

mtdM. 



OttAP. I. 
Appendix 

ni. 



O&DBIB PAS8EBE8. 



ComiB macroriiyiiohiis. 
Dondrooitta mfa. 

jy leuoogastra. 

Panu atrioeps. 
MaohlolophTiB haploDotii8. 



Junffh Grow. 
Indian Tr99^H. 
Southern Tree^e, 
Indian ffre^ Tit. 
Southern Tettow Tit, 



\^ 



Taxilt Ckatkropodidje. 



Qanmlax deldSBertL 
Troohaloptemm oachinnans. 

„ jerdoni. 
Argya maloolzni. 

„ submfa. 
QrateropoB oanorus. 

,9 atriatiu. 

Pomatorhinna horafieldii. 
P3roiorIiiB sinensiB. 
Alcippe phffiocephala. 
Bhopooichla atrieepe. 
MyiophoneiiB horsfieldL 
LarriTofa bnmnea. 
Braohjpteryz rufiTentris. 
Zoatexopa palpebrosa. 
Agitbisa tipbia. 
Cbloropais malabarica. -^ 

„ jerdoni. 
Irena pneUa. 
Hjrpaipetea ganeesa. 
M(^aBte8 bamorrhoae. 
OtooompBa fnacicaiidata. 
Ide iolerioa. 
PjononotUB gulaiis. 
Mieropiis pbedocepbaluB. 
S[daa]iia penidllata. 



Wynaad Laughing-Thrueh. 
NOgiri Laughdng-Thrueh. 
Banaeore Laughing'Thrueh, 
Large Grey Bahhler. 
Large Evfoue Babhter. 
Jungle Babbler. 
Southern Indian Babbler. 
Southern Scimitar Babbler, 
YeUouheyed Babbler. 
Nilgiri Babbler, 
Blach'headed Babbler. 
Malabar WhiriKng^Thfush. 
Indian Blue Chat. 
Bufom-'bdlied Short-wing. 
Indian WTnte-ege. 
Common lora, * 
Mahbar Chiorepeie, ^ 
JeriofCe CUoropeie. 
Ikirg Bhte^bird. 
Southern Indian Blaoh Buibul. 
Madras Eed-wnted Bulbul. 
Southern Bed-whiekered BuIbuL 
Yellouhbrowed Bulbul. 
Eubg-throated BMul. 
Greg-headed Bulbul. 
Tethuheared Bulbul. (?) 



Family Bxttxbjb, 



SiMa oaataneiTentriii. 
„ frontalis. 



CheetmO-beUied Nuthatch. ' 
Felwtrfronted Blue Nuthatch. 



78 TRB 


HILGIftlS. . 


OHAP« I. OBDBB PABSESBS— mhI. 


AfPINDtZ 




ni. ^ Famili DxcmuuDJt. 


DioruniB longioaudatus. 


Lidion Aihy Drango. 


II C8eTUl6806n8. 




^^6hAptia »iiea. 


BfOHWia Dfoi^gOm 


DiMemuniB paiadbeuB. 


Lar^ir Battii'taiM Dm^ 


#£filLl 


r Bylviidjb. 


AoTocephal^qpdmnetoniii. 


BlythU B$$d^Warlhr. 


Oribotomii8 sutorius. 


Indian TaUor^hird, 


FranVlinia gracilis. 


FranUinU Wrm^WatbUr. 


SohoBnioola platyura. 




OhsBtornis loonstelloideB. 


Briithd Grau^Warihr. 


Hjpolaia rama. 


iS^U'i Tri^WarhUr. 


AoanthopneuBte Ingubris. 


DuU-Orem WiUan^Warbhr. 


Frinia Bodalis. 


Mhy Wrm-WarhUr. 


„ sylvatioa. 


JungU Wrm^WarhUr. 


„ inomata. 


Indian Whn^Warhhr. 


,1 jerdoni. 


Southern Wrm-WarbUr. 


» Family Lanxzda. 


LaniuB vittatns. 


Bay-hacked Shrike, 


„ erythronotoB. 


Bt^bui-hacked Shrike. 


Hemipus pioatns. 


Bhwk-badted JHed Shrike, 


Tepbiodomis sylvioola. 


Malabar wood-Shrike. 


PericroootiuB Bpecioeus. 


Indian eeariet Minivei. 


„ flammenB. 


Orange JUinivet. 


„ breviroBtris. 


Short'liUed Mimvei. 


„ erythropygiuB. 


White-heUied Minmi. 


Oampophaga Bykaei. 


Black-headed Ouckoo-Shnke. 


* Family Ouolxoa. 


QridiiB kundoo. 


Indian Oriole. 


1, melanooephaluB. 




Family EuLABsn^jt. 


EnlabeB religiosa. 


Southern QroMe. 


Famili 


r Stdbnida. 


PaBtor roBeuB. 


Boec'cotoured Starling. 


Stiuiiia blytbii. 


BlfthUMyna. 


AoridothexeB triBtia. 


Common Myna. 


AthiopBar Iqboiib. 





PHYSICAL PISOBIPTXON. 



79 



OBDS& FASSEfiES— eone. 



Family Mubcioapidjb. 



CHAP. I. 
Appsndix 



Siphiaparra. 

„ albicilla. 
Oyorms pallidipes. 
Stoparola meluops. 

yy albicaudata. 
Alseonax Tiifidaiidns. 
Odhxomela mgrini&. 
Colioicapa oeylonensis. 
Terpnphone paradisi. 
Hypotbymis aznrea. 
Bliipidnra pectoialis. 



European Eed^hreasted Flycatd^. 
Eastern Red-lreaaUd Flyaxteher, 
WhiU'heUied Blue Ffyeaicher. 
Ferdiier- JPlyeateher. ^ 

Nilgifi Blue Flycatcher, 
RufmU'iailed Flycateher, 
BktclMmd' Orange Ffycaicher. 
Grey-headed Itycatcher, 
Indian Ftiradiee Ityttttoher, - 
Indian Black-naped Itycatcher, 
White-Dotted Fantail Flycatcher. 



FaMXLT TuEDIDiB. 



Pratinoola atrata. 

y, xnama. 
Bntioilla rufiyentris. 
CopsychitB sanlaris. 
Oittooincla maoniTa. 
Mernla similluna. 
f, nigripilenB. 
Oeodclila wardL 
Petroplula dndorliyiiolia. 

„ cyaniiB. 
Oreocinola nilguiensis. 



Southern Pied Bueh- Chat. 

Indian Bush- Chat, 

Indian Redstart. 

Maffpie-Rohin, 

Shama. 

Nilgiri Blackbird. 

Blaek-capped Blackbird. 

Pied Ghound-Thrush. 

Blue-headed Rock-Thrush. 

Western Blue Rock-Thrush 

Nilgiri Thrush. 



Family Plocxidje* 



Uroloncha striata. 

„ pectoTalis. 

„ pnnotulata. 
Sporadg^inihiiB axnandaya. 



White-backed Munia. 
Rvfous-beUied Munia. 
Spotted Munia. 
Indian Red Ifunyx. 



Family Fbxngillidjb. 



Oarpodaons erythrinnB. 
Oymnorlus flayiooUiB. 
Bmberisa Inteola. 



Common Rose-Finch. 
TeHow-throated Sparrow. 
Red-headed Bunting. 



Family Hxbunsinidji. 



Ohelidon nrbioa. 
Ptyonoprogne rapestriB. 
„ oonoolor. 

Hinmdo rostioa. 

„ jayanioa. 

9, smitihii. 

„ €irythxop7gia. 



Martin. 

Orag-Martin, 

Dusky Crag-Martin. . 

Swallow. 

Nilgiri Bouse- Swallow. 

Wire4ailed Swattow. 

Syke's Striated Swathw. 



80 



THB VnOBU. 



OHAF. I. 

in. 


OBDU FABtBBB8-iMl. 
Familt MOTACIUmA 


" 


LinifiiiUboDas indieiu. 
^An|biis maenlaliii. 
„ mlgiiitnrifl. 
ooekbnmuB. 

8 


1. Larf§ Pi$d WiggiaU 
Graf Wa§taa. 
AfM^ Wagimi. 
hMmTrm^P^. 

* 




FAMOt A^UDIDJC. 




Alanda gtilgSla. 
Mimfra aibus. 
Oal«rita malabarica. 


Adum 8ty.LaHt. 
Ibdnt Bmk.L»ri. 
MiOalar Oruttdlark. 




, , VaMILT KiCtABtHIDJU 




Amohneohthra asiatica. ^ 
,p minima. 
», leylonioa. 

Araehnothera longirostris. 

1 


Ptufph SumMrd. 
Small Sm^rd. 

LUlk Bpidtr-hmttr. 

9'Aini.T DiCJBlDJE. 


• 


I>io8Bam oonoolor. 


NUgiri Fhwir^9ek$r, 

• 
OBDBB PICI. 

Wkmvt PiciDji. 




Oeoinos tfriolatiiB. 
,, ohiorogaster. 

Mioropterans gnlarit. 
Tiga ahorei. 


8wth Indian TMfUf-napU Wood- 

9§ch§T 
UMbar Sufhui W6o4p$ek$r. 
Simalafon OMm-hacM Thr$$'40€ti 



Chrywoolaptes festiyuB. 

„ V^ttioristatus. 

HemioerciM oanente. 
Thriponax hodgBoni. 
Pioomniu innominatiifi. 



Woodp^oUr, (?) 
Blaeh-haeUd Woodpeekir. 
TicUPt OoUm^haeha JToodp^ci^r. 
JItart'fpotUd Waadpfchr. 
Mahhar Great SMt Weodpe^k^r, 
8p$ehM Pu%J0i. 



ORDEB 2T00DACTYLI. 
Family OAPXTONXD.irr 



Thereiceryx aeyloniouB. 

,, viridis 

XanthoIsDma luematooephala. 

malabarioa. 



Common Indian Ornn BarUi. 
Small Or$m BarhH. 
CrwMon'hreatUd Barhot or Coppor* 

omitk. 
Crimo o n-ikrootod Barht. 



Corscias indica. 



PflTSIGAL DSflOBlFTION. 

OBDER AlSriSODAGTTLI. 
Family Cobaciad.g. 

Indian Roller. 



81 



MeHttopbagus swinhoii. 
Njotiomis athertoni. 



Aloedo ispida. 
Haleyon smjrnensiB. 



DichoceroB bicomis. 
Anihmcoceros coronatus. 



Upupa epops. 
„ indica. 



Family MEiu>PiD.f:. 

Chestnut-headed Bee-eaier. 
Blue-hearded Beefeater, 

Family ALCEDiNiDiE. 

C<mman tSingfisher, ^ 
Whiie-hreasted Kingfieher, 

Family Bctcerotid.!:. 

Great Eombill. . 
Malabar Pied*H9rnhiU. 

Family Upupid.e. 

European Hoopoe. 
Indian Hoopoe. 



OBDER MACROCHIRES. 
Family Cyp8blid£. 



CjpseluB melba. 

„ affinis. 
Chsetara indica. 

y^ tylyiitica. 
Collocalia f adphaga. 
MacropteiTx ooronata. 



Alpine Swift. 
Common Indian Swift. 
Broum-neched Spine-tail. 
WhUe-rumped Spine-iail. 
Indian Edible-nest Swiftlet. 
Indian Crested Swift. 



Family Caprimulgid.c. 



CaprimnlgUB mabrattensis. 
., indicus. 



Syles's Nightjar. (?) 
Jungle Nightjar. 



Family Pudargid^. 
Batrachosiomns moniliger. Ceyhnese Frogmouth^ 

ORDER TROGOSTES. 
Family Troookida. 

Maikhar Trogon. 

ORDER C0GC7OCS. 

Family Cuculidje. 
Cuaikoo. 



Ilarpaetea fatoiatus. 



^uonlna oanorus, 
Hiexococeyz ipanreHoides. 
„ yariut. 

U 



Large Hawt» Cuctoo. 
Common Hawh'Cuohoo. 



CHAP. I. 
Appimoix 

in. 



82 



THE MILOntlS. 



CHAP. I. 

▲fpbndis 

in. 



ORDER COCGTaES— eonf. 

Family Cuculidjb— «ont. 

OaoomantiB passexinus. 
Penthooezyx sonnerati. 
^^rysooocoyz macnlatna. 
^(M^tes jacobinns. 

„ coromandns. 
Eudynamis honorata. 
Bhopodytea viridiioatris. 
Taooooua lee^nanlti. ^ 
OentropuB sinensis. 



Indian Ptaintm Ouoloo. 

BanM Bay Ckifikoo. 

Bm$raU Ouchoo. (,?) 

PM Cr$H9d Ciwhoo. 

Bsd'win^ii Greeted Ouchoo. 

Indian Koet. 

Small Oreen-billed iiatkoKa. {?) 

Sifkeer Cuehoo. 

Common Coueal or Crow-PtmtanU 



OBDSR PBITTACI. 
Family Psictacida. 



Palnornis oyanocephalus. 

„ oolumboides. 
Loriculis vernalis. 



Weeiem Bheeom-hoaded Parotuet. 
BluO'winged Paroquet 
Indian Loriguet 



Strix flammea. 
,, Candida. 



ORDER STRI0E8. 
Family Btrioidje. 



Bam- Owl or Screech- Owl. 
Ghaee^Owl. 



Family AtioMiDJi. 



Syminm indrani. 

„ ooellatiiin. 
Ketapa cejlonensis. 
Bubo beogalensis. 
Huhna nepalensis. 
Soopsgiu. * 

Olauoidinm r%diatum. 
Ninox sontnlala. 



Brown Wood- Owl. 
JHoUled Wood-Owl. 
Brown Kik'Owl. 
Boot Bomod'Owl. 
Foreot Sagh-Owl 
Scope- Owl. 
Jungle Owlet 
Brown Hawk* Owl. 



ORDER AC0IPITRX8. 
Family Tultuixdjb. 



Oyps iiidious. 
Neopliron ginginianos. 



HieraetUB fasciatas. 
lotinaetas malayensis. 
SpisaStiu oirrhatns. 
ft kelaarti. 
ilornis dheela. 



Indian LongJbUkd Fukure. 
Smaller WhiU Scavenger FtJture. 



Family Falconidjb. 



BontlKe Eagle. 
Black Saglc. 
Creeled Hawh-Bagle. 
Lcgge'e Hawi-Baglc. (?) 
OreHcd SerpcnUXaglc. 



PHYSICAL bSSCRtPTION. 



OJ 


RDBB AOCIPITBES— ccwi^ 


CHAP. I. 




Family Falcon iDiB—conl» 


APPENDUr 

III. 


Milnis goTinda. 


Gmmon Pariah Kite. • 




Cirous xnaoranis. 


PaU JBdrrUr. 




„ eBTHginosus. 


JUdnh Ha/rrier. 




Buteo deeertorain. 


Common Bvmard. ^^ 






Goihawh (?) 




Lophoepuias triTirgatuB 


Or$»Ud Qoihawk. 




Acdpiter xubub. 


8parrofd^Sawk. 




„ Yirgatnfl. 






Parma cristatus. 


Cr§ii4d Mon§y'BwBui{^. 




Faloo peregrinator. 


Shdhin Falcon. 




n Beverua. 


Indian Holly. (?) 




ibrytiiropas amureoBis. 


Soitim Med-legged Falcon, 






Kestrel 




„ cenohriB. 


Zaeer Kestrel, ^ 
OBDEB OOLUMB^^. 

FaMTLT COLUMBIDiB. 




Osmotreron affinis. 


Brey-frontcd Oreen Pigeon. 




yy pompadora. 






Diioula ouprea. 


Jerdorie Lngperial Pigeon, 




Chaleophaps indica. 


BronMs^winged Dove. 




AlBooomns elphinstonii. 


NUgiri Wbod-Pigeon. 


4 


Toitiur BoiateiiBiB. 


Spotted Dove. 

OBDEB GALLINiE. 
Family Phahanidjs. 




PaTO oriatatuB. 


Conmon Peafowl. 




Gallna soxmezati. 


ffreg Jungle-Fowl. 




Galloperdix qpadicea. 


Bed Spur-Fowl. 




,f Ixmolata. 


Painted Spur^Fowl. 




Perdicnla asiatica. 


Jungle Bush- Quail. 




Mieroperdix erythrorhyncIiUB. Pa%nt$d Bush- Quail, 






OBDEK LIMICOLJE. 






Family Chabadbud^. 




Scolopax niBticula. 


Woodcock. 




Oallinago nemoricola. 


Wood-Snipe. 




„ Btenura. 


Pintail-Snipe. 

ORDEB HEBODIONES. 
Family Ati>Eii>M. 




Bnpetor flaricolliB. 


Black Bittern. 

OBDER PYGOPODES. 
Family Podicipbdidjs. 




Podidpes albipoDniB. 


Indian Little Grele or Dalcdfck, 





84 



THE KILGXBI0. 



CHAP. I. 

Appendix 

IV. 



APPENDIX IV. 



ORDEB BQUAMATA. 



Gymnodaotylus nebulosus 

Gonatodes indicus 

fy wjnaadensis . 

,, siBpaiensis 
,, UttoraliB 
Hemidaotylus nmoulatus 
,y triedruB 

„ depresBUB 

„ lesolienaiiltii 

HoplodaotyluB anamallensis 



SOB-OBDfiB LACEBTILIA. 

c 
Family Qkckonxd^.. 

SiBpara BlopeSi near the ioot, 

abundant. 
. Ootaoamund and Knndahs, ver}- 

oommon under Biones. 
. WalagliAt and the Ouchterlonr 

ralley. 

• Sispara Ohat. 
Foot of We«tem Blopes. 

• Slopesi conunon. 
Do. 

(?) 
. SlopeB, oommon. 

Slopes above Gajalhatti. 



Draoo dussumieri 
Sitana pontioeriana 
Salea horafieldii 

CaloteB Tenioolor 
„ myBtaoeuB 
„ nemorjoola 
y, ophiomachus 
,1 ellioti 

CharaBia dorsalis 

,, blanfordiana 



YaianuB bengalenttis 



Gabrita leschenaultii 

„ jerdonii 
OphiopB jerdonii 



Family Aoamioc. 

Western slopes. 

• • Eastern slopes and foot. 

.. Ootaoamund and all the plateau. 

very common. 
. • All the slopes, very common. 
. . Eastern slopes. (?) 

• • Coonoor slopes. 
. . AU the slopes. 

. . SiMpara slopes. 

Abundant on the rocks in all the 
Ghats. 

(?) 

Family VABANi9.t. 

Southern and Western slopes. 

Family LACESitDii:. 

• • Alout the foot and lower sloi)eb 

on Eastern and Southern side. 

(?^ 
(?) 



PHTfllOiL DXiCniPTION. 



86 



Habnia bibtonii 

„ carmata 

n macnlaria 
Ljgoeoma dusanmieri 

,) laterimaonlatum 

,, biUneatnm 

u tnkYanooriciiin 
„ albopunotatum 

„ panotatnm 
,t gnentheri 
Bistella turkii 



OBDEB LAOEBTILIA^-c<m^ 

FAliILt BCINCIDJ-^ 

. . Saltern slopes. 

Slopes^ everywhere. 
• • Slopes. 

. . Foot of Sispara Ohat and Weg^^Tfi 
slopes. 

Do. 
. Ootac&mund, very common under 
stones. 

(?) %. 
. All the slopes. 
Do. 
Do. 
Walaghdt /injl Western slopes* 



Family CHAMiELEOKTtDjj:. 
Chamaaleon caloaratus . . Sonthem slopes. 



Typhlops braminns 
„ acutns 

Python molnrns 
Gongylophis conicus 
Eijx johnii 



HLinophis sanguineus 
SSjbura ocellata 



„ beddomii 

9, ellioti 

yi brevis 
Pleotmros penoteti 

,, gnentheri 
Melanophidinm wynaadense 



SUB.OBPEB OPHIDIA. 

FaMILT TYPHLOPIDiE. 

». Common under the stones on the 
slopes. 

• * Rare, about the foot on the Western 

slopes. 

Family BoiD A 

• • All the slopes up to 4,000 feet, not 

common. 
Common under stones in dry forests 
up to 8,000 feet. 
. . Foot of hills, edB% side 

Family UBOPELTiDiE. • 

The Ouohterlony valley. 
Common at Wakghit and in the 

Ouchterlony valley. 
Walagh4t.; 

Common on the slopes.) 
Ealhatti, Walaghdt, Sholur, etc. 
Ootaoamund, very common. 
Walagbdt. 
Ouchterlony valley, very rare. 



Xjlophis perroteti 
Xyoodon striatus 



Family Colubiidj:. 

• • Ootacamund, very oommou. 
. . Slopes, common. 



CHAP* I. 

AfMMDtX 

nr. 



86 TdB NtLOtHId. 


,OEAP. L OBDfiB OPHIDIA— €<m<. 


• Appwidix Family Colubiidjb— «m«. 


— T Lyoodon travenooncns 


. NilgiriB up to 6,900 feet. 


„ aulions 


Common np to 4,000 leet. 


PseudoqydlopliiB olivaoeus 


. Olicliterlony Talley, rare. 


mygdontopluB subpunctatns 


Southern Blopes. 
. SlopoB. 


Oligodon Tenustus 


• Ootacamnnd, not rare. 


,» affinis 


. WalagUt and Onchterlony Talky 


„ bxericaada 


Do. 


„ eUiotW 


• EaBtem and Soatbem BlopcB. 


y, snbgriseuB 


Do. 


ZameniB muooBiiB (rat snake) . 


• Slopes np to 4,000 leet, rerj 




common. 


„ faBoioIatoB ^ 


• Below Kotagiri, rather rare. 


Ooluber helena 


. Western and Eastern slopes. 


Dendrophifl pictoB 


Slopes, common. 


TropidonotuB beddomii 


Mndomalaiand Western sbpes. 


,, montioola 


Do. 


„ BtolatnB 


Slopes, common. 


„ piflcator 


. Lower slopes; 


„ plambicolor 


. Sholnr, Kalhatti and slopes. (?) 


* HelioopB BobistoBiiB 




DipBaB trigonata 


Slopes, yeiy common. 


„ oeylonenBiB 


• Western slopes, common. 


„ fontenii 


. Slopes, rare. 


D^opbiB penoteti 


Grass land of the platean, Tsry 




common. 


„ myoterizans 


Slopes, rery common. 


„ polTenilentas 


. Walaghdt, raie. 


OhryBopelea omata 


• Slopes, common. 


CallophiB trimaonlatas 


• Once met with at the foot ol 




Sispara Ghat, very rare. 


„ nigreBoens 


• Slopes, rare. 


„ bibronii 


• Mndumalai and Western slopes. 


BnngarnB osemleoB (Krait) 


Eastern slopes. 


Naia tripudianB (Cobra) 


Common low down, inrely coming 




np to 6,000 foot. 


H bungariiB (Hamadryad) 


• Onchterlony valley and Western 




slopes. 



Vipera Rassellii 
Echis oarinata 
Anoistrodon hypnalc 
Trimeresums strigatns 
., anamallensis 



FlMItY ViPBBID.f:. 

Lower slopes, eastern side. 

Do. 
Slopes, not common. 
Kundahs, very common. 
Western and Northern slopes, 
common. 



PHYSICAL SEtOBIPJIOH. 



87 





Batraehia. 


OBDEB EOAUDATA. 




Family BanIDje. * 






Eaatem slopes. 


„ oyanophljctis 




Do. ^ . 


y, kuhlii 




WalagMt. (?) 


„ rexraoosa 




Western slopes. 


„ tigrina 




Eastern slopes 


,, limnocliaris 




Plateau, tlie common frog in all 
swav/^s. <w 


,, brerioepe 




Slopes. 


,, beddomii 




Walaghdt. 


., diplodlicta 




Do. 


, cnrtipes 




Walaffhdt and the Onchterlony 


„ tempoialis 




Platean*and slopes. 


MicrixaluB sazicola 




"Western slopes, on rooks, beds of 
rivers. 


„ opisiliorlioduB 




Western sides, platean aiid slopes. 


NjetibatraclinB pygmaous 




Walaghdt. 






Western slopes. 


„ maoolatuB 




Lower slopes. 


* „ pleurostictus 




Ootaoamnnd and aU the plateau. 


Ixalns rariabilia 




Platean and slopes. 


., glandulosns 




The tinkling frog of Ootaoamnnd. 


Family ENeTBTOMATiDiK. 


Melanobatraohns indicus 


• ■ 


This little frog, nsnally only met 

Madura Hills, has been found at 
Walaghit. . 


UiorohylA ornata 




Walaghit,ete. 


Callula obfloora 




Plateau, Western side and slopes. 


„ Tariegata 




Walagh&t. 


„ triangnlarifl 




Paikira. 


Cftoopus syvtoma 




Slopes. 



TV. 



Bufo hdloUnB 
f, beddomii 
fi melanostiotus 



lokAyophis glutioosus 
UiflN^hluB ozyurus 



Family BuroNiDiE. 

.. Western slopes. 

Do. 
• • Oommon eyerywhere. 

OBDEB APODA. 

Family Cmciuivs, 

. . Western slopes. 
Do. 



88 



tHB HILGiaU, 



OHAPrl. 



APPENDIX V, 



Land and Fraah-wftter Mollasoa. 

INO^EBCITLATED LlND SHELLS. 



Vitrina auriformis, Bl. 


Helix Shiplayi, Pf. 


„ sp.? ^ 


\ „ sisparioa, ^/. 


Helix acalles, Pf. 


„ solata, Ben. 


,, aouduota, Bin. 


„ tertiana, BL 


„ ampulla, Bm. 


\ „ tbyreus, Ben. 


t, apioata, Si . . 


„ todarum, Bl. 


„ aspiraiiB, Bh. 


„ Tranquebarioa, BL 


„ Barraokporensis, Pf. ' 


„ trioarinata, Bh. 


tf bidentioQla, Ben. 


\ „ vitellina, P/. 


„ bistrialis, Beek. 


i Streptazis Perotteti, P#^i^. 


„ oacuminifera, Ben. 


1 „ Watsoni, Ble. 


)i oastrai Ben, 


Pupa (Ennea) bioolor, MuiL 


,f conxdus, Bl. 


Balimus marortiiu, Seeve. 




„ Nilajririoui, Pf. 


„ oysiB, Ben. 


,, ^hjialis, Ben. 


„ enomphaloii Ble, 


j „ pneteimiasiia, Ble. 


p falladosa, /kr. 


< „ punoiatos. Ant. 


H tastdgiata, ^(1^^ 


„ tratta, BL 


„ febriliff, Pfo. 


\ Achatina Bansoniana, Pf. 


„ giierini,P/. 


,, botellns, Ben. 


„ Httttoiii,P/. 


Ceylanica, Pf. 


„ Iiidioa,/y. 


„ oorroiula, Pf. 


„ injus8a, W. • 




„ Koondaensis, Bi. 


„ Jerdoni, Ben. 


„ \yoluiia, irr . 


„ hebesi BL 


,, Maderaspatana, ff#*ay. 


„ oreas, Ben. 


,, mnooaa, J9lv. 


,, pauparoalaj Bte. 


„ Nilagirioa,^. 


Perottetl, Pf. 


„ Pirri©ana,P/ 


„ Shiplayi, Pf. 


,9 retiferai Pf. 




OPERGULATED 


LAND SHELLS. 


Diplommatina Nilgirioa, Bl. \ 


Oyathopoma Deooanenee, BL 


,, nitidula, Bl. \ 


,, filooinotam« Ben. 


Oatauliu^reourratiiB, Pf, 


„ Malabariciun, Bis 


Jerdonia troohlea, Ben. 


„ malleatum, BL 


Cra^pedotropis oaapidatut, S$n. 


tf Wynaa^ense, BL 


CTatbopoma Ooonoorenta, Bl. J 





PUTBIOAL DE80RIPTION. 



89 



Opisthottoma Nilgirioaniy Bis. 
AI7C8&118 expatriatus, BL 
Pterocjdoa bilabiatus, Sow* 

,, nanus, B$n. 

„ rupestris, Bm, 

Cydophorus annulatna, Tros. 

,, ceoloconus, Ben. 



LND SHELLS— coH^. 


OHAP. I 


Oyclophorus deplanatns, Pf. 
„ Indious, Pf. 

involvuluB, MUU. 
„ Jerdoni, Ben. 


Appihdiz 
V. 


„ NilgiricuBi Ben, 

„ ravidas, Ben. ^ * 

„ Shiplayi, Pf. 


• 



FEESH WATER SHELLS 

Ampullaria globosa, Swain. 
Neritina Perotetiana, BicL 
PalatUna Bengalensis, Lam. 



Bythinia^tenothjroU^s, Dohm, 
Pianorbis exastus, Deeh^ 



13 



88 



THB NUiOiaif* 



Afwmfonr 



APPENDIX V, 



Land and rr«sli*w»t6r MoUusoa. 

INO^EBCITLATED hkSD SHELLS. 



Vitrina auriformis, Bl. 

,. sf.? ^ 
Helix acalloB, Pf. 
„ aoudnota, Ben, 
,, ampulla, Bin, 
i, apioata, Bl. • . 
„ aspiraiiB, Bh. 

BarraokporeiiBis, Pf. ' 

bidentioula, Ben. 

bistrialifl, Beck. 

cacuminiiera, Ben. 

oastra, Ben. 

conulus, Bl. 

crmigera, Ben. 

ojBiBf Ben, 

eaomphaloi, Ble, 

fallaoioBa, Fer. 

lastigiata, ffutt. 

febrilin, Bh. 

gfoerini, Pf. 

Hattoiii, Pf. 

Indioa, Pf. 

injuisa, Bl. < 

Koondaensis, Bl. 

\yoliiiia, St. 

Maderaspatana, €h*ay. 

muoosai Ble. 

Nflagirioa, Pf. 

Pinrieana, Pf. 

r6tifoxai Pf. 



91 



)> 

» 
ft 

it 
If 
I) 
If 



19 
99 



Helix Shiplaji, Pf 
,y sisparioa, Bl. 
„ solata, Ben. 
„ tertiana, Bl. 
,, thjreuB, Ben. 
f, todaruniy Bl. 
„ Tranquebarioa, JS/. 
„ trioarinata, Bh. 
„ vitellina, Pf. 
Streptaxis Perotteti, Pettt. 

,, Watsoni, Ste. 
Pupa (Ennea) bioolor, Butt 
Bulimus maTorting, itiMW. 
,, Nilapirioot, Pf 
yy ^hysalis, B§n. 
„ priBtenniBSQs, Bh. 
„ punotatnsi AnU 
„ tratta, Bl. 
Achatina Bensoniana, Pf. 
botelliis, Ben. 
Ceylanioa, Pf 
oorrosnla, Pf 
facula, Ben. 
Jerdoni, Ben. 
hebes, BL 
oreaBi Ben. 
paupcrenlaj Bh. 
Perotteti, Pf 
Shiplayi, Pf 



91 
99 



91 

19 



99 
19 



OPEBCULATED LAND SHELLS. 



Diplommatina Nilgirioa, Bl. 

nitidula, Bl. 
Oataului,reounratuB, //. 
Jerdonia troehlea, Ben, 
Cra^pedotropii oaspidatus, B$n, 
Ofathopoma Ooonoorense, Bl. 



Oyathopoma Deccanenae, Bl. 
», filooinotam, Ben. 

„ Malabaricam, Bh. 

„ malleatum, Bl. 

,, Wynaadense, Bl. 



PHYBIOAL DESORIPTION. 



89 



Optsthottoma Nilgirioum, Bis 
AlycednB ezpatriatus, Bl. 
Pterocjdos bilabiatns, Sow^ 

f, nanus, Ben. 

„ rupestris, Ben, 

CyclophoruB annulatns, Tros. 

,t c»loconu8, Ben, 



OPERGULATED LAND SHELLS— co»<. 

OydophoruB deplanatns, P/. 
Indious, Pf. 
involynlus, MuU. 
Jerdoni, Ben, 
NilgiricuSi Ben* 
ravidus, Ben, ^ 



OHAP, I. 

Appihdiz 

V. 



Shiplayi, P/. 



FBESH WATER SHELLS. 

Ampollaria globosa, Swain. 
Neritina Perotetiana, Reel. 
Palatlina Bangalensis, Lam, 



Bjthinia^tenothyrcsUes, Dohm, 
Pianorbis exastus, Deeh^ 



12 



90 



THB NILGIRI8. . 



CHAPTER II. 
POLITICAL HISTORY. 



CHAP, n. 
Eaelt 

HllTOBT. 



Early History— Under the Ganga kings— The Kadambas— The Hojnias— 
Their Dann&yakas— And tlfe kings of Mysore— Dearth of historical mAterial - 
The antiquities of the hills — Cairns and barrows — Their oontents^-Tbeir 
builders — .^^Tama— Kistraens — Cromlechs — Their builders — ^The best speci- 
mens — Historical inferences from these antiquities. English PrbioD'- 
Affairs at the end of the 18th centnrj — The fall of Seringapatam and oetstoo 
of the district, 1799— Later history of the Wynaad— The ' Pyohy rebel— Hi« 
death in 1805 — The plateau; first European visitors — Portagnese priests, 
1602— Dr. Buchan^, 1800— Keys and MacMahon, 1812— Whish and Kinden. 
ley, 1818— John SulliYan, 1819— The first bridle-path to the pUteao, 1821— 
Beports regarding its clmiato discredited — First mention of OotaoamonJ. 
1821 — It becomes the capital of the plateau, 1822 — Progress up to then- 
Improvements between 1823 and 1825— Sir Thomas Monro's visit, 1826— 
Government assistance to Ootacamund, 1827— Progress up to then — Mr. 8 
B. Lnshington becomes Governor — His support of the sanitarium — His visit 
to the hills, 1829— Part of the plateau transferred to Malabar, 1880— Now 
roads to it— Other improvements— Progress np to 1833— The Con\'alescent 
D^pdt abolished by Sir F. Adam, 1834 — Other changes by his Government — 
The plateau re-annexed to Coimbatore, 1843— The Knndahs, eto^ added to 
it, 1860— It is placed under a Commissioner, 18t>8— The Oachterlony Valley 
and the Wynaad added to it— It becomes a Colleotorate, 1882. 

Thb Nilgiri district may almost be said to be one of those 
happy countries which have no history. Even had it been 
sufficiently rich or strategically important to tempt an invader, 
its inhospitable climate, the difficulties of the passes up to it and 
the feverish jungle which hedged it round would have deterred 
any but the boldest. But it never contained any towns worth 
sacking or forts worth capture ; and the only inhabitants were 
poor graziers and cultivators. Consequently the rapacious rulers 
round about almost disregarded it ; and the only ports of it which 
figure prominently in their chronicles are the passes (like Oajal- 
hatti on the north-east) which enabled them to circumvent it and 
get at their foes on the other side without actually crossing it. 

For this and other reasons, the materials for an account of it*; 
people in the days preceding the British occupation are very 
meagre. In most other parts of the Presidency the inscriptions 
on the stone walls of the numerous temples afford valuable clues to 
the events of byegone centuries ; but on the Nilgiri plateau the 
shrines ere either temporary or entirely modem, while in the 
Wynaad they are seldom more than thatched huts ; and apparently 



POLITICAL HlflTOBT. 91 

there is not one ancient inscription of any historical valne in OHAP. II. 
the whole of the district. The neighbouring Mysore territory is Baelt 
however less destitute of records ; and the contents of these have HisTomT. 
been set out in Mr. Lewis Bice's 'Epigraphia Camatica and throw a 
dim reflected light on the state of affairs in the Nilgiris in early 
days. • • 

The oldest inscription which mentions the district belongs in Under the 
Mr. Bice's opinion to about 930 A.D. and shows that the Wynaad ^^''S^J'^fS^ 
was then part of the territories of the well-known Ganga dynasty 
of Mysore. This record relates how o^^ the death of Ereyappa, 
the then king of the G-angas, his sons BdchamaiTa and Biituga 
both claimed to succeed to the throne. B&chamaUa was in 
' Bajaln^d ' (' the land of swamps/ the old name for the Wynaad) ^ 
at the time, and B6tuga sent to him and proposed that they should 
settle their differences by dividing the counfry'between them. But 
H&chamalla's envoys curtly replied thart they ' did not wish any 
other than Bdchamalla to rnle over the kingdom of Bayalndd.^ 
Hostilities between the brothers naturally followed ; Bichamalla 
was killed ; and B6tuga became undisputed ruler of the Wynaad. 

Between the close of the tenth century A.D. and the begin- The 
ning of the twelfth century these Qangas were ousted from the Kadambas. 
Wynaad by a branch of the Kadambas, the dynasty which at one 
time had its capital at Banav^si in North Canara. The Wynaad 
was at that time divided into two portions, the Bira Bayaln^d and 
the Ghigi Bayalndd (the limits and meaning of which are not 
clear) and one of the Mysore inscriptions (alluding perhaps to the 
treacherous beauty of the country, which attracted the stranger 
and then laid him low with malaria) says ' an adulteress with black 
waving curls, an adulteress with full-moon face, an adulteress with 
endless side-glances, an adulteress with adorned slim figure was 
this storeyed mansion, the double Bayaln^d.' Cattle-lifting seems 
to have been very prevalent, and sometimes the ^fights which it 
occasioned almost rose to the dignity of wars. 

Meanwhile the Hoysalas, whose capital was at Dvarasamudra, <l*[ie 
the modem Hal^bid in Mysore State, were rising into power ; and Hoysaiai. 
their king Vishnuvardhana, who ruled from 1104 to 1 14 1 , is related 
to have captured the Wynaad ' with a frown.' He also seized the 
Nilgiri plateau ; for his general Fuuisa is said in a record of 1117 
A.D. to have 'frightened the T6da, driven the Kongas under- 
ground^ slanghtered the P61uvas, put to death the Maley^Ias, 
terrified king K&la, and entering into Nila mountain offered up its 

' Many of these swamps, which are still known in the vernacnlar vi'hayals or 
<"*yai*, are now ouUiTated with paddf. 
12 



62 



THS NILOlRIfll. 



CHAP. II. 

Eablt 
History. 



Their 
Dannftjakas, 



peak to the Lakshini of Victory.^ Tliis is the first mention hitherto 
discovered of the names T6da and Nilagiri. The Sanskrit fonas 
of the fatter, Nil^dri and Nildohala, also occur in other inscriptioii? 
of abont the same date. A grant of 1120 A.D. says that Tishnn- 
Tardhaoa ^ turned the Nila mountain into a city ' and another of 
114^8^^^^^ ^^^^ ^ ^^^ ruler of Nirugnndan^d, by order of ^denAd 
and Hiriyandd, laid siege to E^kulla fort, above the peak of 
Nilagiri fort, bnmt the fort, slew the son of Eoteys Ndyaka (or, 
perhaps, ' of the chief of 'the fort '), and joining fight with th^ 
enemy's force who opposed him, routed them and, by his braveij 
in war becoming a hero, went to Heaven.' It is not easy to 
identify these places and no signs of any E^knlla fort which 
would answer this description survive : but it is worth mentioQ 
that the natives sometimes call Bangasv&mi Peak, on the extreme 
east of the plateau, *the Nilgiri Peak ; that a village csUed 
Nirgundi stands seven miles east by south of K6tagiri ; and that 
another named K6kal is four miles north-west of it. It is in 
any case deserving of note that the conquest of the Nilgiri plateau 
was considered to merit special record and that the coontiy 
possessed, even then, inhabitants who were capable of considerable 
resistance. The title ^ Snbduer of the Nilagiri ' (Nilagiri-s&diran) 
seems indeed to have been borne hereditarily for long afterwards 
by the Hoysalas and their successors. Perhaps one reason why 
they gloried in it was that the Nilgiris were holy hills. The Ahbe 
Dubois says that even a sight of their summits was held to he 
sufiicient to remove sin. 

In 1310 this Hoysala line was overthrown by the Muaalmans 
of Delhi ; and their king fled. Authority over the Nilgiris seenop 
then to have descended to Mddhava Dann&yaka, the son of the 
Hoysala minister* Perumdla D^va Danniyaka, who took the titlp 
of * Snbduer o{ the Nilgiris ' and ruled from Terakanimbi in the 
present Gundlupet taluk, just north of the plateau, until 1318. 
He was followed by his son, and an inscription of the latter's 
time in the Vishnu temple at Dann&yakank6ttai, the deserted 
village near the junction of the Moydr and Bhavdni, calls that 
place Nilagiri-&&ddran-k6ttai, or * the fort of the Snbduer of the 
Nilgiris.' Its present name of Danndyakank6ttai was doubtless 
given it in honour of this family of Dann&yakas. Perhaps this 
village was the * city ' above referred to as having been built 
by Vishnuvardhana. It is now entirely uninhabited and is un- 
approachable from the tangle of prickly-pear which grows all over 
and ardund it ; but tradition among the hiU«tribes, as well as 
history, points to it as one of the places from which, even up to the . 



P<StiiTfCAL HIStOBT. ^3 

end of the 18th century, the hills were mled ; and even after the CHAP. n. 
British occupied the coontry it was at one time the head-qnarters Earlt 
ofatahaildar. . ^'I!^^' 

Both the Wynaad and the plateau fell, in the early part of the 
sixteenth century, under the rule of the famous Hindu kings of 
Yijayanagar, who had repulsed the Delhi Musalmans and e«stab- 
lished their capital at Hampe in the present fieUary district. An 
inscription of 1527 records that Krishna Edya N^yaka, Hhe 
right hand of Krishna D^ya Mah&r&ja' (the greatest of the 
Yijayanagar Une) granted to a certain vperson '^e village of 
Masanahalli in B^yanfid stala, together with its hamlet of D^va- 
rayapura, free of all imposts, with the eight rights of full 
possession, to be enjoyed by himself, his sons, grandsons and 
descendants, as long as sun and moon endure.'^ This Masanahalli 
is the village at the foot of the Sigiir gh^t which is now called 
Masinigudi ; and its hamlet Devar&yapura is the D^var^yapatna 
from which the early European visitors to the hills named the 
path which led down to Sigfir ' the Devar^yapatnam pass/ Bound 
about both places (see p. 351) are numerous ruined buildings and 
sculptured cromlechs, and both were clearly of far greater 
importance then than now. It is worthy of note, too, that they ^ 

were considered at that time to be included in the Wynaad. One 
inscription seems indeed to suggest that the former was actually 
the capital of that tract. 

In 1565 the Yijayanagar dynasty was overthrown by the And the 
united Musalman kings of the Deccan at the memorable battle of ^"sore ^ 
Talik6ta (one of the great landmarks in South Indian history) and 
its rulers, though they continued to maintain a semblance of 
power, became so feeble that their vassals in every direction rose 
against them and declared themselves independent. In 1610 
one of these, king B^ja Wodeyar (Udaiyar) of My§ore, drove out 
of Seringapatam the Yijayanagar general ; and two years later 
he was granted that place and the Ummatt^r country near it by 
the then nominal king of Yijayanagar, who was living at Penu- 
konda in the Anantapur district. Thenceforth the kings of 
Mysore became rulers of the Wynaad and titular possessors of 
the Nilgiri hillsi and the latter were apparently under the 
immediate rule of dependents of theirs called the Udaiyars or 
Rajas of Ummatt^ir (a village in the present Chamar&jnagar 
taluk) who constantly figure in local tradition. 

Of the doings of the Mysore kings in the Wynaad and on the Dearth of 
plateau or of the internal history of the district down to tlie date mlteiSS* 
of the English occupation in 1799 no record or definite tradition 



94 THB NILOIRlfl. 

CBAP. n. now sarviyes. The account (referred to later) by the Joemi priest 
Ea»ly Ferreira or Pinicio of his visit to the plateau in 1602 shows that 

' the Todas and Badagas were already settled there at that time and 

maintained mach the same matnal relations as they do to*day. 
The only relics of a possibly earlier oocupation by others are, on 
Hh^latean, the old gold-workings referred to in the last chapter, 
sundry derelict forts, and numerous oaims, barrows and cromlechs ; 
and, in the Wynaad, some more anoient gold-workings and one or 
two old forts, such as the two near Nellak6ttai mentioned on 
p. 370 below. 

Regarding none of these three classes of relics is there any 
real history or even any definite tradition ; and who their authors 
can have been is a matter about which it is possible only to 
conjecture. The gold- workings are often attributed to Tipu 
Sultan's initiative ; but there is no evidence that he had anything 
to do with them and tUe probabilities and the legends (see for 
example p. 366) point to their being much older. Snch Badaga 
tradition as exists usually declares (see Chapter XY) that the 
Hulikal Drug, Malaik6ta and Udaiya Bl[ya E6ta forts wei^ 
constructed by the UmmattAr B^jas when they held the conntrj 
as dependents of Mysore about the beginning of the sixteenth 
century ; but is entirely silent regarding the mud fort at Kinna- 
korai which commands a track leading up from the Bhavdni valley 
and the Semb^nattam fort near Masinigudi. The cairns and 
barrows of the plateau are apparently older than any of these 
strongholds; while the cromlechs on the other hand seem 
comparatively modem. But the evidence is too scanty to warrant 
positive assertion and the net result of enquiries into these three 
classes of antiquities is of the very slightest value from tho strictly 
historical point of view. 
Tho sBti- Setting as;de the gold-workings and the ruined forts, which 

the hiili. ^^^ ^^ ^^^ least of the three classes^ we may digress for a moment 
to see what evidence the old cairns, barrows, etc. of the plateau 
afford as to the dwellers in that tract either before or after the 
Mysore kings became rulers of it. 

These consist of (a) cairns, which range from carefully con* 
structed circular walls of uncemeuted stone rising above the 
ground and sometimes called * draw-well cairns,' through rougher 
similar walls backed with earth, down to mere circles of stones 
embedded in the ground ; (6) barrows, which consist of circular 
heaps of earth surrounded by a ditch which is sometimes enclosed 
in one' or more circles of loose single stones ; {e) funeral circles, 
or dsdranu, built of rough stones ; {d) kistvaens, or box-shaped 



HlfVOlT. 



POLITIOAL HlflOBT. 95 

oonstractioiiB made of six slabs of stone (in one of which is a round oBaf. ih 
apertnre about a foot in diameter) sunk down to the level of the J^awLt 
gzonnd and sometimes surrounded with a circle of loose st9ne8 or 
an earthen tiunulus ; and (e) oromlechs (or dolmens)^ whioh are 
similar constructions but have one side quite open^ stand above 
the level of the ground, and are often sculptured with figure of 
men and animals. 

Except the cromlechs, these monuments originally contained 
ancient relics^ such as pottery^ weapons, implements^ beads^ etc., 
and nnlnckily this fact at once attracted to them the attention of 
the early European visitors to the hills, who dug into large 
numbers of them without system or care and without troubling to 
record the results. As early as 1826, the Bev. James Hough 
said ^ that some of them had been opened ; Captain Harkness' 
book on the T6da8, published in 1882,' gave an account of his 
excavations into others with an illustration of his finds ; and 
Lieatenant Burton, who wrote in 1847,^ put ' curiosity-hunting,' 
as he called it, first in his list of the amusements open to a visitor 
to Ootaoamund. Even as early as that, he said, these antiquities 
bad been ' so exposed to the pickaxes of indefatigable archseolo- 
gists that their huge store of curiosities has been almost exhausted. 
Little remains but the fixtures.' Captain H. Congreve was the 
first to publish (in 1847 *) an illustrated account of the excavations 
he had made (he opened 46 cairns) and the relics he had found ; 
but the classic on the subject is the Primitive Tribes and Monuments 
of the Nilagiris of Mr. J. W. Breeks, the first Commissioner of the 
district, which contains numerous photographs.* The cream of 
Mr. Breeks' finds was eventually depositej^ in the Madras Museum, 
and Mr. Brace Foote's Catalogue of the Prehistoric Antiquities there 
(Qovemment Press, 1901) contains further illustrations of some 
of tbem. 

Mr. Breeks' work was written in compliance with a circular 
issued by the Indian Museum at Calcutta suggesting that re- 
presentative collections should be made, for exhibition at that 
institution, of the contents of the many ancient burial-places in 
Central, Western and Southern India. This was sent by the 
Madras Oovemment of the day to all Collectors, but Mr. Breeks 
appears to have been the only one of them who achieved anything 
of note in the direction desired. 

' Letter a tm the elimt^, etc. of the Neilgherriee (London, 1829), 82. 

* Bmiih, Elder and Co., pa^^ee 38-6. 

* Ooamidthe Blue MowUaine (London, 1851), 313. 
*M.J.L.8.,av,77-146. ' 

* AUen ftnd Co., 1878. Ofcfaer papen are the articlei of Mr. M. J. Walhomey 
)LCJ^ in the Indian Antiqwury,u, 275 ; iv, 161 j and t, 41. 



08 



THE NILGISI8. 



AP. 11 
Eablt 

HZSTORT. 

Oftimi and 
btrrowt. 



Thair oon- 
UutM. 



Of the various classes of monuments above referred to^ the 
cairns (called by the Badagas hokkaUu, or navel-stones) and bar- 
rows are by far the most numerous. They always stand on the top 
of some commanding hill and sometimes occur in gronps. They 
are scarcest on the Kundahs^ where only a few small onee exist in 
the neighbourhood of Avalanche, and most numerous, and also 
most prolific in relics, in the T6dan£d. Within the stone enclo- 
ures of the cairns, which range from ten to twenty-eight feet in 
dkimeter, and in the barrows, which are from twenty to sixty feet 
in extreme width, are generally found large oblong stone slabs^ 
lying on the gff)und and usually placed south-west and north-east 
as though by compass. 

These cairns and barrows were clearly burial-places and 
appear to belong to the same period. The things found within 
them included burftt bones and ashes, pottery, iron weapons and 
domestic implements, a few bronze vessels, one or two bronze and 
copper weapons, a few gold ornaments, and beads of glass, agate 
and cornelian. 

The commonest find was pottery. It is usually made of coarse 
clay, like the chatti of to-day, but sometimes is finer and finished 
with a polish made from mica. Some of the forma are unique and 
quite unlike anything found in other parts of South India. The 
real cinerary urns which contained the ashes and bones of the dead 
are shaped like a flattened chatti and rudely ornamented with 
Vandykes, dots and circles. They wore usually buried four or five 
feet deep. Nearer the surface were much more striking examples 
of pottery, namely long cylindrical jars, generally empty^ with 
round or conical bases fasj^ioned to rest upon ring-stands or to be 
stuck into soft soil, like the classical amphor». They have domed 
lids on which are grotesquely and clumsily executed figures of the 
most varied kind, including men and women standing or riding on 
horses, leopards, buffaloes with great curved horns, peacocks, deer 
with spreading antlers, sheep, elephants, and other animals too 
rudely-fashioned to be identifiable with certainty. Some of the 
buffaloes and sheep have bells round their necks. The men wear 
beards clipped short ; both men and women have head-dresses, 
some of which resemble the Phrygian cap ; the only clothes they 
* wear to protect them from the rigours of the plateau are narrow 
waist-cloths, but they have necklaces, bracelets and other orna* 
ments, and cross-belts in front and behind. Nothing oonld be 
more unlike the dress of the present dwellers on the hills. 

The« weapons (none of the hill people now use any weapons 
at all) inclnde short-handled axes, heads of spears, javelins 
and arrows, swords and daggers ; and the domestic implements 



POLITICAL HI8T0BT. 97 

comprise sickles, razors, knives, shears with spring handles, CHAP. II. 
tweezers, lamps and bells. The few bronze vessels, which are BARit 
natarallj much better preserved than any of the iron articles, are Histoby. 
so etegant in shape and so delicately ornamented with flutiogs and 
lotns-patterns that they almost resemble G-reek or Egyptian art 
and stand qnite apart from the other finds. The gold ornaments 
are also prettily designed, and the beads are cleanly drilled and* 
sometimes engraved with varied patterns filled in with a kind of 
white enamel. Many of these articles again differ entirely from 
anything now in use on the plateau. 

Regarding the age and the authors *of these osims and bar- Their 
rows there has been much ingenious speculation. In many parts ^"*^^®'™- 
of the world, a distinct bronze age preceded the iron age, but 
there is as yet no evidence that this was so in Southern India and 
the fact that bronze and iron articles occub side by side in these 
monuments raises no clear inference as. to their date. Ancient 
trees (computed to be 800 or 400 years old and one of which, 
mentioned by Congreve, was 27 feet in circumference) grow out of 
the middle of some of them ; but the nature of the relics does 
nut point to a really remote antiquity, and none of the hill-tribes 
claim any right in the monuments or (though this fact can doubt- 
less be explained away) exhibit any objections to their being * 
opened and rifled. There is nothing about the monuments to 
connect them with any of these tribes (unless it be the numeroiks 
ttn^ures of buffaloes, which resemble those which the T6das now 
breed) but on the other hand their contents, as has been seen, 
rather point to their having been the work of people who differed 
altogether from the present inhabitants and have disappeared. 
Captain B. S. Ward, whose survey memt)ir of 1822 appears to be 
the earliest paper in which the monuments are referred to, and 
who was a most careful enquirer^ said that thd people told him 
tlmt they 'were built by the Boopalans, predecessors of the 
present race of the Toduwars ' or T6das. Breeks, on a considera* 
lion of all the evidence, thought it * more satisfactory to assign 
the cairns to the T6das than to an unknown race;' but if the 
pottery found in them was really the work of the ancestors of the 
present T6das these latter must have greatly degenerated in 
aesthetic appreciation, for nowadays their domestic utensils, which 
lire mostly made for them by the Kotas, arc of the plainest 
description. Perhaps, however, just as they may have given up 
the use of weapons when they found defence was no longer called 
fur, they gave up yearnings after the beautiful when they found 
another caste would fashion sufficiently serviceable, i^ ugly, 
uUnails for them. 
18 



98 



THS VIL6IRI8. 



CHAP. TT. 
Eaklt 

HiSTOBY. 



A%Aram$, 



KistTaent. 



A number of cairns and barrows not referred to either by 
Breekfl or Congreve still exist on the hills and some of these have 
apparently never yet been excavated.^ The subject cannot 
therefore be said to have been exhansted ; bnt as far as it has 
hitherto been worked out it throws no clear light on the history of 
« the platean 

The dssdrams, or stone fnneral circles, are in some cases nith 
difficulty distinguishable from the ruder cairns and closely resemble 
the circles within which, even to this day, see p. 145, the Toda? 
deposit relies at their funerals. Within these^ large deposits of 
charooal and^ones, some brass bracelets, and some iron spear- 
heads and chisels were found by Breeks. These last were verj 
much less rusted than those discovered in the cairns and barrows, 
and of rather different shapes. No brass was found in any of the 
cairns, though th6 Toda women of to-day wear brass armlets- 
It seems permissible to suppose that theT6das may have been the 
authors of this class of monument. Breeks explored bnt few of 
them, and mentions a group of about thirty on the hill just east of 
the top of the Sigiir gh&t which he considered should be carefnilv 
examined. 

The kistvaens, which are all much alike, have only been found 
in one locality on the plateau, na.iiely near the ruined Udaiya Bdya 
fort already referred to. They do not seem to have any counectiou 
with this construction, for the Badagas have no tradition regard* 
ing them and give them the unmeaning name of M&ridru manat 
or * M6ri&rs' houses/ They generally measure about 2} feet by 
3| feet and the circle of stones around them is ordinarily aboat 
18 feet in diameter. They differ but little from the thousands of 
similar erections which are scattered about other parts of the 
Presidency, hike the cairns, barrows and dzdramSf they were 
doubtless burial-places. Inside the stone circle of one opened by 
Mr. Breeks was found a broken dagger and some fragments of 
pottery of a thick, highly glazed kind, quite unlike that from the 
cairns. 

In the Moyar valley are hundreds more of them, sometimes 
in groups covering ten or twelve acres, and these are generally 
surrounded with earthen tumuli.' 

1 Many were notlcod during^ the local inqairiei mado for the oolleotiatt <>' 
mnterml for this present 'volame, but it seems nselest to giwo pAriionlart of 
these since not only is it mottt difficult to describe their position aocnmtclt 
eaoog^h to enable tlioui to bo traced hereafter, bat it is impoofiible to be t^utv 
from thfir appearanoe whether they haye been already rifled or not. One or 
two however are mentioned in Chapter XV. 

> ^. WUUam Frasor's paper in M.J.L.8. for May 1S60. 



The cromlechs (called sih-kalluy or ' sculptured stones/ by the CHAP. 11. 
Badagas and btra-kaUu, or * hero-stones/ by the Kurumbas and Early 
Irolas) stand in a class apart, and appear to have no connection Hutqrt. 
with any of the other monuments. While the cairns are scat- Cromlechs, 
tered over the plateau and generally stand on high, bare ridges, the 
cromlechs all lie on the lower levels and near the passes leading 
up from the low country. They are apparently not burial-places, 
and the few objects found in them are quite different from the 
contents of the cairns and almost certainly more modern. The 
cromlechs consist, as has been said, of three slabs of stone placed 
on end to form three sides of a square,* with a ctpstone on top. 
The biggest of thera, one in Jakkan^ri, a hamlet of K6tagiri, is 
jost high enough for a man to stand upright in it. The inner 
sides of the back slabs are frequently roughly sculptured, and the 
representations on them furnish material for ctojectures as to the 
age and purpose of the monuments and -the people who erected 
them. 

The sculptures, of which there are many photographs in 
Breeks' book, very generally consist of a series of compartments 
or rowB, one above the other. In the topmost, beneath representa- 
tions of the sun and moon denoting that the testimony of the ^ 
stone will last for ever, are often a basava (sacred bull of Siva) 
kneeling before a lingam on its yoni pedestal, and a male figure ; 
while ijn the lower ones are standing male and female figures and 
representations of battle or hunting scenes — such as a man, sur- 
roonded by his attendants, riding on a horse and brandishing 
some weapon, or on foot spearing a sambhar, tiger or elephant. 
Both the men and women are nude ^bove the waist, and the 
latter wear big ornaments in their pendant earlobes and their 
hair dressed in a great bunch on one side ofiiheir heads. In 
some oases the women are depicted with one hand raised and 
(clasping a flower or a round object. 

It will thus be seen that these sculptures closely resemble Their 
those on the virahjih (* hero-stones ^) and mahd aan hah (' great builders, 
sati stones ') which are so common in Coorg, Mysore and the 
* western side of the Bellary district, and which are also numerous 
round about Masinigudi. These usually consist, it is true, only of 
a single upright slab, while the cromlechs contain in addition two 
Bide slabs and a capstone ; but the sculptures on both classes of 
monnment are remarkably similar in general design and in the 
carious head«-dresses of the women.^ Colonel Wilks ^ thought 

I 8ee Fergussoo's BuAe Stone Monuments (IS72}, 4^3. 
* HiMtory oj Mysort (Madras, 1869),!, 15 uote. 



Eauffi*^- 



r.^jk?' Zl^ -diar M#» i:w=rr !':ni3ar'3i*Hin» w=*r» 3i%?»i*?*i to depict the hunting 
***^^ *x::*-'Lni:ii ir "-aru? 31 wziiij. smn?? ]L»rfT2 w»5 ^^azM, the figures of 
w-:m*Ht i':*:*:^- 'ii**?!! Ta r^^^zr^^-^ir^x ii* tn&&atioa to HesTen bv 
.T*»^-tr-ir:a.. x-tizL* vui Ki^ ^TC•»^!IL•:*55 ccnipttrtsesi^flt to portmj th^ 
T^Ti rLf :£ ".-!.-» 'i^-TiLi^L^**. wri t2i«? *!?n> ^tacdntg' before th** 
p*t*T'i.iar -a^n'-.v-TiL* :c 'i:^ toj^t'-ith- *1i»* L£i,rija4 'or. at the least, th* 
SiiLT-*^ 'a.-'i- T:** w-iTiuHL wT-1 ott-» z^uofi nxsed are the d^aH 
i=^r:'* -»-_'■*« TT^: :s::iiiL;^^*t <ati i-ii iis fjTe. and the objects tli*^} 
inji *r» ch'? -jL t':Le i.:^-r« :r Irate? wrL?* t^iej used to distribnt'^ 
*^rj *'-^ '- -^Aii.^^r? *':»it:r»rfi.'=^7 tork tL-: ratal l-»p into the fire. 

X'TT •£!•* I'll- J •m'':»r ca t'l-? '"; . ^ wro are Saivites or Lingijat^ 
or ^T-rt Ent'i'^-* in lii*» ?nric^ mj^^Axaz of the word aad would Ik- 
Ure.T t- • carre ha.^T.%ft a»i .in^ins oa t&eir memoriais of th*' 
d-^ ar«^ the E>i#ia^^-« and the*^ f»5«Dple to this daj claim cou&ec- 
tioa w:*ii f-o.-Ti-r of ^L*r-?e scnlitore*. Tb^j sar, for example, that 
tiia=e at TzL-iir az.d If-T.dr were zxiade bj the ancestors of th^^ 
pr^«-rnt TJ ■ Agers of AttikirZiatri p. :~.16 ; thej often pot the 
5cppo5ei aroiea of their d-i£ed ance:stors near sach cromlechs ; 
acd th*rv are re[Airiaar and improTing one at AchenL It has beeo 
urg*;d toat the B^iagas cannot Lave erected them because they do 
not un-jer?tacd the art of stone -cuttins* ; bat this art has never 
been common prop<ertY anti has alwavs been the exclnsive posses- 
sion of the artisan caster. The Badagas hare apparently always 
imported nece*?aries of life sach as their clothes) fiom the fdain^ 
below them, and thei*e seems to l<e no reason why they shoold not 
have brought op stoce-masoos when need arose, as indeed they do 
nowadays. They by no means severed their connection with the 
plains, and to this day s&me of them choose their brides from 
their caste-fellows down there. 

Only one of the cromlechs, that at Melar, has any inscription 
on it and this is too fragmentary and defaced to be clear. Rai 
Bahadar V. Yenkayya, the Government Bpigraphist, says that he 
cannot find in it the &aka year or the reference to a tiger mentioned 
in Dr. Pope's translation of it given on p. 102 of Breeka' book, 
and that apparently its purport is a statement that the cromlech 
was set np by two Gavundans. The characters are quite modem. 
Badagas of position still use the title Gavnndan, and as far as it 
goes the inscription thus supports the theory that the cromlech 
was put op in historically recent times by Radagas. 

Th« bitsi The best examples of these sculptared cromlechs on the 

p1at4*av are those half a mile west of 6h616r (six miles in a 
Htraiglit line north by west of Ootacamund) ; in a shdla about a 
mile Noutli of the Mel6r already mentioned, which include the 



'^DDOlnotl 



POLTnOAL HISTORY. 



101 



best earring of all ; in the Banagadi shola of Jakkan^ri, a hamlet 
of Eotagiri, near the bridle-path from K6tagiri to St. Oatherine's 
falls, wMch contain the biggest example known ^ and are called by 
Breeks the ' Dodduni group ; ' at Jakkata (the ' Jakata Kambe ' 
of Breelcs)* about a mile to the south of the last ; at Acheni, a 
hamlet of E6nakarai three miles south-east of E6tagiri ; at< 
HaMira (the * H'laiuru ' of Breeks) a hamlet of Kengarai east of 
Kotagiri; and at Tftdfir, a deserted Badaga village about two 
miles west of Kulakambai, which are those referred to hj Breeks 
as ' in Major Sweet's plantation beyond Kdteri.' 

In these last were found a number of iron and bronze armlets. 
<^ickles^ rings, two small iron hatchet heads (all less rusted than 
in the cairns) and a rough chatti ; but as a rule there is nothing 
in the cromlechs, whether sculptured or unsculptured, except 
rounded water- worn stones, which the natives call deva-hoUa- 
kalluy or * god-given stones.' Breeks says that the Kurumbas used 
to put one of these stones in ]a cromlech each time one of their 
relations died and Mr. M. J. Walhouse, M.C.S., says ^ the Irulas 
did 80 too. 

In the McDougal estate near the Kulakambaif alls, down a 
very steep path and in a spot overlooking the Bhav^ni vaUey, are 
the rains of a remarkable sculptured example which was described 
and illustrated by Mr. Walhouse before it was demolished and is 
the only one of its kind on the hills. It originally consisted of 
five cromlechs (three big ones in the middle and a smaller one at 
f'ach end) standing side by side and facing the same way, but the 
slabs of which it was composed have now been thrown down and 
are covered with jungle. » 

Neither Breeks' nor Congreve's accounts of the cromlechs are 
exhaustive, there being several excellent sculptured examples 
which are referred to by neither, but they go far enough to show 
that there is little hope that any more definite conclusions will 
result from further enquiry. 

It will be seen from this long digression that, however 
interesting the various antiquities on the plateau may be in them- 
selyes, they throw almost no light on its actual history. In the 
Wynaad there are no remains of the kind, and the darkness there 
is even deeper. 

Almost nothing is heard of the \f ate of either tract from the 
time that they fell, as already related, under the power of. the 

' This IB evidently the ono referred to on p. 40 of Colonel Rosf -King'! 
^^ri^inal TrihBs ofth€ Nilgiri Bilis (Long^mans, Green, 1870). 
* Indian Antiq%ar\ff ii, 275-8. 



CHAP. II. 

Early 

HlSTORT. 



Historical in- 
ferences from 
these antiqni. 
ties. 



l02 



THE NliiOtBii. 



CHAP. II. 
English 

PlBlOD. 

Affairs at the 
end of the 
18th centary. 



The fall of 
Seringapa- 
tam and oes* 
sion of the 
diitriot, 
1799. 



Later his- 
tory of the 
Wynaad. 



Mysore kings in 1612 until the end of the eighteenth century — 
just before the English first became possessed of them. 

The very existence of the East India Company was at that 
time threatened by the kingdom of Mysore, which had meanwhile' 
(by steps with which the present accoant ia not concerned) risen 
Jo great power under Haidar Ali, a soldier of fortune who had 
usurped its throne in 1760, and his son Tipn Saltan, wbo 
succeeded ou his death in 1782. The latter appears to have 
levied revenue from th^ plateau and garrisoned the forts at 
Malaik6ta and Hulikal Drug (see the accounts of them in 
Chapter XY)^ mth dStachments from the Dann&yakank6ttai 
already mentioned. 

The Mysore Wars so well known in history were waged hy 
the East India Company against Haidar Ali and his son Tipo in 
the endeavour to cripple their power ; and the Third Mysore War 
ended at length in victory, Seringapatam being captored in 17914 
and Tipu kiUed during the final assault. In the treaty which 
Followed (settling the division, between the Company and its 
allies, of Tipu's territories) the JSilgiri plateau, which was 
included in the ' Danaigincotah ' district (revenue 35^000 Eanti* 
r&ya pagodas) mentioned in the schedule thereto,^ was ceded to 
the Company ; but the Wynaad, by some blunder, was neded 
under one name to the Company and under another to the yonng 
king of Mysore whom the British had resolved to re-establish on 
the throne which had been seized from his family by Haidar 
Ali. The error was rectiOed by a supplementary treaty dated 29th 
December 1803 ' in which the country (the revenue of which was 
put at 10,000 Eantirdya pagodas) was formally handed over to the 
Company, who had in the interim been exercising all rights of 
sovereignty within it. 

Stormy years followed in the Wynaad.' One of the most im- 
portant families in Malabar, of which the Wynaad then formed part. 
were the Kottayam or Eotiote R^jas, whose territory included 
the whole of the Wynaad and much of the Kottayam taluk. 
This territory had long been governed jointly by different mem- 
bers of the family, each of them ruling over a particular division. 
The head of the family was Vira Varma, commonly known as the 
Kurumbran^d B&ja, but its most celebrated member was Kerala 
Varma Bdja, who belonged to its Padiny^ra K6vilagam or ' west- 
ern branch ' located in the Palassi or ' Pychy ' amsam of the 

* See Aitchison's Tr$alies, He. (1892), viii. 318. 
' » Ibid., 474. 
' Tke Moonnt which follows ii abridged from Logan's Molakt, 



rebel. 



POUTIOAL HI8T0BT. 103 

Kottayam talak, and who soon beoame notorions ander the name CHAP. n. 
of * the Pjchy rebel.' Englwh 

He had aLready been engaged in disputes with *ripa. Id 1787 ' 

that monarch had compelled the head of the Kottayam family to '^^® Pyohy 
hand over to him the Wjnaad, which was part of the particular divi-^ *" " 
sion of the Kottayam territory which had belonged to its ^ western 
branch.' Kerala Varma was the leading member of that branch ; 
declined tamely to submit to this aKenaiion of its property ; and 
from 17H7 to 1790 (when the Second Mysore War between the 
Company and Tipu began) kept up a ♦desultory% warfare with 
Tipu's troops. 

On the opening of hostilities in 1790, the Company's Chief 
at Tellicherry promised Kerala Varma that if he would * enter 
heartily into the war against Tipu Sultan and act rigorously 
against him ' the Company would do everything in their power 
to^renderihim independent of Tipu.^ The war ended in 1792 and 
Tipu was compelled to cede certain territory to the Company.^ 
Malabar (including the Wynaad) was held by the Company to be 
comprised in the country then transferred and was placed under 
the charge of the Government of Bombay. One of the first acts 
of that Government was to restore Kerala Varma ; but he persist- 
ently refused to come to any agreement about the revenue 
settlement of his*country and moreover got into trouble with the 
authorities in 1795 by impaling certain Mdppillas alive. An 
attempt to capture him resulted in his fleeing to the Wynaad, but 
on his begging forgiveness and the Kurumbran^d I^aja giving a 
security bond for his good behaviour he was allowed to return. 
He however began intriguing with Tipu's officers and preventing 
the collection of the pepper revenue, and at the end of 1796 a 
proclamation was issued against him and a letter sent to him 
warning him that ^ not a sepoy shall rest in this province till yoa 
and all your adherents are utterly extirpated.' 

Fighting followed in the beginning of 1797 in which Kerala 
Vanna had much the best of it, surprising a detachment and 
kilUng its oflScer ; cutting up a havildar's guard at Palassi and all 
their women and children^; and compelling some of the posts to 
withdraw and others to put themselves in a state of siege. He 
also now obtained support and ammunition from Tipu (who had 
always declared that the Wynaad had never been ceded to the 
Company and was still his territory) and during jungle-fighting 
m March 1797 inflicted a loss of about half its numbers on one 

> Logan*B JfoZabar, iii, 84. 
Aitohison's TVeo^ie^, ete.^ yiii, 469. 



104 HB NIL01R18. 

GlIAP. II. detachment of two companies sent against him and killed four 

Smolish;^ English officers belonging to another, of which he captured the 

'"^^ ' guns, .baggage and ammunition. The G-07ernor and the Com- 

mander-in-Chief of Bombaj eventnallj came down to Malabar 

and troops were pashed ap and captured Kerala Yarma's head- 

*quarters. Negotiations were then opened with him and eventiiallj 

in 1797 he was pardoned and granted a pension of Bs. SfiOi) 

per annum. ^ 

In 1 798 Lord Momington declared by proclamation that the 
Wynaad had sot really^en ceded to the Company by the treaty 
of 1792. In 1799 however, as has been seen, it was so ceded by 
the treaty of Seringapatam, and from the 1st June 1800 it w^ 
placed under the G-ovemment of Madras. 

But Kerala Varma declared that the Wynaad had always 
belonged to his family and that its cession in 1799 was uftm tm-et; 
and he once more went out on the war-path. The Govenuneni 
of India ordered that his presumptuous conduct should be severely 
punished and placed the military control of the district, witb 
Canara and Mysore, under Colonel Arthur Wellesley, afterward* 
Duke of Wellington. That officer's hands were full elsewhere 
for some time, and Kerala Yarma made the most of his opporto* 
nities by attacking the low country of Malabar. At the end of 
1800, however. Colonel Wellesley was free to deal with him and 
began regular operations to that end. By May 1801 every post 
both above and below the gh^ts was held by British troops ami 
Kerala \'arma was a wanderer in the jungles. It was found 
impossible actually to capture him, however, and meanwhile the 
unwise administration of the first Collector of Malabar, Major 
Macleod, had tjirown the whole district into a ferment and 
enormously increased the number of the malcontents. 

These insurgents quickly became so bold that they even 
threatened the Todandd and the country round Masinigudi, then 
called 'the Devardyapatnam hobli.' The Board of Revenue 
reported in June 1808 that the latter had been deserted in 
consequence, and in 1804 Government sanctioned the enter- 
tainment of 100 peons to protect it. In- June 1805 Colonel 
Macleod, the officer commanding a portion of the Madras force 
recently brought into Malabar, offered rewards for the seizure of 
Kerala Varma and eleven of his followers and declared all their 
property confiscated. This proclamation was the basis of the 
enquif*y which was held in 1884 into the ' Pyohy escheats ' in the 
Wynaad and is referred to on p. ?80 below. 



POUTICAL HI8T0BT. 105 

Ifesnwhile every effort to capture E^rala Varma continued OHAP. II. 
to be made by tbe aathorities and he was at length killed^ resisting Englur 
to the last, in November 1805. Thus ended the days of ja man ^*'^° ' 
who, as the Collector wrote, * for a series of years has kept this His death in 
province in a state of confusion, and agitated it with the most ^^^* 
intricate and perplexing warfare in which the best of officers 
and of troops have at various times been engaged to the melancholy 
lo»s of many valuable lives and the expenditure of as many lakhs 
of rupees/ With his death ends the political history of the 
Wynaad. 

We may now turn to events on the NUgiri plateau. This, The plateau ; 
though it came into the possession of the Company in 1799, was ^^ 
apparently not visited by any Englishman until 1812 and certainly visitors. 
contained no European residence until 1819. 

Nearly two centuries before the Company obtained it, two Portuguese 
Portuguese had made flying visits to it from Malabar ; but their vriests, 1602. 
impressions were not such as to encourage others to follow their 
example* The record of these visits is contained in two Portuguese 
MSS. in the British Museum which are quoted in part in Breeks' 
Primitive Tribes and Monuments and translated in full in Mr. 
W. H. B. Eivers' recent work The TSdas} 

About 1602 the first Roman Catholic Bishop of the Syrian 

Christians of the Malabar coast despatched a priest and a deacon 

to the Nilgiris to search for and bring back into the fold certain 

Christians who were stated to be living on the hills and to have 

' anciently belonged to the Syrian Church of Malabar, but then 

had nothing of Christianity except the bare name.' The account 

brought back by them * was not so gure and complete as was 

desirabk/ so soon afterwards a somewhat less hasty expedition, 

led by the Jesuit priest Jacome Ferreira,^ was at the Bishop's 

request despatched from Calicut. Ferreira's formal report, written 

at Calicut on his return on the Ist April 1603, stated that he had 

found no tidings of any Christian colony, but contained some 

account of the Badagas and T6das and showed that he apparently 

c*ame up by the jungle-path which still runs from Manargh^t in 

the Malabar district down the upper part of the Bhavdni valley, 

to S&ndapatti in that valley, and thence up the ravine of the 

Knndah river to Manjakambai, two miles south-east of D^vash61a 

bill. He and his party returned by a better route, shown them 

by the kindly Badagas, of which no account is given but which 

may have been the Sispdra path. 

' Maomillan & Co., 1906, pp. 719 ff. 

■ Mr, Kivers gives his name as Finioio or Fenicio. 

14 



1« 









in fth#i JT.'.^ir!.^, an."! for cic«»e on. twn 7eii^"Tries mcr* 
<v>nt.Imed *a ^nlniijwa '.ami. 

^/n ^ne 2otii O;to>>er 1%» 0. Dt. Francis EicflUBaa, wio sad 

h^n di^pnted bj the aatiiorlti*r4 l^i coniiiuzt enqiiri!** fnt-j t2e 

^xt^Ti.flT'5 ti^rrltories a^«i«d to tc*^ Ccni^anj'i poiaeeasiaiid tj tL* 

tr^iatj of IT.'Cf a'irea*iy irn<r.tioiii^i, Acd who nad arrivTad at the 

vi*.at>'<i of lMrinajakAiiic.'>tAi w':ii.:ii is ref-in^i to ahove lad was 

th'^n t.Kft hfrarl-r^narter* o4 the tAlik w'iiii-:h ini:I:i»ied the Xil^jiHs. 

• W>k a very loTig and fatig'ninsr wilk to the ti::p of the w^^sterr: 

hill.3i io oHf-r to ^ee a t^i)^h^j, or vil^as^ inha^ftei tj Ei^.'i^r%' 

^ f ro 1 A^; . f f e i^.rimaA th ^ ^lame »iaT . an 1 as ta remark? * re^^idin^ 

hi< wa.k are confined to a de-^cription of the In^ aa^i ti.- 

^pl^ndid view below him, and ^aj nothing of t'he hills which h-* 

ha^l ik':aU;d, it sieema clear that he neither reallj reaeh^ed the top o' 

them nor had any idea of the bean ties which were so short a 

di^rtance ahea/-] of him and on which he had tanie«l his b^ck. 

Mr Grii';^ ' «in^ crests that the %\fcA he reached was near Armki!*!. 

below Kan^a'tv^mi Peak, on the old track which then led frox 

iMnn^yakankotrai to Kotasriri. It seems likely enoo^h th^ h- 

followed thi^; then the only, path and it is quite nnlikeW that in 

onft day he conid ha?e climbed any hi;,'her than Arak6«i. Oth^r 

r;^jn temporary f^pcr.H*8how that this ]att*='r was then the fiM 

village up the hiil.H and di^ant seven mil^s from Danna^-akankottAL 

At th^ wime time that Buchanan wa^ set to work to write a 
d^'«icri[ition of the aoqnisitions of 179'.^. Colonel Colin Mackenxie. 
the di^tinj^ni'ihed oriental wrjholar who collected the valuable serie* 
of MHH. which j(oe« by hi.i name, was deputed to survey them. 
He doe«i not m^m to have himself ascended the Nilgiris, bat his 
n*|K>rt.M r^rr;r to an account and a map of them dmwn ap by his 
native mjrv<*yor«*. ' Th*«s'» cannot now be focnd ; and it is probable 
that even if tliey could tliey would be of little value, for the 
Colh'ctor roportod in 1819 that 'owin;ar to the extreme inclemency 
of the climate Mho survnyors were frightened, measured not an 
aero, and r^mtcnt^d themselves with 'making an estimate of the 
quantity anrl quality of the land and fixinpr the old rates of Uenoa 
faMHOHHm^'nt) xxyon it/ • 

< K«iv. K. Mots' Thf trffjo» inhabiting thf KetlghBrry tUlh (Madras, IHSC) 
howofiT mmxi'umn (p. \\) ihnl tho T6dM ' have a tra<1ition that ages ago a snail 
relorr of Roman (/atholion rrvided noar tho Avalanche.' 

* 8»<i«hiii My nor; Oanara tmd Maiahar (Higgiubotbam, 1870), i, 463. 

* Vt»triei ManutU, 277. 

* William Keys* rspori on p. 1 of the Apijendiz to tk# Dittrict Manual, 



POLITICAL HISTOBT. 107 

It was appapentljnot until 1812 ^ that the first Englishmen, an CHAP. ii. 
Assistant Kevenae Sarvoyor named WiUiam Keys and an apprentice English 
named MacMahon^ reached the top of the plateau. Pbwod. 

To the present generation, familiar with the beauties of the ^^^^ *"^d 
Nilgiii scenery and the deHghts of its ' sweet half -English' air, it f^^^^''''* 
is little less than amazing that the* first sight of the range should, 
not have suggested the possibility of establishing there a sanitarium 
and a refuge from the heat of the plains, and that the hills should 
have remained in daily view of all the' officers at Coimbatore for 
years before a single one of them ventured to explore them. But 
in those days the only hills which wtre well bnown were low 
ranges which were full of malaria, and it was not realized that 
above a certain height all risk of this disease disappeared. As 
Lieutenant Burton, writing in 1847, put it,^ ' we demi-Orientals, 
who know by experience the dangers of <n#untain air in India, 
only wonder at the daring of the man who first planted a roof-tree 
upon the Neilgherries. ' 

Keys had been sent up to survey the country by the Collector of 
Coimbatore and in due course reported on his journey.* His only 
comments on the climate were that it was ' extremely cold and 
unhealthful, from continual covering of mist and clouds ; ' that the 
cattle suffered severely from * the cold, frost and dews ' unless • 

provided with shelter at night ; and that he and his companion 
had * experienced great inconveniences from the inclemency ' of 
the weather. He went up by the old track which led from 
1)an&£yakank6ttai to Arak6d and the existing village of D^nfid, 
and penetrated as far west as Kalhatti ; but he kept to the lower 
levels to the north of Ootacamund, and never set eyes on the 
beautiful valley in which that place lies! 

His route is shown on one of the maps in Sii; Frederick Price's 
forthcoming work *' and that volume deals so e:diaustively with the 
expeditions made by the other early visitors to the range that it 
will be sufficient here to give the merest r^sum^ of their doings. 

' BnrtOD, in his Qoa and the Blue Mountains (London, 1851), 270, says that 
ia 1809 * Dr. Ford and Captain Beran traveraed the hiUs with a party of Pioneers * 
and that certain ' deputy suTTeyors nnder Colonel Monson partially mapped ' 
them ; but neither official records nor anoh contemporary newspapers as are 
iTailable contain any confirmation of this statement. The Army lists of 1810 
thaw L. 6. Ford as an Assistant Surgeon attached to the 10th N.I. and H. Be van 
fts an Ensign in the 14th N J. 

• The report is printed in e^xienso io the Distric* Manual, Appendix, 
ilviii-li. 

* Ootaeamund, a history, by Sir Frederick Price, K.C.SJ., formerly Chief 
Secretary to the GbTemment of Madrss (GoTemment PresR, Madras, 1908). 



108 



THE VlLaiRIS. 



CHAP. n. 

EVOLISH 

PB&ion. 

Wbiah and 
Kmdenley, 

1818. 



John 

Snllivan, 

1819. 



No record surviTes of any farther expedition to the Nilgiris bj 
Europeans ontil 1818, six years after Keys' visit. In the earh 
part of that jeeii Messrs. J. C. Whish and N. W. Kindersley, 
respecttvely Assistant and Second Assistant to the Collector of 
Goimbatore, went ap by the Dann^yakankottai-D^nad rente, crossed 
^e plateaa in a south-westerly direction, and descended by the 
S^ndapatti pass from Manjakambai to the Bhav4ni valley (by 
which the Portngnese priests came up in 1602), and so back to 
Coimbatore. Their exact *roate across the plateau is not clear, 
bat Sir Frederick Price considers that they must have gone b> 
way of Wellingion (then^called Jakkatalla) and Kateri and thus 
again missed seeing the Ootacamund valley. What took them up 
to the hillft is not certcdn. One account ^Baikie's'} saya they wer*" 
in pursuit of a band of the smugglers who in those days, when 
tobacco was a 6ovei«ment monopoly in Malabar, lived by running 
it duty-free from Coimbatore district, where it was t^and is still 
largely grown, to Malabar. Another story (Grigg^s) states that 
they were on a shooting-trip ; a third that they were mereh 
exploring ; and a fourth ( Jervis') that they were after a refractory 
poligar who had token refuge on the hills. 

Their account of the delights of the climate led to another 
party — one member of which was Mr. John Sullivan, Collector of 
Coimbatore, whose name will frequently recur in these pages — 
following partly in their. footsteps in January of the next year 1819. 
This party again went up from Dann&yakankottai to D^n^d, and 
thence marched to Dimhatti, just north of Kotagiri, where they 
pitched their tents.* Their route thereafter is shown in Sir 
Frederick Price's book. Like their predecessors, they missed the 
Ootacamund basin. One of them wrote to the papers an aocoant 
of their experiences ' which laid much emphasis on the fBct^ 
that the water froze in their chattis at night ; that they walked 
about up and down hill nearly all day ' without experiencing tho 
least inconvenience from heat ; often indeed seeking the sonshine 
as a relief from cold ; ' and that there was no sickness among their 
native followers. It mentioned that strawberries, two kinds of 
* raspberries, ' the hill ' gooseberry,' white roses, marigolds and 
balsams grew wild; that the crops included wheat, barley, peas, 
opium, garlic and mustard (all, of course, either rare or quite 
unknown on the plains) ; that (another striking contrast to the 
plains) * it was impossible to move a quarter of a mile in any 
direction without crossing streams ; * and that the scenery was of 

> Mv^K. n. TLomaa' utAitemont to Mr (irijfg. qnote*! in tla» Dit^tnci Mauud 

280. 

» This is printed in fnll in tlie DWriet Manual, Appendix, lii-lv. 



POLITIOAL HI8T0BT. 100 

' extraordinary grandeur and magnifioenoe : everytliing that a CHAP. n. 
combination of mountains, vallejs, wood and water can afford is English 
i'O be seen here ; ' and it wopnd up by saying ^ your readers will "° ^' 

nerhaps be surprised to learn that frosty regions are to be found 
at no very great distance from the Presidency [meaning Port St. 
George], and within eleven degrees of the equator.' , 

In May 1819 Mr. Sullivan again went up to the hills for twenty 
'lays. He was accompanied by the naturalist M. Leschenault de 
ia Tour (who had been sent on a scientific expedition to India by 
tLe French Government, had been brought by sickness ^ aux portes 
'lu tombeau/ but rapidly recovered in the coo] tflimate)* and 
Assistant Surgeon Jones ;. and Sir Frederick Price considers that 
the party stopped at Dimhatti and that Mr. Sullivan must on this 
occasion have begun the bungalow there in which he afterwards 
resided. • • 

In March 1819 Mr. Sullivan had asked the Board of Bevenue The first 
for money to make a rough survey of the fields on the plateau — th'^T?**^ *^ 
the existing survey, as has been stated, was only based on i82i. 
estimates — and to make a better way up to them. He justified 
the expenditure on the latter object by saying that the revenue 
had been gradually diminishing because the ryots only paid what 
they pleased, their inaccessible position rendering them ' quite ' 

>eeure from any coercive measures.' The Board sanctioned 
Rs. 800 for the survey and Rs. 300 for the way up, aAd both 
ondertakings were entrusted to Lieutenant Evans Macpherson, who 
sobsequently was the builder of ^ Cluny Hall ' at Ootacamund. 
The bridle-path up the hUls was made from Sirumugai near M^ttu- 
paiaiyam to K6tagiri and its neighbour Dimhatti ; and while the 
work was going on Lieutenant Macpherson Uved at a bungalow 
he had bmlt at Jakkan^ri on the existing gh^t to E6tagiri. 
Pioneers and convict labour from Goimbatoi*e and Salem were 
Qtilixed. It may here be noted that the path was opened in 1821 
And reported as completed in May 1823, and that it remained the 
best route to the hills from the Goimbatore side until the first 
('oonoor ghit was made in 1830-82. 

Lieutenant Macpherson, at Mr. SuUivan^s request, wrote in 
June 1820 a long report on the hills afld their climate,^ which 

' An aooonnt of Lie Tiait and the hills which he wrote in July to a Cejlon 
paper will be foxmd in the Appendix to Hocgh'B Letiera on the NeUgherriei (London , 
b29) and a paper on the flora of the Nilgirii, forwarded with a collection of its 
'••nti to the Madras Literary Society, is printed in t^e District Manual, 282-3. 

^ This is printed in. fall on pp. Iv to Ix of the Appendix to the DiHricf 
'i<inu9ly and in the Bine Book on ' Papers relatiye to the formation of a sani- 
''trium on the Neilgherries for Enropean troop* ' which was printed for the 
^i'^Qse of Commons in 1850. The papers in this latter, it maj be noted, ran from 
^iZl to 1886 and are of much interest. 



110 



THB HILGIBI8. 



CHAP. U. 
Englhh 

PSBIOD.- 



]^eport8 
regurdiog 
ito olimate 
discredited. 



was very flattering to botb and was forwarded to Gbyeniment ; 
and in the same month a letter, evidently from Mr. Snllivan** 
own pen and oonched in the same strain, appeared in the Madras 
Gazette. 

The Madras Government appear to have sent on these ani 
• other papers. to the Government of India, for very shortly after- 
wards the following notice appeared ia the Gazette of India : — 

' We trust that future reports of the salubrity of this spot wii! 
remove all the appreheusions that have been entertained, and that i* 
will become a place of resort for those whose state of health niaj 
require that Change of liemperature which it unquestionably affords. 
Should a continued residence in these regions prove that the cliicAt^ 
is favourable to the European constitution, it may perhaps be deemed 
expedient hereafter to form a military establislunent for pensiosen^ 
and invalids, with^a j^egular hospital ; and if it should become a mili- 
tary station, with Medical Officers attached to it, honses would soon 
become erected, and conveniences would be provided for those vho 
might be compelled to seek the benefit of the climate ; and, in all 
probability, many persons on the coast, who have withdrawn from 
active life, but who do not intend to return to their native oonntrr. 
would take up their future residence on the Neilgheny Mountains.* 

To appreciate the true inwardness of this noticOi it most hv 
remembered that there were then no hill-stations in India, and tliAt 
officials who were broken in iiealth by the climate of the jriain^ 
used to travel all the way to the Gape or MaoritinB (both 
altogether inferior, climatically, to the Nilgiris) to reconp. The 
possibility of there existing in South India, close to the equator, 
a region where the climate was cool and invigorating enoogh not 
only to restore invalids to health but to induce retired offidaU to 
settle down in it was at bhat time to most people absolutely 
incredible. Li^utenant Burton says that when the first visitors to 
the hills stated that the thermometer thqre was 25 degrees lower 
than on the plains ' such a climate within the tropics was oonsider^d 
so great an anomaly that few would believe in its existence/ It 
was to this popular incredulity that the first sentence of the notice 
referred. Meanwhile, however, more and more people were 
satisfying themselves by actual trial of the truth of the statements 
which had been made, ^y June 1820 upwards of twenty gentle- 
men had visited the plateau and one lady (apparently Mrs. Sullivan) 
^ without any inconvenience to herself and without giving 
parfioular trouble to the bearers/ ^ In 1821 some families took 
up their temporary abode there.' They doubtless resided at 
*I>im}iatti (where Mr. Sullivan had now a bungalow) or at Kdtagiri. 
Ootaoamund was still undiscovered. 

^ DiOrict Manmal, 2S1. 



POLmCAX HI8I0BT. Ill 

The first mention of that plaoe (under the alias of ' Wotokj- CHAP. n. 
mnnd *) ooours in a letter of March 1821 to the Madras Gazette by English 
an anonjnions and unknown correspondent who had penetrated P»»«^d. 
from Dimhatti as far west as M^karti Peak by way of Ootacamund First menti ^ i 
and Nanjan^d. This letter shows that another party had made °^ ^^^iSoi 
the same trip by the same route in February of the year before. • 
\N'ho they were is similarly unknown, but they were apparently 
the first Europeans to set eyes on the Ootacamund basin. 
Mr. Sulliyan, howeyer, was the first European to reside there. In 
1822 he began its first house> Stonehouse, the nucleus of the 
present Government offices, and it was *mainly o^dng to his 
enthusiasm for the place and his faith in its future that it rapidly 
•leveloped until it became the capital of a district and the summer 
head-quarters of the Goyemment. 

In the same year appeared the first officia>m(^cal reports on 
the hills, written by three officers who had been deputed for the 
parpose by the Medical Board at Government's request.^ One of 
these ,by Assistant Burgeon Orton of the 34th Begiment, discussed 
the best site for an ' establishment for invalids ' should it be 
decided to locate one on the Nilgiris. It pointed out that Dim- 
iiatti would be convenient for supplies, owing to the. new road 
and ' on account of the Collector's establishment being placed • 

there,' but showed a preference for the higher country farther 
west and pitched upon the tract immediately west of Shol&r as 
possessing the greatest number of advantages, including easy 
access from Mysore by a neighbouring pass. It suggested the 
erection of a few temporary buildings for sick officers, ^ similar 
to some already raised by Mr. Sullivan for travellers,' so that 
experiments regarding the effects of the climate might be made. 

Mr. Sullivan's prompt action had however cdready decided It beoomea 
the question of the best site for a settlement and he was already ^ ^tow^^ 
at work on the improvement of the spot he had chosen. In Sep- 1822. 
tember 182'<J, by which time the building of Stonehouse was well 
advanced, he requested Government's permission to enclose 500 
K'tUas (1,910 acres) of land, which was then all unoccupied, to 
make experiments in agriculture and horticulture. ' The experi- 
ments,' he said, * may eventnally prove useful to the public, and 
the expense of making them will be my own.' He took much 
interest in such matters, had apparently already started a flower 
)n(i kitchen garden at his bungalow at Dimhatti (see p. 326), had 
U?gan another on the saddle just east of Stonehoase itself, and 
had employed a Scotch gardener named Johnstone to look aft^r it. 

See the Parli»mentai7 Bine Book above oited. 



to then 



112 THB nLonu. 

CHAP. II. In those dajs and for some jeara afterwards, ontil experience aud 
BvGLUB trial liad proyed the hope to be rain, it was confidently hopei 

' and belisTed that becaase the Nilgiris possessed a climate nearly 

resembling that of England erery description of English fruits, 
vegetables, flowers and liye-stock would flourish as well as t bey 
• did in the old coontrj, and that the plateau might easilj be coV> 
nized bj military pensioneis and Eurasians residing on sn;u.. 
holdings and living hy agriculture and stock-raising. Govern- 
ment sanctioned Mr. Sullivan's proposal, and the land he obtain^: 
was the valley near Bishopsdown. In parts of this some ver;> 
ancient appld trees may stUl be seen, but he never enclosed mo''» 
than a portion of the extensive area for which he had applied. 

Progrwa ap In 1821-22 Captain B. 8. Ward, who was originally one of 

Colonel Colin Mackenzie's assistants and whose work in ot]:t r 
parts of the Presidency is well known, surveyed and mapped tl> 
hills (excluding tlie Enndahs and the Ouchterlony Valley, wlii« \ 
then belonged to Malabar) and wrote a memoir upon them.^ Th> 
was not submitted to Government untU 1826, but was apparent y 
written about the end of 1822 and thus is of interest as showiz.L' 
the progress which had been made up to then in opening up rl • 
Nilgiris. 

Captain Ward says that in addition to the houses at Dimhntti 
Jakkan^ri and Ootacamond already mentioned, temporary buniz^- 
lows for the convenience of travellers had been put up at Kodava- 
mudi (between E6tagiri and Ootacamund), Nanjanid, Ei.-r 
(Manjakambai) and Tellanhalli. European vegetables had l>v-' 
tried and thrived exceedingly well, as also apples, strawberne- 
etc. There were no /?rows on the hills at that time. 11^ 
8irumugai-Dimhatti route already mentioned was ' the most fre- 
quented by tra^^ellers and admits of palanquins ; horses and lB<i' i 
cattle go up it with much ease.' A temporary bungalow ha? 
been built on it at ' Serulu, a delightful situation amidst lof*. 
wood, abbut 4,000 feet above the plain,' and the distance bv it 
from the bank of the Bhav^ni to the Dimhatti bungalow was P»; 
miles. The track from Dann&yakank6ttai to Dimhatti bungal(>>^ 
was 20 miles 7 furlongs in length, and would * scarcely adiii t 
of laden cattle, being very rugged and rooky.' There wa- 
a temporary bungalow at Dendd on this route. The way frt>ii' 
the Kil6r bungalow down to Sfindapatti was ten miles long* in j« 
great measure steep ' but * on the whole a tolerable path.' Fronj 
Dimhatti a path 17 miles 6 furlongs in length ran to Sholnr 



'' This is printed in full on pp. U to lurviii of the Appendix to 'h« 
IHttriei Manual, 



POLITICAL HISTORY. 113 

Tia E6kaly Kaggncbi, Eodayamudi bangaloWy Tdn^ri and Ealhatti ; CHaP. Il 
and another^ 15| miles long, led to Ootacamond hj a oircnitous Inolmh 
roate through the present Wellington, Yellanhalli (the present '"^° ' 
Half Way House on the Coonoor-Ootacamnnd road, where there 
was a bungalow), K^ti and the gap through which the Goonoor 
road now enters the Ootacamnnd basin. A party of Pioneers' 
were however making a more direct route (since quite abandoned) 
which took a line further north than the existing K6tagiri-Oota- 
camund road but entered the Ootacamnnd basin by the same 
saddle which the present road crossc^s. By this the distance 
between Dimhatti and Ootacamnnd was ten nules and three 
farlongs. These Pioneers were commanded by the same Lieu- 
tenant Macpherson who had made the Sirumugai ghdt, and he had 
built a bungalow for himself at Ballia about midway between 
E6tagiri and Ootacamnnd. A school fof {he hill people had 
been started at D^ndd, but had failed. 

In 1823 Mr. Sullivan obtained Rs. 5,000 from O-ovemment improve, 
for completing the track across the hills to G6dal6r and the UJj^^^qq i^^ 
Wyoaad, and in 1824 another Es. 6,500 for opening out the and 1826. 
Kark^ ghdt to the Wynaad from Malabar (which had been 
allowed to fall into disrepair) and for improving the route from 
the top of it to Mysore. In Ootacamnnd itself, too, he had not 
been idle, and by 1824 had begun making the lake. But he had 
not succeeded in inducing Government to agree to his reiterated 
proposals to establish a sanitarium there. 

In September 1825, however. Sir Thomas Munro (then 
Governor of Madras) appointed a committee consisting of Mr. 
Sullivan, Lieutenant Evans Macphersoiikand Staff Surgeon Haines 
tu frame detailed plans for providing accommodation for invalids ; 
and on the recommendation of this body he shortly afterwards 
sanctioned Bs. 10,000 for purchasing and furnishing for invalids a 
bangalow at Ootacamnnd belonging to a Captain Dun which stood 
on the site of the present Bombi^ House. To meet the great 
diffionlty of getting supplies at Ootacamnnd, he also sanctioned * 
the cost of establishing on the hills European military pensioners 
who were to grow vegetables and raise poultry. But none came. 

In September 1826 Sir Thomas went up to the hills in person Sir Thomw 
for a few days. He marched to K6tagiri and thence along the J^^'**'" ^*"** 
Pioneers' new track above referred to to Ootacamnnd, where he was 
Kr. Sullivan's guest at Stonehouse. Gleig's Life of Munro (1830) 
contains a charming description of the hiUs which he wrote from 
Ootacamnnd to his wife, then on her way to England. He veas 
immensely struck with the view from the* hill just north of and 
15 



114 THJS NILGISIl. 

CHAP. II. aboTe the saddle already mentioned hj wUcli the road enters the 

ExousH Ootacamond basin, which, he wrote, was ' so grand and magnificent 

^ ^^^° ' that I^shall always regret yoar not having seen it,* This was 

apparently a show panorama in those days, for others also mention 

its beaaty. Monro refers to the pnrple SirobUantheSy the ' little 

^oeh ' which * winds very beaut^ly among the flfmooth green 

hills ' and down which he was rowed, the brightness of the snn 

which *■ poured a dazzling, lusture upon everything, as if two sons 

wero shining instead of one ' and above all the cold« ' I am writing 

in a great coat/ he said,^^ and my Sogers can hardly hold tlie pen. 

I am almost afraid to go to bed on account of the cold. The first 

night I came op the hills I did not sleep at all.' 

Gorernmeni The result of his visit was further action on the part of 

Ootloi^nd' Government to utjlize Ootacamund as a sanitarium. Advances 

18S7. ' amounting to Bs. 1 5,000 were sanctioned in January 1827 toOaptain 

Dun and others to enable them to build bungalows suitable for 

invalids ; and, this having resulted in nothing, Stonehonse was 

rented by Government in June, at Munro's own suggestion, for tw<^ 

and a halt years as quarters for sick officers, while Suigeon Hainei^, 

who had for some time beeiTliving in Ootacamund, was appointed 

as Resident Medical Officer. Munro died in July 1827 of oholern 

at Pattikonda in Kurnool, during a farewell tour to his jbidoveii 

Ceded Districts, and was succeeded as Governor in October by 

the Bight Houourablo Stephen Rumbold Lushington, who did 

more than any other man to bring to notice and render available 

the many advantages of Ootacamund as a sanitarium. 

People were just beginning to believe the accounts of it* 
climate which had been spread abroad. It is difficult nowadays 
to understand the obstinate incredulity with which these were for 
years received. The matter is well put in the Letter9 on the Neil- 
gherries which were written in 1826 to the Bengal Surkaru abo\e 
the signature ' Philanthropes ' (and afterwards published in book 
form) by the Rev. James Hough, a Chaplain on the Madras estab- 
lishment who had been to the Nilgiris for his health and was 
most anxious to acquaint others with the benefits to be derived 
from the place and to persuade the Government of India to 
patronize it as a sanitarium. He said : — 

' Notwithstanding the uniformity of the accounts given in favour 
of these mountainH by all parties who had ascended them, yet so ncito- 
rioiiB is the insalubrity of liilly couutries in India that it was for 
some time vain to plead the superior elevation of the Neilgherrie^, 
their Ireedom from juDgle, or the healthy Rtate of their inhabitants, to 
prove them an exception. An invetera^ prejudice seemed to exi^t 



^OliiTIOAL itlSTOBT. 115 

which nothing ooold remoye ; so that it was long before any persoDs CHAP. II. 
at a distance conld be induced to believe what they heard. At length, English 
however, the number of those who visited the hills became so great, Pbeiod. 
and all the reports of them were so favourable, that incredulity grew 
ashamed of itself, and was literally forced to surrender : and after 
seven years quarantine the Indian community are beginning to reap 
the adyantages of this interesting and valuable discovery.' « 

A report ol September 1827 by Mr. Sullivan sums up the Progress np 
progress made up to then at Ootacamund. Seventeen European *^ ^^®°' 
houses had been built, ten of which were private property (five 
more had been erected at E6tagiri) and« ^ 

* Boads have been made in all directions about the settlement so 
that inralids may take either horse or palanquin exercise with almost 
B» much facility as in the low country. A fine piece of water has 
also been constructed, on which boats are begiigiing to ply. A sub- 
scription has been set on foot for a public reading-room. Ootacamund, 
in short, is gradually approximating to a state of comfort and civili- 
zation.' 

Mr. Lnshington became Governor very shortly after this Mr. 8. B. 
report was written, and within a month of taking charge sent a l|^8l»l"»*o*» 
long string of questions to the committee already referred to, Governor, 
which was called the ' Ootacamund Station Committee,^ about 
the settlement. The answers to this, dated November 1827, 
show that Government then possessed in the place four bunga- 
lows upon which they had spent Bs. 20,000, and had advanced 
Bs. 32,000 more for the conatructiou of others (thirteen of which 
were being put np) ; that there were at Ootacamund four private 
bungalows which could be leased, at K6tagiri three, and at 
Ballia (midway between these two places) another; that Mr. 
Sullivan had made over the Stonehouse garden, ten acres in 
extent, to a European on condition that he sold the produce to 
the public ; that advances had been made to natives to open 
baasaars and that there were then 500 people and 23 bazaars in the 
place so that * the market is now well and regularly supplied 
with every essential article ' (except bread) ; that a public 
establishment of palanquin-bearers was kept up ; and that villages 
were beginning to spring up at the foot of the passes. 

On this, Mr. Lushington wrote a lengthy minute ^ detailing Hie •upport 
the further steps he considered necessary ; and on 11th December o^ *h® 
1827 Government directed that two companies of Pioneers should 
be immediately sent to improve the road from Mysore ; that 
bungalows should be built at Billikal, the then top of it, and at 
Higtr and Tippak^du in the low country at its foot ; '^that at 

^ See the Blue Book and E.M.C. of 11th Deoember. 



116 



THB NILOIBlfl. 



CHAP. II. 
Sholmh 

PiKlOD. 



flu Tisit to 
the liiUst 
1889. 



Ootacamnnd a hospital for 40 inyalid soldiera costing Bs. 10,500 
(afterwards tnmed into the District Jail and now nsed as offices 
for the depntj tahsildar and others) and ten bungalows to hold 
four IJachelors or two families each, costing Bs. 6,800 apieoe, 
should be built ; that the timber for them and their f amitnre 
^oold be supplied by the gun-carriage factory at Beringapalam ; 
that the Commissary-General should send up a supply of chaiiam 
and sand ; and finally that, since with the expansion which would 
doubtless foUow these steps the care of the Nilgiris would ' b^ 
sufficiently burdensome to constitute a separate charge,' Major 
William Eelsot 26th S.Tt (who afterwards built ' Kelso House ') , 
should be appointed 'Commanding Officer on the Neilgherries ; ' 
and that the Collectors of the neighbouring districts and even 
the Resident of Mysore should lend him every assistanee in their 
power so that work flight be pushed on at once and thoroughly. 

Mr. Sulliran's dream was thus at last ful6Iled and Ootaca- 
round became the sanitarium of Madras. But his joy at this 
consummation of his hopes must have been considerably damped 
by Grovemment's action in handing over his bantling to the care 
of another. Differences of opinion between him and Major Eelso 
arose almost at once in connection with the allotment of land for 
a military bazaar, which they had been directed to arrange in 
consultation. Major Kelso wished to mark out a huge canton- 
ment ten or twelve square miles in extent with its bazaar at the 
spot now called Charing Cross, while Mr. Sullivan desired to 
restrict it to a small site for a basaar, which he wanted to locate 
near the west end of the lake. Eventually a compromise was 
arranged by which the cantonment bazaar, public offices, hospital, 
etc. were located on the st)ur now called Jail Hill above the lake. 
Mr. Sullivan was popularly considered to have been obstructive 
in. the matter, and he thought it necessary to write privately to 
the Governor to disavow any such attitude.^ 

Early in 1829 Mr. Lushington went to Ootacamund — ^travelling 
by the G6dal6r ghat, which was then almost finished — to see how 
matters were progressing, and while there he laid the foundation 
stone of St. Stephen's Cliurch (which, see p. 859, was apparently 
named after him) ; directed Lieutenant LeHardy to trace the 
first gli&t from M^ttupalaiyam to Coonoor, which shortened the 
distance to Ootacamund by many miles ; and gibbeted in severe 
terms the conduct of Captains Macpherson and Dun and Surgeon 
Haines in charging exorbitant rents (amounting in some oases to 
60 per cent, of the capital value) for the houses they had built 
from Sovemment advances on land for which they had paid 



1 6ve hit letter of 16ih March 1828 printed in Jervu* book, pp. lOS-6. 



POtlTIGAL HISTOBt. 117 

nothing'. In the same year he began (on Jail Hill) the hospital CHAP. n. 
referred to on the preceding page ; bought for Government the English 
house now called fiishopsdown from its builder, Mr. Sullivan, for P«»iod. 
Rs. 35,000 ; and projected on an ambitious scale the experimental 
farm at K^ti which is referred to on p. 202 below. 

Mr. Sullivan took furlough early in 1880 and was succeeded Put of the 
as Collector of Coimbatore by Mr. James Thomas. In January ^^,JLed 
1830 the greater portion of the hills, including the low country to Malabar, 
to the north of them but excluding the area rouud K6tagiri, was ^^' 
transferred to Malabar on the ground that this was the best way 
"f checking the tobacco-smuggling already referred to which 
went on between Coimbatore and Malabar. Mr. Sullivan pro- 
tested iu a long and powerful minute, but it was not until many 
years later, when he had become a Member of Council, that his 
views were allowed to prevail. • * 

About this time a tahsildar with magisterial and revenue 
powers was appointed to the hills and Surgeon Haines was 
replaced as Medical Officer by the Dr. R. Baikie whose subsequent 
lx)ok on the Nilgiris (1834) is so well known. 

Orders were also given that a more direct route than that New roadi 
then in use via the Eark6r and 6iidal6r gh£ts should be opened ^ '^'* 
between Ootaeamund and «Calicut ; and in 1831 Captain W. 
Murray, in charge of the Pioneers, Major Crewe, Assistant 
Commissary-General of Ootaeamund, and Lieutenant LeHardy 
(whose Goonoor gh^t, begun in 1830, had already ousted all 
other routes on the Coimbatore side of the plateau) selected the 
route afterwards called the Bispdra ghdt (which was then one 
of the tobacco-smugglers' paths and parses down the extreme 
south-west corner of the £undahs) as^ the best line. Work was 
begun in January 1682 under Captain Murray, who established 
Pioneer camps at Avalanche and Sispdra, and by the middle of 
the year he reported that the Eundah pass, as it was then called, 
was open. The track however was of the roughest, and much 
more work on it was necessary later. 

It was at that time thought that the Coonoor and Sispdra 
passes would become the two main routes to the bills, the 
objections to the Sig6r and G^dalfir routes being the imminent 
risk of malaria which every one ran who travelled through the 
dense jungles at the bottom of them. So great was the dread of 
this fever that troops from Bangalore marched via the Coonoor 
gh4t, which was 60 miles further round. 

Other improvements not initiated by Government wer6 also 
carried out at Ootaeamund in Mr. Lushington's time. The 



lis THE KILGlBtS. 

CHAP. II. diorch Missionary Society started, about 1832, a school for 
English Europeans, haying built for it the house now known as Sylk's 
Pkkiod. ^^^^ , . gj^ William Rumbold began, in 1831, -the erection of a 
O^or hotef which is now (see p. 361) the Club ; the Bombay Government 

i^uT*" ^*d purchased, in 1828, as quarters for its invalid officers, the 
• building which was named Bombay House in consequence ; and 
three Parsis from Bombay, among them the firm of Framj^« 
& Co. which was afterwards so well known, had opened larijv 
shops. The opening of the Coonoor gh^t had also (see p. 22^ 
laid the foundation of the settlement of Coonoor, but had giveu 
a blow to KiHagiri and. Dimhatti from which neither have ever 
recovered. 
Progreatnp Meanwhile the Directors, with their usual frugality and 

to 1838. caution, were becoming uneasy at the large expenditure which 

was being incurred on the new health-resort, and in March 1802 
asked for detailed particulars of what had been done and of tie 
advantages which were expected to accrue from all this outlay. 
The Government seem to have been forewarned of this, for wbile 
the despatch was on its way they appointed a committee oonsist- 
ing of Captain Eastment, who had sucoeeded Major Edsoas 
Officer Commanding, and two other military men to investigate 
* the expenditure incurred up to then^ and that still necessary, on 

buildings, roads, bridges, etc. and to describe the prospects of 
the station. This body reported in August 1832. It recom- 
mended the encouragement of Major Crewe's scheme for the 
colonization of the hills by Europeans and Euranans ' and tbe 
formation of a cattle-breeding establishment to supply animals 
for the public service and salt beef for the Navy ; reported on 
the various public buildings, including St. Stephen's Church, 
the hospital (usually known as the Convalescent D^p6t), Bishops- 
down (which Mr. Lushington had been using as a residence and 
was then called ' Southdowns '), the different Public Quarters 
(among which were the houses now called Westlake and 
Caerlaverock), the Native Barracks (by Charing Gross), tlie 
Choultry (near the Willow Bund), the Lock Hospital (below Jail 
Hill) and the Public Bazaar ; suggested the erection of certain 
bridges in Ootacamund and a bridge of boats across the Bhav^ni 
at M^ttupalaiyam ; proposed the partial abandonment of tho 
Sirumugai ghdt, since the Coonoor and G6dal4r gh^ts (though 
their gradients were as steep as 1 in 8) would on completion, it 
was declared, ' be easy for travellers and wheeled carriages of any 

' Xhe protpeotaB of this will be found in Appoaduc V of the first aditioB of 
* This is outlined in Appendix VI of the first edition of B»ikie*s JTst^^itfrrM*. 



POLITICAL HISTORY. 



119 



vlescription almost tbroughoat the year ; ' stated that the 
sQitability of the hills as a sanitarium was ' proved beyond a 
doubt/ backing their opinion with a report speciallj draw^ up 
by D^ Baikie; and suggested that the Nilgiris should be 
committed to ' the superintendence and undivided control of one 
active ofiBcer.' 

Mr. Lashington's Q-ovemment agreed with this last pro- 
posal, appointed Major Crewe Commanding OflScer and altered 
certain other appointments ; passed orders on the other sugges* 
tions in the report ; and forwarded t*hat doci^ment to the 
Directors with the observation that they were confident that the 
Court would be glad to see at how small an expense they had 
been able ' to open to the sick of all the Presidencies the use of 
the blessings which have been bestowed uppn.us in the Nilgiris 
in a temperate climate, a fertile soil, and a beauty of scenery not 
surpassed in any region of the globe/ and slyly suggested that 
' similar statements of expense incurred at what are denominated 
the sanitaria of Bengal and Bombay ' might be called for, as they 
had met with * no persons so deeply and so gratefully impressed 
with the superior benefits of the Nilgiris as those who visited the 
hills from Bengal and Bombay.' 

Mr. Lushington retired in 1832, having done more for the 
Nilgiris than any other man. ' It will be the glory of Mr. 
Lashington's Government,' wrote one ofiicer, ' without any extra- 
vagant hyperbole, that he has introduced Europe into Asia, for 
such are his improvements in the Neilgherries.' His last acts 
were cordially to thank the varioua ofiicers who had helped him in 
the work and to place at the disposal of the sick certain bunga- 
lows at Dimhatti (see p. 326) which were his private property. 
His enthusiasm for the new Paradise which had' been opened to 
the dwellers in the torrid plains was infectious, and one result of 
it was the publication, during his rule and soon afterwards, of a 
series of books, brochures and articles on the Nilgiris which 
reflect in a striking manner the wonder and delight which were 
then felt in advantages which are now taken as a matter of course 
and cease to inspire any unwonted rapture. Among these were 
CaptaruHarkness', Dr. Baikie's and Captain Jervis' books already 
often cited, not the least interesting portions of which are the 
sketches and plans they contain of Ootacamund, Coonoor and 
Dimhatti in their infancy. Some of those in Baikie's work are 
80 erode that they raise a smile nowadays, but the author was 
proud of them because they were the ' first attempt to produce 
coloured landscapes of Indian scenery ' and they certainly present 
i vivid picture of the country as it was in those days. 



CHAP. II. 

English 
Fjebxod. 



T20 

CBAK ir Mr, lAk$kiiM4^a'ja. wia^ 4act!e<fiai At» So^^mor '::t Sir Yj^trJk 

Z%»Lt9it Adzm. In Jolj 18^, oa cna IaiQ:sr^» awtinn^ tkt Goaf li^sceL: 
^"^"^^ I%$t, wlzidi bad iccK BQ^vd BL 15:33 to Soiokdiira, «^^ 

T>f# aboHjffaed and the Lock H^^spital was tim a d into mm ^pdxEur 

VM^^^^^ boffpiiaL The grocadi for tiifa isef « vkicb w debaled it 

%\ttfMk^ \ff* imnufiu^ length l>j tike Bb&iieaL auriitiritiies* vere tiui tbaDep/ 

?««if '^^"** had been les* used and prorcd of satLI^r Tala^? th^a had bkt 

antidpated and fivs expeosTe :o keep ap. Tiie laedic*! staf c 

tliC LilLi was al^ redneed no«r t^at Ck>racam!iitd ww ao loarer 

an ofBcial Kanitariiun^ StoneLxise, which (s<e ah*3Te^ had ty.-^ 

r(*ni«d by Government as quartern for sick otfrcers, was gi^en c; 

in this same jear; and of the remainiag hoosea thes beloBfliif 

to Government Bombaj House was hnrni down, Weatlab ftr i 

Caerlflverock were sold in 1836 and Sonthdowns in 18^3^. 

Oih#r Changes in tne* administration of the hills were also m^'i*- 

h\TtSunpn\» The existing" arrangement was nndonbtedlj nnsatiifactorT. Tl- 

mtmu plnteau was divided between the Collectors of Malabar and Cv il- 

Ijaf/ore and conHequentlj neither took mach interest in its affr«.n 

while the nathority of the militarr Commandant was confines! t- 

Oofaoamund itself. The failure to apprehend the perpetrators of 

a maMHacre in 18o5 by the hill people of 5S Kammba^^ snspecte^i of 

witolicraft drew attention forcibly to the matter, and GoTemm^r.* 

doMirod t/O vest in one officer the powers of a Collector, Magistn-t 

and Juntice of the Peace (and also ceitain civil jnrisdicti^ n 

throughout the hills. This was however found to be impose:! :v 

without special legislation, and such legislation the Govemmer.t 

of India refused to sanction, holding that the necessitjr for it va< 

not BufHoiontly \)roved. ^ In July 1837, therefore, the idea wa.- 

abandoned and Ootacnmund remained a ' military bazaar/ thf 

equivalent, in those days, of a cantonment. 

Othor acts of Sir Frederick Adam's Government were tbe 
Axing of tho assessment to be paid for lands taken up by seUler» 
and the virtual acknowledgment of the rights of the T6das in thr 
pliiU^au, both of which subjects are referred to again in Chapter XL 
Thotigh suc^ceeding Governors evinced a less personal an<) 
Dnthusiastio interest in the Nilgiris than had been shown hy 
Mr. liushington, the advantages of the hills were now so widely 
known and appreoiaiod that they progressed rapidly none the les-< 
A dotailod aooount of the steps by which this was achieveii 
would oooupy far more space than is here available ; especially 
aino<i Hir Frederick Price's forthcoming work treats so ezhaostively 
of th|i fortnncs of Ootaeamnnd, the hub of the district. 

Lord Ulphihstone became Governor in 1^37, and during bi-^ 
rule tho hills first began to be opened up for coffee estates. In 



POLITICAL HISTOKY. 121 

1839 Mr. Sullivau, who was now a Member of Conncil, re-opened CHAP. II. 
tlie question of the transfer back to Coimbatore of the western EjroLXiit 
portion of the district which had been added to Malabar in 1830. P^rjod. 
Mach oorrespoDdenoe ensued and in the end the Commandant of The plateau 
Ootacamund was appointed Joint Magistrate to the Magistrates oJjf^at^e** 
of Malabar and Coimbatore and also District Munsif . His' 18*8. 
designation was changed to Staff Officer (it was chauged back 
again in 1843) and he was given two assistants, one to be in 
charge of the roads and the other of post offices and rais- 
cellaneoas work. . 

In 1843, however, the Marquis of Tweeddale, who had 
succeeded Lord Elphinstone,. adopted Mr. Sullivan's original 
proposal and retransferred to Coimbatore the tract taken from it 
in lb.30, leaving to Malabar the country west of the Paik^ra river 
and the Knndahs. The Marquis' rule is also memorable for the 
ilecision to establish (see p. b41) the dep6t at Wellington. 

In 1855 a Principal Sadr Amin's Court was established at 
Ootacamund and the Commandant ceased to be District Munsif. 
His duties, however, were still sufficiently varied. He was 
Magistrate and Justice of the Peace ; Director of the Police ; 
Civil, Military and Pension Paymaster ; and Station Staff Officer ; * ^ 

while in addition, as he complained, ^ the public, particularly 
the European portion of it, insisted upon his fulfilling self- 
assumed offices similar to the functions of banker, solicitor, 
notary public, arbitrator and land surveyor.' The Union Jack 
used to be hoisted on a flagstaff near his office when he was there, 
and this custom survived until the seventies, by which time a 
whole series of different flags was necessaj'j to denote the presence 
of the various officials, aud also the arrival of the mails and of the 
money for pay and pensions. The Joint Magistrate had then 
to be content with a white and blue flag, the Union Jack being 
reserved to indicate that the Council was sitting at Stonehouse. 
In 1855 an Act was passed empowering the Judge of Coimba- 
tore to hold criminal sessions on the hills. In 1859 the post of 
Commandant was at length altogether abolished, that of Joint 
Magistrate continuing, and the military police of Ootacamund 
were placed under the civil authorities. 

In 1858 the Principal Sadr Amin was replaced by a Subordi- The Knndahs, 
nate Judge and the part of the plateau west of the Paikira, the iJ^'igWK^** ^ 
Knndahs, and the low country to the north of the plateau were 
pnt under his jurisdiction. In May 1860 these areas were annexed 
to the Coimbatore district for revenue purposes. In 1863 the 
absences of the Coimbatore Judge on the salubrious hills for 
criminal sessions w^re found to be so ' frequent and protracted ' 
16 



123 



KXD^mS- 






ftdied TO it. 



Ifc becomes » 
Collect ormte, 
1^82. 



» \: Jis^rr-H^ wTij. i_» wr rk air Ll* ffeend-^oaiiers, and a specul 
Tb-^I HUL SiiysiiTctf I uLt^ fcc uir* NLjiris ii»s appointed. 

7T-»» iiT^v-**" -«^r. liHl fc-Ttn ^^r wx^fCiis^ to do and in 1^'^the po>t 
^wttf *.':i:L:i*.iH*L :t ii A "^ wimk ^ec:arac«?d the Nilgiris altogether 
fyrJOL 'J»mT":?irt.:r^ aaii piasMti i ^isier a Comnissioner and Assist* 
jhC »r.-TmT-wgi-iT**y w^3 iiii ^t;2Lrir«ed reTenne, criminal tnd 
nrTL- 7ir»rjiiiii:!L Tii* CoTmtisgjLyaer became Collector, Ciril and 
SesffXii* Jziij:^ mil Prtam^aL. Saiir Amin« and the Assistwii 
C:aL3i:is*ii:m*ff t»»i:*imf AiiS.sS*ii* Cv>ll*?ctor, District Mnnsif and 
rts^nirjin Ifjc-rf^tz-^v. TY* jiSTirT o£oer w^< aided in his magis- 
!SiKn*L »-;rk ij izizci lfi^i:^^^i:«?J* for i>:>taoamand and for Wellini?- 
-hjiL A2zii Cci:m:»:r- 3:ri ef t'l^-e^^e were militarr men, hadfui. 
HiAs^eriil TOir^r^. iai wigfi? a5s£^€d a «iednite territorial jnri^- 
ijon:?! : AJui i^e f :r3L-*r pj«*:*iri r>?OTlarlj at the sittings of the 
0'«:fcrA3::::=: i 3ei:l azii ^i^ Lftiitirr occasionally at the Kotagin 
Bc£L:i. Tre -Airier, ia adiiiiocu was Cantonment Magistiate of 
Weljj-ancc *:i i lai 5::^fcll oacise foyers, Bj the Act of 1858 the 
Coai^rissiZErr azivi iiis Assist .uit had ajso heeo inrested with 
«^iaL cacse |:o»ers- Tlrir aathoritv in ail matters was ooDte^ 
minces, tie -iislr::? not bein^ split into divisions. 

In 1^73 tie OjcLterlonj Vs^^er^ and in 1877 the Sonth-ea«t 
Wynaai. were aided to the district. In other ways alao i^^ 
imfortance incne-A^ei tap idly. Coffee, tea and cinchona had been 
planted on lar^e aT>e«s; Ootacamnnd and Coonoor had been 
growing daily ; the native population of the hills had advanced in 
numbers and wealth ; and the district had become the recognittd 
hot- weather residence of Government. 

In 16^2, therefore, it was pat on the same footing as otber 
districts and the Commissioner became Collector and the Assist 
ant Commissioner became Head Assistant Collector, while a 
Deputy Collector was appointed to look after the treasury work 
and a deputy tabsiidar to take charge of the Ootaoamond taluk. 
For purposes of civil and criminal justice the district was pot 
under the Judge of Coimbatore, the Collector was made an 
Additional Sessions Judge, and a Subordinate Judge, wboW 
also the powers of a first-class magistrate and a small cause cooit, 
was appointed to Ootacamund. The office of Joint ilagistrste 
of Ootacamund was abolished; the similar post at Wellington 
had been done away with shortly before. 

These arrangements still continue. The details of revenna 
and judicial administration are referred to in Chapters XI ^ud 
XIII /espectively^. 



CHAPTER III. 
THE PEOPLE. 



GtMCRAL Chabactebistics — Density of the popalation — Its growth — Languages 
spoken — Keligions — Parsis—Mnsalmans. Christian Missions —Bouan 
Catholic Mission— The Church Missionary S^iety— The Church of England 
Zenana Mission Society — The Basel Lutheran Mission — The American 
Mission — Other Nonconformists. Principal Castes — Badagas — K6tas — 
T5das>- Irulas — Kummbas — Relations between the five tribes— Chettis— 
Mandidan Chettis — Wynaadan Chettis — Paniyans. 

Thb Nilgiri district contains far fewer people than any other cHAP. III. 
CoUectorate in the Presidency — fewer, indeed, than many taluks Genekal 
in the plains and less than a fourth of the population of Madras Chabactee- 

town — and the number of persons to the square mile there is less * 

than in any other part of the Province except Kumool district ^ei»rity 
and the wild jungly * Agencies ' of the three northern districts, population. 
The population is least sparse (220 persons to the square mile) in 
the Coonoor taluk, but even there it is 50 per square mile below • 

the average for the Presidency as a whole, while in the Ootaca- 
mond and Q^dal6r taluks it is as small as 86 and 75 persons 
respectively to the square mile. Even the Ganjdm Agency is less 
sparsely peopled than this. 

During the twenty years 1881-1901 (the census of 1871 did Its growth, 
not include the Ouohterlony Valley or the South-east Wynaad, 
which then belonged to Malabar, so its figures are of no use for 
purposes of comparison) the population increcmed at the rate of 
22 per cent. This is by no means a rapid advance ; but the chief 
reason why the figure was not higher was that between 1891 and 
1901, owing to the decline in the coffee-planting industry, the 
inhabitants of the G-6dal6r taluk decreased by nearly 17 per cent. — 
a greater &lling off than occurred in that period in any other 
talok in the Presidency. 

In the ten years 1891-1001 the people of the Coonoor and 
Ootacamund taluks increased by 22 and 20 per cent, respectively, 
against the average for the Presidency as a whole of 7 per cent. ; 
bat over one-third of this advance occurred in the population of 
their two head*quarter towns (the inhabitants of both of which 
have more than doubled since 1871) and was due largely to immi- 
gration from the Tamil districts, especially Coimbatore. The 



124 



THZ HILOIR10. 



CHAP. in. 

GCHBEAI. 

Chakactxb- 
iSTirs. 



■pokeiL 



Beligionf. 



Fanii. 



MBMlaiftlM. 



T6du 
Ciirwnba5 



739 



805 
4,083 



9 
3 



marginal figures show that the castes indigenoas to the plateaa 
^ , . . „ increased less rapidlT. 

1891 1901. increan. Th« P«>Pl« ^^ ^^^ ^'^' 

BadagM ... 29^2 34,158 16 giris consist, indeed, 

K6tM ... i;20l 1,267 5 yerj largely of immi- 

grants. At the census 
of 1901, oat of every 
100 of them only 59 were bom within the district, while the re- 
maining 41 came from elsewhere. 

The district contains a smaller proportion of females to males 
than any othei in the Presidency, there being only 84 of thp 
former to every 100 of the latter. The chief reason fer this is 
that the coolies on the tea and coffee estates and the other immi- 
g^nts often leave their womenkind behind them ; bat in three 
of the indigenons oastes there are also fewer women than men. 
Among the Todas there are only 78 females to every 100 males ; 
and among the Kummbas and Irolas only 90 and 98 respectively. 
The Badagas, however, include 110, and the Eotas 120, females 
to every 100 males. 

The Nilgiris are the most polyglot area in the Presidency. 
Not only do the Badagas, Todas, Kotas and Eorumbas each 
speak a tongae which has been classified as a separate language 
or dialect, bat the plateaa stands where three vernaculars meet — 
the Tamil of Coimbatore, the Malajalam of Malabar and the 
Canarese of Mysore. No less than eight different languages are 
spoken by at least three per cent, of the people. These, to give 
them in the order of the frequency of their occurience, are Tamil, 
Badaga, Canarese, Malayalam, Telugu, Hindustani, English and 
Eurumba. In the Coonoor and Ootacamund taluks Tamil and 
Badaga are each the home-speech of between 30 and 40 per cent* 
of the people, while in Q6dal6r taluk about a third of the popu- 
lation speaks Tamil, a fifth Malay&lam and another fifth Canarese. 
The education and occupations of the people are referred to 
in Chapters IX and 71 below. By religion 81 in every 100 of 
them are Hindus or Animists (that is, those who reverence spirits 
and the like, and do not worship the orthodox Hinda gods), 
thirteen are Christians and five are Musalmans. 

There were some 50 Farsis on the Nilgiris in 1901, a higher 
number than is usual in Madras districts, and in Ootacamnnd, 
near the Army Head-quarters Office, is a Parsi place of borial. 

The Musalmans include, besides the pure-bred members of 
that faith, a number of the Labbais (Ravatans) and M4ppillas 
(Moplahs) who are supposed to be the offspring of Arabs who 



1 



THX PXOPLB. 



195 



KoiiiHo Catholics 




8,971 


Anglican Commanion 


»•. 


890 


Lathenn and allied 


denomi- 




natuma 


... 


713 


Presbyterian ... 


... 


192 


Methodist 


... 


164 


Baptist 




100 


nthert ... . . 


• • ... 


61 



came to the Tamil and Malabar coasts oentories ago and married 
Hinda women of the country. The Mdppillas are commonest in 
the Wynaad, where they do much of the trade of the country. 

The Christians bear a higher ratio to the rest of the population 
tuan in any other Madras district, and this is still the case even 
if the numerous Europeans and Eurasians among them are left 
oat of aooount. The Nilgiri plateau, indeed, is unusually well 
provided with missionary establishments. The educational work 
these conduct is referred to in Chapter X below. There are 
Government Chaplains at Ootaoamund, Coonoor and Wellington. 
The churches there, and also that at KStagiri, are referred to 
in the accounts of these places in Chapter XV, and the Church 

of England schools in Chapter X. 
At the census of 1901 the Native 
Christians of fhe district were 
divided among the variouB deno- 
minations as shown in the margin. 
It win be seen that the Roman 
Catholics are far more numerous 
than all the rest put together. 
The Roman CathoKc Mission in the district is controlled by 
the Paris Society for Foreign Missions and comes within the juria- 
<iiction of the Bishop of Coimbatore. Coiii.1)atore was separated 
ia 1846 from the Vicariate Apostolic of Pondicherry and in 1850 
^'as made into a new Vic€kriate. By the Encyclical Letter of 1st 
September 1886 it was constituted a diocese, and in 1887 it was 
made suffragan to the Archbishopric of Pondicherry. 

Soon after the first Europeans came to the hills the Catholics 
who accompanied them built two or three small chapels for them- 
selves.^ In 1839-41, not long after the Goanese Missions were 
transferred to the Paris Society, Father J. B. Beauclair, who had 
been placed in charge of Ootacamund, built in M^ttuch^ri another 
chapel, which is now used for the St. Joseph's middle school. 
The Catholic population increased very rapidly, and in 1859 
Father Payeau hdd the foundation of the present St. Mary's 
Church on the Convent Hill. This was gradually completed 
imm subscriptions and a Government grant of Rs. 4,000 at a cost 
of Bs. 25,000 by his successor, Father J. B. Pierron, and was 
^nseoiated on the 15th August 1870. Fourteen days later, the 
large dome which had been erected over the sanctuary fell in, 
and subscriptions had to be hastily raised to roof over the gap 
»ith corrugated iron. The building has since been considefably 

* An accoaat of these will be found in Sir Frederick Price's book« 



CHAP. III. 

Christian 
Missions. 



Roman 

Caiholio 

Mission. 



THE iriLGIRlS. 



CHAP. III. 

0HBI5X1AN 

MiBaioNs, 



The Chnroh 
Missionary 
Society. 



enlarged acd improved. In the cemetery belonging to it i< 
buried General Sir James Dormer, Gommander-in-Cbief of th^" 
Madras Army, who died in Maj 1893 from wounds inflicted by a 
tiger. 

In time the need of another ohuroh was felt, and in 1895 the 
' mission bought some land adjoining ' Belmont ' whereon Father 
E. Foubert erected the Church of the Sacred Heart. This wa^ 
consecrated in February 1897 by the Bishop of Coimbatore. 

The Nazareth Convent near St. Mary's Church was built in 
1875-76 by Father Triquet. In this, twenty European aqii? 
maintain the school for European girls referred to on p. 264 ano 
an orphanage which now contains 70 native girls. In the Con- 
vent compound is a lower secondary day school for Eorasian 
children of both sexes under the care of the Mother Superior, 
while the nuns look &fter two girls' day schools situated in Mettu* 
ch^ri and Kdndal respectively. 

At Coonoor, above the bazaar^ stands St. Anthony's Churt -:, 
which was apparently erected in 1876, and at Wellington ^ 
chapel, built in 1887 with the aid of a grant from Oovemment, 
which is utilized both by the troops there and by the civilian 
natives. Smaller chapels exist at K6tagiri and at Gudalnr and 
other places in the Wynaad. Two European priests are working: 
in Gotacamund and one at each of the other four places namtMl 
above. 

The Church Missionary Society was the earliest mission to 
begin work on the hills. In 1830-31 it built as a school th^ 
house now occupied by Sylk's Hotel and (p. 326) owned a 
series of small bungalows at Dimhatti. Its subsequent proeee«l* 
ings are a mystery, and apparently its work ceased as suddenly 
as it had begun! 

In September 1857 ^ a ^ Tamil Mission ' was organized at 
Ootucamund and a small church was built near St. Stephen'^ 
Church which was used for service on Sundays and as a school- 
room during the week. In 18t)8 a boarding and day school for 
Tamil girls was established in a house at the foot of the hill 
behind the little church. Services in the latter were at one time 
held by a clergyman of the Church Missionary Society and later 
the mission and its school Were cared for by a h>cal committ4>e, 
the buildings being vested in the Bishop and Archdeacon of ihtf 
diooese. 

' Tbe account Ix^low is based on the South of India Obierver A\miu»ac ioi 
1871, the Di'tflrtce Manual, 420, and The South Indian Uissi9n$ of f^« CJr.£. 
(S.P.0.li:. Preu, 1906), 12-14. 



THB PEOPLE. 127 

With the approval of this committee, Archdeacon Dealtry, when CHAP. HI. 
Chaplain of Ootacamand, invited the C.M.S. to take charge of Christian 
the mission, promising liberal aid. The O.M.S. did so, and sent ^^iswons. 
ft native pastor to Ootacamund for the purpose. Later on' the 
Chaplain of Ooonoor transferred to the care of the same Society 
another small local mission in that town. In neither case did the • 
Society at first incur any expenditure, grants from the churches 
and local subscriptions providing the necessary funds. 

Both missions developed, and work in the Wynaad also 
increased; and eventually in 1803 the C.M.S. sent a European 
missionary to reside in Ootacamund and now contAbutes a con- 
siderable sum towards the annual expenses. 

In 1893 St. John^s Church at Coonoor, near the hospital, was 
erected and at G6dal6r the Government church is used by the 
Society's preachers. Its work in the Wynaad, however, lies more 
in the MaJabar side of that tract than in the Nilgiri- Wynaad. 

The Church of England Zenana Mission Society maintains an The Ghuroh 
orphanage at Ootacamund and has made attempts to teach and ^ Engrland 
evangelize the T6das. The Hobart school under its care is re- Miseion 
ferred to in Chapter X. Society. 

The beginnings of the Basel Lutheran Mission on the hills The Base] 
have been referred to in the account of Keti on p. 332 below. ^^^^^ 
Its staff now includes five European missionaries. E^ti (where 
there is an orphanage for boys and a lower secondary school; 
is now its head-quarters and there is a prosperous station, 
started in 1867, in E6tagiri, which contains an orphanage for 
girls and a church presented by Miss M« B. L. Cockbum in 
1869. At Nirkambai, three miles south d K^ti, is an out-station 
attached to K^ti, and there are other stations at Hulikal and 
T&n^rL In 1886 was started the branch of worb known as the 
Cooly Mission, which ministers specially to labourers on tea and 
coffee estates. 

The American (Presbjrterian) Mission at Coonoor is connected The 
with the American Arcot Mission of the Reformed Church in ^]^gj^„*° 
America. In 1856 the Bev. Joseph Scudder of that mission and 
his wife were obliged by indifferent health to spend the hot weather 
in Cooncor,and began work temporarily among the Tamils in the 
neighbourhood. The Basel Mission and the residents of Coonoor 
invited them to found a permanent mission there, and in the next 
fear this was done. Later* on, the church which stands on a 
small hill opposite the railway-station was begun. For many 
jean this branch mission was without a resident missionary, but 
in 1900 the Bev. Jacob Chamberlain, d.p., who has been forty 



138 



THB NILGISIS. 



CHAP. III. 

Obkibtian 
Missions. 

Other Non- 
oont'ormists. 



PaiKciPaL 

Castes. 



BadAgas. 



years with the mission and is engaged on literary work in Telr.^ 
connected Avith its purposes, was deputed to Coonoor to sup-- 
intend the work on the Nilgiris in addition to his other dnties. 

The first Nonconformist place of worship at Ootacamond ^u« 
the Zion Chapel, which was built from subscriptions in 1856 an 1 
dedicated in December of that year by the Rev, Samuel HeVi. i. 
of the Basel Mission. The Union Chapel on Church Hill in xi- 
same town was built in 1 896-98 at a cost of Rs. 18,000, of whlc 
Rs. 7,000 was obtained by the sale of the Zion Chapel. 

The people of the JJ^ilgiris, as has been said, consist largeiv «f 
immigrants from elsewhere. Besides the Parsis, Musalmans anl 
Native Christians already referred to, there are as many as 10, im 
Tamil Paraiyans, 4,500 Tamil Vell^lans, and over .5,600 TehiL^^ 
of various castes. These people do not differ in their wars ani 
customs from their 'caste- fellows in the districts from which tr.' . 
hare come, and need no separate mention. 

The Nilgiri plateau, however, is the special home of thr*- 
communities— the Badagas (cultivators), Kotas (artisans and nw-i- 
oians) and Todas (graziers) — ^which are scarcely found elsewherv* 
and so deserve some description, and also contains an unn.<<u 
number of the two forest tribes called Irulas and Kununla* ; 
while in the Wynaad the Chettis (landowners) and Paniyan- 
(farm-labourers), both of them interesting castes, are plentifo . 
Some account of all these people will now be given. 

The name Badaga (corrupted to ^ Burgher ' hy the ear;) 
European visitors to the hills) is the same word as Vadaga sd^I 
means * northerner '; and the Badagas of the plateau are the <i' - 
s(^endants of Canarese vho immigrated to it centuries ago from 
tlie Mysore country to the north, owing either to &mine, political 
turmoil or local oppression. When this flitting took place ih^r^ 
is littL^ to show. It must have occurred after the foundation of th^ 
Lingd) at creed in the latter half of the twelfth century, as man} 
of the Badagas are Lingiyats by faith, and some time before th* 
end of the sixt-eenth century, since in 1602 the Catholic prit-t- 
from the West Coast (as has already, p. 105, been seen) found tin >m 
settloii on the south of the plateau and observing much the sani • 
relations with the T6Jas as subsist to this day. Tlie presf-nt 
state of our knowledge does not enable us to fix more nearly tlu- 
date of the migration. That the language of the Badagas, whicli 
is a form of Ganaresp, should by now have so widely altered from 
its ori;riaal as to be classed as a separate dialect argues that tlu* 

* A olftts of RiMlagAii Vwcs in the Kollcg&l hillii in Coimhiitorc rUatrirt anl 
tbero nre » few of all throe tribes in GddAliir talalc. 



THB PEOPLE* 



129 



movement took plaoe nearer the twelfth than the sixteenth centmy ; 
while, on the other hand, the £act (pointed ont hj Mr. Bivers) that 
the Badagas are not mentioned in a single one of the T6da8' 
legends abont their gods, whereas the K6tas, Knrnmbas and 
Iralas each plaj a part in one or more of these stories, raises the 
iof erence that the relations between the Badagas and the T6das* 
are recent as compared with those between the other tribes. A 
critical study of the Badaga dialect might perhaps serve to 
fix within closer limits the date of the migration. As now spoken 
this tongae contains letters (two forms of ^ r \ for instance) and 
nameroos words which are otherwise met with 'only in ancient 
l)Ooks and which strike most strangely npon the ear of the present 
generation of Ganarese. The date when some of these letters and 
words became obsolete might possibly be traced and thus aid in 
fixing the period when the Badagas left thelow country. It is 
known that the two forms of ' r ', for example^ had dropped 
out of use prior to the time of the grammarian K^sir&ja, who 
lived in the thirteenth century, and that the word betta (a hill) 
which the Badagas use in place of the modem bettu is found in the 
thirteenth century work Sabdamanidarpana. 

The Badagas are now the agriculturists of the hills ; they 
occupy the whole of the eastern half of the plateau except the 
tract round S6dandd, but in the west and in the Kundahs they are 
few in number. They are not agriculturists solely, but work on 
estates and roads and as market gardeners and general coolies ; and 
j^ome of them are artisans serving their own community (and 
sometimes others) as bricklayers, carpenters, barbers, washermen, 
etc. Their relations with the othei tribeg of the hills are referred 
to later. 

Their villages consist of orderly lines of one««storeyed housesj 
all alike and nearly always roofed with red tiles, each of which 
possesses a milk-room, which the women (compare the account of 
the T6da3 below) and young boys are forbidden to enter. Round 
iiljoat the villages are the fields of red soil on which the Badagas 
raise the korali (Setaria glauca) and s^mai {Pantcum miliare) 
which are their staple diet. Their cultivation is casual, little 
manore being used and few precautions being taken against the 
ilisastrous scouring of the top-soil which takes place each monsoon. 
Tbe women do nearly all of it except the actual ploughing, and 
work very long hours. On the other hand the women are very 
i^eldom allowed to come into the tovms to work for daily wageSj 
while the men do this in large numbers to eke out the 9oanty 
profits of their cultivation. 
17 



CHAP. III. 

Pbincipal 
Oastks. 



130 



THB HllOntlS. 



1 



CHAP, ni 

Pbxncipal 



Both sexes of the Badagas may be '7>f^fJ? ^^f^ 

:Ept-lSs a^fhriht red (or yellow) w^^^^ 

^ Tllmost as often worn as turbans. The women 8 waist- 

• mT^Zto^ and leave a good deal of the calf exposed, and 

JheSurer cloths (which are quite separate) are worn in a cha. 

«^teSc f^Won beini passed straight across the breasts and 

-TrJip^ms- and not over one shoulder as usual among the 

T^^ sZe oTil iear a scarf tied round the head Eve^^ 

iamiis. °° , , ig tattooed on the forehead and upper 

in use in the plains ^eing unknown. 

There is no doubt whatever that the Badagas have increased 
greSS general prosperity since the advent of European, to 
SehSs The early accounts of them more than once mention 
heir then miserable condition, wretched clothes and emaciated 
^es; whereas nowadays they almost f ^^^ * 1^^; 
air Even in 1871 only 1,914 houses out of the 13.922 in the 
di'trict were tiled ; whereas now tiles are the rule instead of the 
exception in Badaga villages. 

The earliest account of any length of the s^^-^i^io"* "^ 

customs of the uaoagas was i,u .„ , ^ Oriwir'a account 

Mission, published anonymously in 1856.' Mr. Bngg s accoum 
Sthrold District Manual was mainly taken from this, and Dr. 
S,orS's Ukewise. In tU Madras Christian Oottege if«i^«»« /« 
. M Id MaTr892 the late Pandit S. M. Nat^sa Sfistri pubhshed 
aSe'lSt al Mr. Thurston has added items of ^formation 
I'MZTBulletin No. 1 of Vol. II and in his recent Et>^-09rc^- 
mTin Southern India. The following few lines are token 
chiefly from these sources. 

The Badagas are split into six subdivisions; namely, UtUya 
/w*! 1^ Hdruva Mhikdri, Kanaka, Badaga and Toreya. of 
^v'^L'Toreyallre the lowest and the servants of the others, 
m fiM two s'uWMsions and many oHhe third are vegeUmn. 

St uSvas Athikdris and Kanakas are LingSyats ^^^^oj^" 
TheUdayas.A^B ^^^ are admitted, to be 

:itS ^n -t. Th'eir name was. and stiUis, used. 

I The tribes inhabiting th9 IfBilgniny /ii"s »iu 
Germim Misiionary, Madrw, 1856. 



th£ people. isl 

a title by the aristocracy of Mysore, and they do not intermarry CHAP. III. 
with any of the other subdivisions but act as their priests. Pbincipal 
The Hdravas come next in the social scale. They wear the Castii. 
Brahmanical thread and are also priests ; and it has been 
conjectured that at the time of the original migration of the 
Badagas they were Br^hmans who accompanied them. 

The rites and ceremonies of the caste may best be understood 
b)- tracing them as they affect the individual from his birth to 
liis d^ath. When a boy is about nine years old he is formally 
initiated into the mysteries of milking, and thereafter may 
enter the milk- room already mentioned. * The rittal consists, in 
bis milking a cow, pouring some of the milk into the household 
vessels, sprinkling some more over his relations' faces, and 
placing the rest in the milk-room. 

About his thirteenth year, if he is of one of the Lingdyat 
sabdivisions, he is solemnly invested with a lingam by an Udaya. 
Complicated rites — including the lighting of a sacred fire, the 
pouring of much milk and praises of, and invocations to^ Siva — 
accompany the ceremony, and that night the boy's parents give 
a big dinner to their friends. 

Girl-babies may be bespoken as brides as soon as they are 
bom on payment of a fee of Es. 10, which fee may not be 
increased however beautiful and desirable beyond the ordinary 
they may grow up to be. When a girl attains puberty she is 
kept in a special hut, to be found in every Badaga village, till 
tlie next full-moon day. While she is there the various families 
in the village send fiour to the hut and all the village maidens 
meet there and cook it and mess together. On the full-moon 
Jay the girl returns to her home, is given a new cloth and sits 
outside the house until the moon rises. Then she is led up to 
the house by five aged women and greeted on the threshold 
bj her waiting mother, who blesses her in a set form of words 
(wishing her a homo of her own, a good husband and a strong 
^on) and gives her a dish of food. Of this she eats a little and 
tho rest she takes round to every house in the village, the 
senior matron in each of them pronouncing the same blessing 
upon her and inviting her to eat a little of the food in the dish. 
A day or two afterwards her forehead is tattooed with the 
marks which proclaim to all and sundry that she is of marriage- 
able age and open to an offer. 

Except in the Udaya subdivision, where the parents arrange 
the marriages after the Continental fashion, the Badaga .young 
men and maidens are allowed to choose their own partners for 



Castes. 



182 THE KlLoifilS. 

6HA?. III. life and even to make trial of one another's qaalities before 
Pbincipal entering irrevocably upon matrimony. The suitor goes iohv^ 
innamorata's parents^ makes them a few presents, and is then 
inyiteH to pass a few days with the girl. The conple treat one 
another as husband and wife during the period of probation 
•and no stigma attaches io either if at the end of that time thev 
decide that they are not suited to one another. Cases haie 
however occurred (Captain Harkness' book quotes one) in whicL 
the young Lotharios of the caste have taken an undue advantago 
of the possibilities of this odd system. 

The marriage ceremonies are quite simple : they take pla<v 
in the bridegroom's house and consist chieSy in the girl goii}^ 
to fetch water (as a sign that she has entered upon her hoosehold 
duties) and making salaams to the members of the bridegroom*^ 
family, and in the playing of much music by the £6tas and tli.- 
consumption of a big supper at the end of the day. A cloth-ft*e i< 
paid for the girl and in addition a bride-price which varies witii 
her qualifications as a field-labourer and runs up to as macb 
as Es. 200. 

Until the woman becomes pregnant separations are permit U><i 
without trouble or scandal as long as these two sums an. 
returned, and thus the marriage has a further period of pro- 
bation. But when a woman becomes pregnant a solemn 
ceremony is performed in the seventh month (compare the bow- 
giving rite among the T6das) which fixes the paternity of tho 
child and after which the couple can only separate after » 
regular divorce has been granted by a council of the rillngo 
elders. The ceremony consists in the husband tying round tlf 
wife's neck a string with the marriage badge attached, and it \^ 
done in the presence of all the relations and to the inevitabit* 
accompaniment of Kota music. 

Divorces are common, and no stigma attaches to a woman 
who divorces a husband or two before she settles down cvn- 
tentedly. The children go to the husband. These probationary 
marriages and easy divorces have led to the morality of tho 
Badaga women being slightiugly referred to; but any laxity 
with men outside the caste is severely punished— excommoni* 
cation being the sentence. 

The funerals of the Badagas (like those of the Todas) arc 
more complicated than auy other of their domestic ceremonies. 
'When any one is sick unto death and recovery is hopeless be or 
she is given a small gold coin — a Virariya f anam worth four anniis 



THE piOPLB. 133 

— to swallow. As soon as death ensues, a man of tLe Toreya sub- CHAP. III. 
•li vision is sent round to the neighbouring villages to announce Principal 
t ho fact. On reaching any of them he removes his turban and ' 1!]^"' 
then tells his tidings. 

On the day of the funeral the corpse is carried on a cot to 
an open space, a buffalo is led thrice round it and the hand of . 
tl\e dead is raised and placed upon the animal's horns. This 
Again resembles the Toda ceremony and a further likeness thereto 
is sometimes provided by the pursuit and forcible capture of a 
buffalo, which is then dragged up to the corpse. A funeral car 
is constructed (which in the case of ^ the Wealthy wan elaborate 
'^rpction of several storeys decked with cloths) ^ and on this is 
I'laced the body, dressed in its garments, covered with a new 
cloth, and with a couple of silver coins stuck on its forehead. 
The relations wail and lament around the body, salute it, and then 
dance round the car to the accompaniment of Kota music, the men 
dressed in gaudy petticoats of a special kind and smart turbans. 
The E6ta who did smith's work for the deceased while he was 
} et aUve brings an iron sickle with imitation buffalo horns on 
the tip of it, and this, with a hatchet, a flute and a walking-stick 
is placed on the car. The car is next taken to the burning-ground, 
•^tripped of its hangings and hacked to pieces ; tlie widow takes ^ 

'i<^r last leave of her husband, depositing some of her jewels on 
t'lo cot; and then an elder of the tribe stands at the head of 
tiip corpse and chants thrice a long litany reciting all the sins 
that the deceased might have committed and declaring that the 
weight of all of them is transferred to a scape-calf which he 
names. Nowadays no calf is actually produced, but thirty-five 
yoara ago (according to Mr. C. B. Gova'^s account) the animal 
was brought up and as each sin was enumerated the elder laid 
his hand upon it in token that the blame was transferred to it, 
and at the end the animal was let loose like the Biblical scape- 
goat of the Jews. Messrs. Thurston, Metz and Natesa Sdstri 
all give examples of these litanies. Parts of one of them run as 
follows :-r 

This is the death of Andi. 

In his memory the calf of the cow Belle has been set free. 

From this world to the other 

Ue goes in a car. 

Everything the man did in this world, 

All the sins committed by the ancestors, 

* A picture of one forma the frontispieoo to Mr. Thurston's Ethnographie 



CHjl?. ZI. AZ 'iLe £ixii zcanmiiisd rj nzs forefiitiiers, 

Fiocrp^;: JJl tie sna Tcnocnzti zj liis parents, 

-Br'nLZ' i^^jons zt tie g«»i crcps of other?, 
CarTT-ji^r "altrtf m tie iizier aitioriti-e?, 

^ia.d 5c iiL tir^n^i :& j?!iz catAlcj^e of rnanj other ains]. 
♦ • ♦ • 

Ticnc^ t-i»^r° Te *iir?^ niJi»lr«Hi «tio!1 sins, 
Tjpf tieni li- j^ witi tie calf set free txiav. 
ITjj "ie fia.-? ce 'OTip^t^lj r?!n.ovrtl ! 

• • • • 

HrjLiixz' ^i'* f-^t cf 'ie calf -set fr>?e to-dar, 
itij ie r«»*'i tie a?:«:de of Siva ! 

Arer nicr? ri-<. *ie coij £5 ti-a L:imt or buried. Next dav 
ni. k is peered ?a tie zriv^, rp. if tie hoij was bomt, a few of 
tie bme* are o«:lle*:t-»i and reT^rec^lr placed in a pit whicb btptj 
nanil'it k-:*=c5 f ?r tii5 parp»:<p. 

Tie cv rvmocie-? at Uiaji rTiii-ral* diner in s^v^^ral particolar-t 
aai tie c-ad • f tils jTirdirbion are alwajs bori*^ like strict 
Lii^ijats el5e*'i:r»' iia sitting p«>5*are. 

At lo-^ interra-:* a c^rrrirocv caie^l manavalai is held in 
meiconr of tie drra.L A coreeoas many- storey o^i funeral car is 
made and ^n tie lowest tier of tiLj is placed a cot on which an- 
pat tie ear-ring?s of all tiose who have died since the ceremony 
was last performed. A dan?e to Kota ma.^ic takes place roun'l 
tie car, tie performers bein^ dressed in white petticoats and gandj 
jackets, and at lec^h tie cot is taken to the crcmation-groon^l 
and bomt. 

The religions beliefs of the Ba«iagas are very catholic. In 
a>ldition to Siva in his forms Mahalinerasvami, Mahadesvara, etc., 
th^y worship Vishna as Eangasvami on the Bangasrlmi Peak 
referred to on p. 340 and at the big" Karaimadai temple near M^^ttu- 
palaiyam ; Gangamma, the goddess of water ; several other minor 
deities ; and a number of dcitied ancestors like the Karairaya 
referred to in the account of Kotagiri on p. 338. The most popo- 
lar o^the latter are Hetti (Hettamma), a woman who conunitted 
sati at the death of her husband, and Hiriya (or Hiriodija) tLe 



TH» PBOPM, 



135 



hasband. There are many shrines to H^tti, and at these fire- 
walking festivds are common; Those at M^ldr and D^n&d are 
shortly referred to in the accounts of those places in Chapter. XV 
I'elowy whence it will be seen that the ceremonies are agricoltoral 
in their essence and are connected with the beginning of the ealti- 
ration season and the prosperity of the crops. A Eurumba is 
sent for and paid to plough the first furrow and scatter the first 
<eed3, the idea being that all this tribe are sorcerers who can 
avert all evil if they choose. Sometimes the shrines to deified 
ancestors are placed near the sculptured cromlechs which are 
common on the plateau. Other facts connecting the Badagas 
with these monuments have been mentioned on p. 100 above. 

The Badagas are very fond of music and song. ' Their tunes 
are quaint and original and, when heard from a^distance, have an 
uncultured sweetness about them in keeping with the soft colour- 
ing and wild beauty of the scenery of the land which is their 
home.* They have a great repertoire of ballads handed down 
from their forefathei-s.* Mr. Metz collected nMmy of these J^nd it 
is a pity that he never published them, for^ like the similar T6da 
chants, they would probably be found to contain grains of his- 
torical matter which would throw more light than is at present 
available upon the migrations and original home of the caste. 

The K6tas ^ are the musicians and artisans of the hills and are 
iiUo fanners of considerable skill. They reside in six villages 
(called K6ta-k^ris or ' Kota streets ') on the plateau and a seventh 
near Gfidal^ (the people of which last differ but little from their 
brethren on the hills) which are big and untidy collections of 
thatched (rarely tiled) huts each of whicluhas the usual verandah 
in front of it. The pillars of this are sometimes of stone and not 
infrequently rudely carved by craftsmen from the plains. The 
K6tas are of a darker complexion than the Badagas, and very 
•lirty in their persons. The men and women dress in filthy cloths 
tLat may once have been white, which they tie much like the 
Tamils of the plains. The men may be recognized at a glance by 
their fashion of wearing their long straight hair,, which they part 
in the middle and tie in a bunch behind. 

Though intelligent and hardworking, the K6tas are held to 
be the lowest in the social scale of all the communities on the 

* Three of these are quoted in Mr. C. E. Cover's I^lk Songa of SotUhem India 
'Higginl)otlimi&, Madras) and Mr. Grigg gires an example in the original Diairici 
J/oniuii i but these are too long to qnote here. 

' PuUer parttcalars will be found in Mets, Breeks' Primitive Tribes and 
^^^^inenU, Or. Shortt's book, and Kr. Thurston's detailed account in Mad^ae 
^wi^m BuIUtm No. 4 (1896)* 



CHAP. in. 

PaiNCIPAL 

Castes. 



K6tas. 



Castes. 



136 THE NILGIRIS. 

CHAP. III. Lills because thej* eat carrion — even whea in an adranoed 
PRHfciPAL state of decomposition. Metz says that they jn^tify the habit hv 
declaring that when their god K^matar&jra made the T6cbi9. 
Knrmnbas and K6tas oat of three drops of his perspiration h^ 
permitted the first to eat milk and batter, the second meat, ani 
the third carrion. They never look so sleek, Metz continues, a* 
when there is murrain among the T6da baffaloes ; and the.r 
unpleasant diet certainly agrees with them, as they are a stunh 
community. They are also overfond of strong waters and of opiam. 

Whence ^hey originally came there is little to show. Dr 
Caldwell thought their language was * an old and very ruJ- 
dialect of Canarese.' Their own legends say that they once livtMi 
on a hill in Mysore called KoUimalai, whence they moved to th- 
Nilgiris. They no^ act as musicians and artisans to the othvr 
hill people, the men being goldsmiths, blacksmiths, carpent«?r<. 
leather- workers and so forth, and the women making pots ona rQ<l' 
kind of potter's wheel. For these services thej are paid by thf 
other tribes with doles of grain and the bodies of dead cattle ar.i 
buffaloes. They keep cattle, but never milk them. Like tl- 
Badagas, they pay the T6das the periodical contribution of gjaJr. 
called gtidu. 

They are divided into three kSris or streets; namely, upper, 
lower and middle, the people of each of which are forbidden tv 
marry among themselves. 

Marriages are arranged by the parents, and a betrothal i* 
signified by the boy's going to the house of the girl selected f^r 
him, making obeisance /o her parents, and presenting them witp 
a four-anna bit. The wedding ceremony is of the simplest, thi' 
lad merely taking the maid to his house (after paying the hriile- 
price) and providing a feast for the relations. A man docs nr>t 
generally marry a second wife unless the first is childles.^. 
Divorce is allowed for incompatibility of temper, drunkenDe>s, 
immorality or laziness on the part of the wife, and, as among tlif 
Badagas, is granted by a village council of elders. Cases of 
difficulty relating to this and other matters are referred to a 
general council of the elders of the seven villages. 

When a woman is going to have a baby she retires to a Im^ 
set aside for the purpose which is divided into two rooms— o«'^ 
serving as a maternity hospital and the other as a dwelling f(»r 
women during their seasons. There she remains until the full 
mooii after the child is born, when she moves for a space to 
another special hut. When she may at length return home the 



Castss. 



THB PEOPLE. 137 

relatives are feasted and the baby is named by the head of the CHAP. in. 
village. First-bom sons are always called Komuttan after tlie Pbincipal 
god K^matar^ya referred to later ; and a common name for. girls 
is M4di, one of the names of that deity's spouse. 

Wben a person is at the point of death the same gold f anam 
as the Badagas use is placed in bis or her mouth. The funeral 
ceremonies also closely resemble those of the Sadagas. After 
death the corpse is laid on its back with its thumbs tied together 
across its chest, and the relations come and salute it. A wooden 
car decorated with cloths is placed in fr^nt of th^ dead man^s 
house and while the relations moam the other K6tas dance. A 
buffalo is then killed and its flesh distributed. Then the corpse, 
gorgeously arrayed and with coins gummed to its forehead, is 
placed on the lowest storey of the car, and near it are put iron 
implements, tobacco, and rice and other vicluals. The dancing 
and mourning (and also a great deal of drinking) proceed for 
many hours. At length the car and the cot are carried off to the 
funeral-place, and there another buffalo is slaiu and its body is 
taken to the corpse, which is made to salute it with the right 
hand. The deceased^s widow is next brought up, stripped of her 
jewellery and made to perform her last obeisance to her lord. 
The corpse and car are then carried on to the burning-ground, 
where the latter is quickly demolished and the former placed 
upon the pyre. 

The next day the smouldering .ashes are extinguished with 
water, collected^ and buried in a pit, the spot being marked with 
stones. 

In December a ceremony resembling the ^ dry funeral ' of the 
T6daa described below is performed. Eight days before it, a 
dance takes place in front of the houses in which deaths haye 
occurred during the year. On the appointed date the relatives 
of the dead bring buffalo skulls wrapped in cloths, put them on 
a cot and do obeisance to them by touching them with their fore- 
Heads. These are next carried off to the funeral ground and 
there a buffalo is killed for every death which is being commemo- 
rated and the skulls are burned with rice, tobacco and the other 
articles which accompanied the corpse at the real funeral, and 
also with a long pole decorated with cowries and similar to that 
used by the T6da8 in their funeral rites. Water is eventually 
poured over the ashes and the whole party remains there all 
night. A dance and feast next morning conclude the ceremony. 
The K6tas' chief god is the Kamatardya already mentioned, 
^d his priesthood consists of hereditary ' dev^dis ' and of piij^ris 
18 



138 



I 



THE NILOIBU. 



CHAP.m. 
Principal 

0A«Tt8. 



T^dM. 



chosen by <(Iiein. Neither of these are distinguished by any parti* 
ci^Iar dress, and they marry and subsist jujst like any others of tbe 
tribe. Edmatardya^s consort is named Edlikai, and every E6ta 
village boasts a temple to each of them in which they are repre- 
sented by a thin silver plate. An annual festival in their boDour 
is held to induce them to grant the K6ta8 all prosperity, li 
begins on the 6rst Monday after tho J anuary new moon and lasts 
for about a fortnight. This period is treated as a general holiday 
and is declared to be a scene of continuous licentiousness, indRoent 
dancing taking place between men and women. The chief 
Badagas of tAe neighbourhood, says Metz, are required to attend 
this ; and any refusal to do so would be avenged by the Kikas 
boycotting them and refusing to work for them. Items in tbe 
ceremonies include keeping a fire burning the whole time, re* 
roofing the temples- with bamboos, etc., offering food to the god, 
and an elaborate dance in which the men, dressed up in special 
and gaudy petticoats, jackets, turbans, etc., take the leading lolefi. 
A party also goes out with bows and arrows to try and kill some 
kind of game, and on their return a fire is made by friction, the 
d^v^di heats a bit of iron in this and the p6]^ri makes a pretence 
of hammering it out. 

Of the three tribes which are practically peculiar to the 
Nilgiris (the Badagas, Kotas and T6das) the third has attracted 
far more attention than the others. The Tddas are a purely 
pastoral people, who live on the produce of their herds of hoge 
buffaloes (see p. 28) and gifts of grain from the other tribes 
(p. 270) ; claim to be the original inhabitants of the hills and lorda 
of the soil (p. 270); dwell in lazy, Arcadian fashion in little 
scattered groups of quaint waggon-roofed huts, always most 
picturesquely situated ; are much taller and fairer than the general 
run of the inhabitants of Bouth India ; in dress, appearance and 
language differ widely from their neighbours ; have attractivelj 
dignified and fearless manners when conversing with Europeans ; 
and practise unusual customs, such as polyandry, infanticide and 
buffalo sacrifices at their funerals. 

These and other attributes resulted in their arousing deep 
interest in the early European visitors to the hills, and many 
enthusiasts rushed into print with accounts of them. Bomo 
declared their Boman noses and flowing robes to be sure indica* 
tions that they were the survivals of a Roman colony; others 
adduced their Jewish cast of countenance as proof that they were 
the remnants of the lost tribes of the Hebrews ; and one gentle- 



THB PBOPLE. 189 

I ^ set himself to demonstrate that they were a relic of the CHAP* Hi. 
ancient Boythian invaders who, driven from place to place hj the Peincipal 
hostility of the dwellers in the plains, had at length taken refuge CAsnci. 
on this plateau. A caustic contemporary criticism of this last 
theorist, which applies equally to several of his fellows, *said : — 

' He has treated the Bubject with remarkable acuteness and dis- 
played much curious antiquarian lore ; by systematically magnifying * 
every mote of resemblance, and by pertinadouBly neglecting or 
despising every beam of dissimilitude, together with a little of the 
freedom of assertion allowed to system-spinners, he has succeeded in 
erecting a noble edifice, which lacks nothing but a foundation.' 

The proximity of the T6das to a favourite hill-station amidst 
ideal surroundings for ethnographic enquiry has continued to 
keep alive the extraordinary interest they awakened from the 
first, and the literature regarding them is* now extensive.' It 
will suflfice to give here an outline of their characteristics and 
ways. 

They are tall (the average height of the men being 6 ft. 7 in. 
and of the women 5 ft. 1 in.), well-proportioned, dolichocephalic 
and fairer than the people of the plains. The men are extremely 
hirsnte and the women wear long side-locks which they curl with 
great care on a round stick and smear with butter. The men 
are strong, agile, untiring, intelligent, possessed of an ' absolute 
belief in their own superiority over the surrounding races/ grave 
and dignified, and yet cheerful and well-disposed. The women 
are far less intelligent, often handsome and sometimes of frail 
morals. The Todas live in little hamlets which they style mads 
or marihi^ but which Europeans generally call by the Sadaga 
name of mancis. These consist of only four or five dwelling- 
huts, a larger one forming the dairy, and a bufFalo-pen, and 
are usually prettily situated and near a sh61a and a stream. 
The huts are quaint erections which may be likened to the 
half of a barrel cut through its longer axis. Wide eaves 
overshadow the front of them, and on this side is the only 
door, an entrance so small and low that it is necessary to go 

' Captain H. Congreve of the Madras Artillery ; see his article in M.J.L.S., 
XIV (1847), 77-146, originally contribatei in 1844-45 to the Madras Spectator, 

' The more important of these books are Captain H. Harknees' Deseripti<m 
«/ a tinpUar abortyinoi roes inhabiting the gummit of the NHlgherry hilla (London, 
1832); Ber.F. Met«* The Tribes inhahiHng the Neilgherry hilU (Madras, 1856); 
Colonel W. E. Marshall's A Phrenologist among the Todas (London, 1878) j Mr. E. 
Thurston's Madras Museum Bulletins, i, 141 and iv, 1 ; and Mr. W. fl. R. 
&iTen' rooent exhaostive work, The Todas (Macmillan, 1906). Thia la^, upon 
whith the foUowing aocoant is almost ezolnsively based, contains a complete 
bibliogmphj of the sabject, ennmeraiing 42 papers and books. 



\ 




HL QjTvx 3X. ^ I ' jurt % s^ irry^i^ it. This is flmnked withoai on 
■^ -si^^isr siikt 17- ft 93n o: flutbem besdi. Inside, two raised plat^ 
imn?;^ iar sif^^jmr as. £KLk ^fiber sde of the door and in the mad 
£:»Dr ir ft "itfitf for p:>Li»5T: g grain. The hooise is sonoonded bj a 
-vTixZ canifiiziiiLr 01:7 one rr^at-ng, vhich is purpoaelj made too 
• flTTiftT \r ftfrtfrrr a rnrPbV^ B:t2i men and women wear an npper 
mfizitW zc aifiirJr r!ir*il saZLei tbe piUiuU, white with red and blue 
■eiL'rir.xL'firf^ "barifrs aatd woxen near llettapflaiyain, which u 
tLrt^rr T>rin rtnuri 'Lbf- siiinliers ; and a similar loin-cloth of the 
s^TCftil m. Ti*e iPra La^e a jan^rati as weE. Between the lold> 
zc xhr iz<z\ J** f»u*/T*I» i« a csT^anoTis pocket. Neither sex use anj 
cr^^rirr f dt ti* isai. The women are genenllj tattooed. 

Ti^ TfkSas a:^ dirided into two endogamoas sabdivisiosf 
cftljfd TftTLiiK- at i Tf-lvali, wHch Mr. Birers belieyes to hare been 
5errr«*d fr:«ir twr irereni tribes which reached the hills at different 
pr-TL-»is. aifi wrier ar^ af:&in spHt into certain exogamoos sept?. 
:ff c]Lftis5, eart cif wiich inhatits certain definite manda. Tbev 
ii«^T€!r c^TiTftie. ror dc any work except tending their biiffaloe» 
ti* ctrly arimal? tiey Te^i. and making butter and ghi from 
tbr ir£k ties* t^aast* prM.vide- In recent years one <» two ot 
tiria raTe obtained work on coffee plantations ; hot it is saifl 
trat n^irbrr ir^j nc*r their employers were pleased with the result 
of tre €Xj»er:iDent, On nsing in the morning the men salute the 
s-n w::Jt a qirafm g€^<ire. rotting the thumb to the nose and 
spreaiin^ out the fingers in a manner similar to the English 
scLool-loy's token of derision, let the but! nloea out of the pen, 
churn the previous night's milk, milk the buffaloes, and then driTe 
the hi rd to the grazing* ground and laze a^y the rest of the 
day there until it is time to come home to the evening meaJ, 
muk t^ e buffaloes again, chum more butter, salute the lamp as 
the sun was saluted, and retire to rest. The women are not 
allowed to hare anything to do with the milking or churning, 
but confine themselyes to ordinary household duties. 

It is not to be wondered at that milk and its products, the chief 
food of the tribe, should have come gradually to be regarded 
with a solicitude approaching to reverence, and nowadays the 
oporations in the dairy are unique in this part of India in the 
manner in which they form the basis of the greater part of the 
religions ritual of t])0 Todas. Certain of the buffaloes are saored 
animals nndare attcntled by priests (pdlol) specially set apart who 
are aided by a servant (kaUmokh) who among other duties act? 
as intermediary between them and the other Tddas ; the dairies 
in which the holy milk is churned are in effect the temples of the 






TSE Fsons. 141 

tribe ; and the operatioiis therein have become a religions cere« OHAP. m. 
monial and are aocompanied by several set forms of prayer for the Pbihcipal 
health of the bofialoes and abundance of grazing and water, Oabtmb. 

Among the Tarthars, the dairies are of several grades of 
sanctity. In some a sacred bell (perhaps a symbol of the holy 
boiSaloes which wear snch ornaments) is kept ; five (called ti * 
or, by the Badagas, tirieri) are far removed from any mand and 
appropriated to special herds of special sacredness ; most of 
them are like an ordinary T6da honse, but larger ; while three 
or four are circular with a conical roof, ^the best known among 
which is that near the top of the Sig6r gh^t which is called by the 
Europeans of Ootacamund ' the T6da cathedral.' 

Generally, the dairies are divided into an outer and an inner 
room, in the former of which the dairyman-priest (pdlol) usually 
sleeps and in the latter (which he alone may enter) the churning "^ 

and so on are performed. In this latter are kept the various vessels 
and chums ; and those which are used to carry the finished product 
to ordinary mortals are kept rigorously apart from those which 
have direct connection with the sacred buffaloes and their milk. A 
special stream or a special part of the common stream is carefully 
reserved for use in the dairy, and when the priest is in the build- 
ing he must wear only a lang6ti. On all occasions, too, his 
mantle is of a special kind, generally black or grey. If he sleeps 
in the ordinary huts he- must touch nothing but the floor and 
the sleeping-bench, on pain of losing his office. At the higher- 
grade dairies the ritual accompanying the churning is most ela* 
borate and the priests may not go to the bazaar and are restricted 
in their intercourse with women. Women are strictly forbidden to 
approach even the ordinary dairies. The priest at a ti dairy, called 
pdld, has to be altogether celibate, may not be approached by any 
ordinary T6da except on Mondays and Thursdays, and loses his 
office if he or his dairy is touched by any unconsecrated person. 
His recompense is the income he makes from the sale of the ghi. 
There is evidence that the rigour of this elaborate ceremonial is 
weakening and that the number of the highest grade of dairy, 
the ti, is less than it was in even comparatively recent times. 

The various classes of priests at the dairies are required- to 
undergo certain ordination ceremonies before they assume charge 
of their sacred task, and the complexity of these varies directly 
with the holiness of the dairy concerned. The essential feature 
of them all is purification by washing with and drinking the 
water of the sacred stream which is set apart for the use of the 
dairy ; the bark and leaves of the sacred tudr tree (MeUomna 



us 



TBI ]na:.aimi8. 



CHAP. ni. 

Pbihoipal 

0A8TI8. 



pungena or Wightii^ which two closely resemble one another) and 
the leaves of the plant mvM {Bubu8 eUipticut) plaj an impoitant 
part in them, as in much other T6da ceremonial ; the nnmhen 
three and seven frequently occnr in the ritnal; in oertais 
cases the priest is required to sleep one or more nights ahiiMt 
' naked in a sh61a ; fire required during the ceremonies must be 
made by friction ; and the final stage of induction is marked bv 
the priest touching some sacred object of the dairy. The d0tail«> 
are given in full in Mr. Rivers' book. 

Migration^^ of the «acred herds from one part of the hills to 
another are periodically necessary in order to obtain sufficient 
grazing. From December to March, for example, when tbtr 
grass round Ootacamund and Paikira is dried up^ most of tli^- 
buffaloes are driven out to the Eundahs, where the heavier 
rainfall keeps the pasture green for a longer period. Even tbese 
migrations are attended with much elaborate ritual, special 
attention being paid to the importance of keeping rigorously 
apart the two sets of dairy vessels already referred to as bein£ 
respectively sacred and profane. 

The T6das possess but vague ideas about the various deitie* 
to whom they pay reverence. Their typical deity * lives mod 
the same kind of life as the mortal T6da, having his dairies and 
his buffaloes. The sacred dairies and the sacred buffaloes an' 
still regarded as being in some measure the property of the gods. 
and the dairymen are looked upon as their priests.' The god.*> 
mostly inhabit the tops of the highest hills, but are never seen bj 
mortals. Each clan of the tribe has a deity specially connects 
with it, who is believed to have been its ruler in the past a^6N 
when gods and men lived together on the plateau. 

Two deities, however, stand out pre-eminent among the rest ; 
namely, n god called On and a goddess (his sister) known a< 
Teikirzi. On was the son of Pithi, the earliest immortal of whom 
tradition speaks. He created men and buffaloes and became the 
ruler of Amnordr, the world of the dead, where he now lire-. 
He and his wife went one day to the top of the Kundahs and ht- 
laid an iron bar right across them. Standing at one end of tli^, 
he brought forth 1 ,600 buffaloes from the earth, and his wife at 
the other end produced 1,800. The first lot were the progenitc>r> 
of the sacred herds and the second the first parents of the onli* 
nary buffaloes. Holding on to the tail of tbe last of the former. 
came out of the earth a man, who was the first T6da. On took 
one of hia ribs and made from it the first T6da woman. On*s 
son was accidentally drowned, and in his grief On left the pkteao 



i 



Cabtbs. 



THX PEOPU. 148 

and went to the world of fcHe dead to be with his child. His sister , OHAP.HI. 
Teildrzi then took his place as ruler over the T6daa. It was BJJxe PBiNcxfAZ> 
who originated most of their rites and ceremonies, and who 
divided them and their bnfFaloes into the clans and classes which 
still exist. 

Some of the gods appear to be deifications of mortal men, and * 
their doings are recounted in nnmerons legends connected directly 
with several of the peaks and lakes of the hills, among them 
Hnlikal Drag near Coonoor and the Marlimand reservoir at 
Ootacamond. One of the best-known of these deifications is 
Kwoten. One day when this man was drinking from a stream 
which rises in the Knndahs he saw in the water a golden hair of 
great length and beauty. He went up the stream to discover 
the woman to whom it belonged, found her, and fell in love with 
her. But she was the goddess Terkosh, Imcl his presumption 
met its punishment : he was soon after spirited away for ever with 
all his buffaloes, only his silver ring (which is still preserved) 
remaining behind on the sambhar skin on which he had been 
sleeping. 

In addition to their own gods, the T6da8 also pay reverence 
to the Hindu deities of certain well-known temples in the plains — 
especially Nanjandisvara of Nanjangod; but this worship is 
asuaUy accorded only on special occasions for special purposes — . 
notably by childless couples desirous of offspring. 

Besides the priests at the dairies, and quite separate from 
them, the T6da8 have prophets, magicians and medicine-men. 
The prophets, or diviners, are supposed to be each inspired by 
certain definite gods and they utter their prophecies (usually 
working in pairs) during a fit of frenzy and in a language not 
their own, sucb as Malay dlam. They are consulted in oases of 
sickness among the T6da8 or their buffaloes or in the event of 
other difficulties or misadventures. 

The power of sorcery is declared to belong to certain families 
and to be inherited. The average T6da knows little of it, and is 
most anxious to discover more. The diviners frequently declare 
that such and such a misfortune is due to the magic practised by 
such and such a known sorcerer, and the latter is then propitiated 
by One victim or his relations and induced by douceurs to remove 
the spelL One method of laying a spell upon an enemy is to take 
some human hair, tie five stones up in it, wrap them in a bit 
(>f cloth, pronounce a curse over this bundle, and hide it secretly 
in the thatch of the enemy's house. Sometimes a bone or a lime 
is honed in a sh61a near the intended victim's mand. T6da 



144 



TRB NILOIBIB. 



OHAP. m. 
Principal 

CAITBt, 



sorcerers are dreaded by the Badagas as mnoli as hj Vbrnr CbUow 
tribesmen, and this is believed to be one reason whj the Badagas 
still fontinne to paj the T6da8 the giidu or tribute of gnin 
referred to on p. 270 below. About ten years ago the Badagu 
of Nanjandd killed a T6da sorcerer because they believed him to 
' have caused the death of one of their childreoi. On the other 
hand the T6das are excessively afraid of the necromancy of the 
Knrumbas. 

Belief in the evil eye and in the bad effects of words of pvaise 
is as prevalent as in other castes, and to remove the malign 
influence oertc^n definite methods are practised by the medioine- 
men. Stomach-ache so caused is cured, for example, by robbing 
the affected spot, putting salt on a comer of the patient's mantle, 
stroldng this with a thorn of Solamtm indieum and then throwing 
the thorn and some* of the salt into flre to the accompaaDiment 
of incantations. Again, if a buffalo is lost she can be preserrel 
from harm until she is found by taking three stones secretly at 
night to the front of the dairy or hut to which she belongs, 
uttering a spell over them and hiding them in the thatch. 

The higher powers are periodically propitiated by the T6da$ 
in several v?ays. Sacrifices of buffalo cflJves are made at least 
once annually at each mand and thrice annually at each ^i*. These, 
again, are accompanied by much minute ceremonial, which is 
described by Mr. Rivers in detail. The flesh is eaten. The 
T6das also eat sambhar meat when they get the chance. Strong 
drink is not forbidden them and on ' shandy ' days at Ootaoamund 
it is not uncommon to see one or two backsliders considerably 
the worse for its effects. Annually, also, in October fires are 
lighted by the pdhb and their haUfnokhs, to the accompaniment 
of prayers for the increase of honey and fruit, at the foot of 
certain high hiUs. Sin-offerings, and offerings to remove misfor- 
tune are also made, a buffalo being the victim ; offences against the 
ritual of the dairy require somewhat similar expiation ; and ills 
due to violence done to general religious rules are removed by 
giving, with complex ceremonial, a buffalo calf, a piece of cloth. 
or a silver ring to the members of the two kudn, or divisions into 
which most of the clans are split. The penalties appropriate to 
each of these offences are usually prescribed by the diviners. 

At or about the fifth month of a woman's pregnancy she is 
required to live in a rude hut at some little distance from the 
mand and (after several ceremonies) to bum herself in two places 
on each wrist with a lighted roll of thread. She stays a month in 
the hut and is then purified by drinking milk (anud more ritual) 
and allowed to come back again to her home. 



THE PEOPLE. 146 

Aboat the seventli month of her pregnancy, the woman has CHAP. IIL 
to perform the bow and arrow ceremony. She and whichever of Pbikcipax. 
her hasbands is selected as the father of the child go into ft sh61a "^* 
near the mand ; he cuts a triangmar niche in a Eugenia Amoi- 
iiana tree and places a lighted lamp in it ; the pair make a bow 
of Saphora glauca wood, fit it with an arrow of Andropogoft 
%ch(Bnanthu8 grass and return to the tree where the lamp stands ; 
after mutual salutations between them and their relations, the 
hasband hands the woman the bow ; and she holds it and gazes at 
the light for an hour or until it goes out. The pair then cock 
and eat food and they and all the inhal^itants of*the mand pass 
the night in the shola. This ceremony is only performed at a 
first pregnancy or when it is desired to appoint another husband 
as the father of the woman's children. ^The man who performs 
it with the woman is regarded ever after as the father of her child. 
If a woman dies unmarried or childless, both iihe above cere* 
monies — the wfist-branding and the handing of the bow and arrow 
--are performed at her funeral. 

Three days after the child is bom, the woman carries it to the 
same hut where the wrist-burning occurred (taking the greatest 
care to shelter herself £md it from the influence of the star Keirt, 
which is near the sun, by turning her back to the Bun) and there 
remains three weeks or a month. The child's face may hot be 
seen by any one for three months. At the end of that time it is 
uncovered^ the child is named and its head is sjiaved. The ears 
are pierced some time later with much ceremony. 

The funeral rites of a T6da may be prolonged over many 
months. Soon after death the body is burnt, the ceremony being 
usually known to Europeans by its Badaga name of the * green 
funeral ' ; after a varying interval a second ceremony, called the 
*dry funeral,' connected with certain relics of the deceased 
preserved from the other, is carried out ; and lastly on the next 
day the relics are burnt and the ashes buried within an dzdram 
or circle of stones. The T6das make no such secret of their 
funeral rit^s as of the ritual of their dairies, and even invite 
guests to them. All three stages have consequently been often 
described. 

At the green funeral, the corpse is carried, fully dressed, on a 
bier to the funeral place. All those present touch it with their 
foreheads and it is then put in a rude hut constracted for the 
purpose. The women collect round this and mourn and lament 
m a quaint manner, sitting in pairs and pressing their foreheads 
together, while the men prepare the pyre. Subsequent ceremonies 
19 



146 



THE NILOIBIS. 



CHAP.m. 

PBINCn>AL 

Castes. 



differ somewliat with tbe sex of the deceased. If he be a ra&n, 
earth is dug from the entrance of a buffalo pen nnd the noar 
relatives throw three handfuls of it into the pen and three over 
the corpse ; if she be a woman, certain leaves ore plucked and 
put in her right armlet. The earth-throwing is perhaps a 
survival of a distant period when the dead were buried instead of 
cremated. 

Next t.wo buffaloes, one of which (at a man's funeral) most 
belong to the sacred herds, are pursued and caught and drag^cni 
by force to an appointed place to be killed. Formerly many 
more were slam, but Government intervened and limited the 
number. This capturing of the buffaloes is often an exciting 
affair ; a herd is driven with loud shouts at top speed towards the 
place of the funeral by one lot of Todas, so that they are lairly 
infuriated before thdjr reach it, and then another lot dash out 
to meet them. To avoid the latter, the animals scatter and rush 
wildly about, and the T6das pursue them until they at length 
succeed in flinging themselves on to the horns of the two select e<l 
beasts and beariug them down to the ground by sheer force. At 
a Tarthar funeral Teivali men catch them, and vice versa. The 
operation is critically watched, and reputations are madp or 
marred by the degree of skill displayed. Now and again the men 
are considerably injured by the maddened animals. 

One of the captured buffaloes is next driven to the appointed 
place ; a bell is placed round its neck ; its back, head and horu< 
are rubbed with butter ; and it is killed by a blow from the back 
of an axe. The corpse is then brought and placed near its head and 
the right hand, if the deceased was a mem, is made to clasp one of 
the horns ; or, if the fnneral is that of a woman, her feet are 
placed by the animal's head. The men present salute the buffalo 
bj placing their foreheads on its horns. The second buffialo is 
slain in like manner and then all those present cluster round the 
dead pair and mourn in couples as before. The couples keep 
continually separating and choosing new partners of their grief, 
and as each does so the younger of the two salutes the elder in the 
orthodox T6da fashion, namely by bowing down before him and 
raising his feet one aft«r the other so that they touch his (the 
younger's) forehead. ' At times the band of mourners would form 
a confused mass of struggling people, some crying forehead to 
forehead, others saluting head to foot, while others would l>o 
struggling through the mass to seek partners with whom to 
mourn.* While all this is going on, a near relative of the 
deceased gives a cloth to those who have married into his family 
and the latters' wives place it over the corpse. 



tHE PBOPLE. 1^ 

Next the body is borne on the bier to the side of the pyre and -CHAP. in. 
there supplied with the various articles— food, ornaments, mpney PBiNciPAt 
and tobacco — necessary for its use in the other world. Then the ^^"s- 
pyre is lighted by a woman (fire being made by friction if the 
deceased was a man) , the body is lifted and sw.ung three times 
over it, the articles of value just presented to it are removed and 
a lock of its hair is cut off. The corpse is next placed finally on 
the pyre, with (if the deceased was a man) some imitation wooden 
buffalo boms, and is burnt to ashes, the Kotas* who have attended 
to make music and carry o£E the flesh of the dead buffaloes 
redoubling their discordant noise while this is goftig on. Finally 
a piece of the skull is sought out from the ashes and, with the 
lock of hair, is wrapped up in one of the mantles usually worn 
and is preserved as a relic for use at the dry funeral. Those 
who attend Teivali funerals are held to be«p<flluted until the next 
new moon and are subject to numerous social disabilities in 
consequence. 

The ' dry funeral ' may be held over the relics of more than 
one person, but Government allows only two buffaloes to be 
sacrificed on each occasion. The relics of each person are placed 
in a separate hut ; the same mourning as at the green funeral, 
forehead to forehead, is practised ; earth is again thrown over the • 

remains ; buffaloes are slain in the same manner ; and the relics 
are brought and placed near their heads, just as before. Then 
the men dance in their characteristically solemn, clumsy fashion 
round the funeral hut, carrying round with them a long pole of a 
special kind decorated with cowrie-shells ; food is distributed ; and 
most of those present return home. 

Near relatives, however, remain until the evening, and then a 
hole is dug near the entrance of the dzdraniy or circle of stones 
already mentioned, and the remains of the dead and certain 
objects to be burnt with them (food, household utensils, etc.) are 
brought and placed near by amidst frantic wailing. A fire is 
lighted within the circle and the remains are burnt, all those 
present mourning and crying, forehead to forehead, and the E6ta6 
playing special funeral music. The ashes are swept into the hole 
already mentioned and covered with a stone, a bell is rung three 
times round the spot, a new pot is broken on the stone, and the 
rites are over. 

During both green and dry funerals, laments in honour of the 
dead are sometimes sung or said, and some of the Todas have 
great reputations as composers of these. Still-bom infants are 
buried without ceremonies of any kind and in the case o& children 
under two years of age both funerals are held on the same day. 



14* 

'Swnrrt^^i. joBBmft £x- tL TY**- ^ mni gr fiy ihiTqACT mentiaBedL This lies to tiie 

Tepjar"i*ffinr na^-ir anrmr xL^^izm* t'lK OLber is Hglit. The people 
i£ AumnrcT iz^i- m •nm"! "tiAfc gt^^gn^ itbt as mostal Todas, having 
^duSmio^ kill nfai^K-^ nifi »- tiiPT vklk aboot ther wear down 
'insx; jteiTL. iOLC 'wiisz. tiif^ iifiv«- -worn tiben down as far as the 
kuBfiE^. l»ii Hit TLjter of Anmaror aiiraaiiT nffeired to, sends them 
l)ik£k Ti Tmf wnriL sf dtLs- mffli Tbe dead timvel to Amxiordr 
"iw w^fcL-iefinsL Tom-i*, w-ijui are ci5er^Bt for the Tarthars and 
Hit T-BT^hgw ^itpj dr. i:<t stan nctil after the dry funeral and 
pas -wBsrr^^rdf^ tr>w&rd5 ih^ £imi&]i5 acTDS^the JLvalaache stream. 
Ai ij-sv. Tilt pEti:* oc til* Tw:- FLliirriskMS diveree, but meet again 
bPT-Dni A^iaismiH^ LZ st a :^rtaiii stone. When the dead reach 
lli5 ^^^7 kn:t:*k it Vua $:• uiifie &! tiicir iOTa of this world; and 
fcTLbar on is aii:*tiH? s^Dcnf. knocking en which rids them of all 
idisi ii9Base« K' lii&i lii^x u^ souni and Tigorous when they reach 
Asmarir Near Sisji^jm nhej oome to a nrer crossed by a bridge 
of llrBai. and trioste w^ba have been bad Todas in this life fall 
frDc iht hai^^ irto the river among swanns of leeches. All| 
boweTer. reacr ATr.norir at last. No T6da may on any account 
mention the name of a d^ad ancestor, and indeed the names of all 
the dead are tabco. 

£&:-h clan observes a certain day of the week as a kind of 
Sabbath sacred to the mand and another as sacred to the daiiy^ and 
on these certain actions are forbidden. Women, for example, 
may not leave the mand, nor may money pass out of it. These 
prohibitions are often jeamitieally evaded, women who wish to 
leave quitting the mand that day before sunrise, returning to it at 
dawn, doing their house-work and then departing. Their absence 
at dawn is supposed to render them ceremonially absent during the 
day. Similarly money required on a sacred day may be buried 
near at hand the day before and employed on the morrow without 
transgressing the law. 

The T6das are slowly increasing in numbers, and the excess 

of males over females which has 
been always so noticeable among 
them is gradually deolining. In 
the margin are given the figures 
for the last three censuses. In 
1901 special precautions were 
taken tio ensure accuracy, a separate enumeration of the tribe 
baing taken in advance of the general census and before they had 







Malei to 




ToUl. 


every 100 
females. 


1881 


.. 076 


130*4 


IBOl 


.. 736 


136*9 


IPOl 


806 


127-4 



tHB PBO^LB. I4d 

scattered, as asaal in the early part of the year, to the distant CHAP. m. 
grazing^gronnds on the Knndahs. There are two small mands ip. Principal 
the Wynaad, between &6dal6r and D^vdla. The houses in these Castes. 
are of the ordinary Wynaad pattern. The T6das in them say that 
their ancestors went to the lower coontry with the Nelli^lam Arasa 
and served as gnaids to the gates of his fort. They are still given • 
an annaal dole of grain by the Arasa in recompense for the past 
services of their forebears. 

The slow growth of the tribe in the past was undoubtedly 
largely due to the practice of female infanticide. Grirl babies seem 
to have been systematically put out of the way, some accounts say 
bj placing them at the entrance of the buffalo-pens and leaving 
them to be trampled to death when the herd was released in the 
morning. This practice appears to have been brought to the 
notice of Mr. Sullivan in 1820, very soon aftef hia first arrival on 
the hills, and he induced the T6das tq^agree to abandon it ; but in 
1856 the then Collector reported that it was again prevalent and 
applied for sanction to grant a bonus on girl babies produced 
before him. Mr. Rivers believes that it is even now practised to 
some extent. In later years, the immorality for which the T6da 
women residing near the hill-stations are notorious has also 
probably had some effect on their fertility. 

T6da children are often married when only two or three years 
of age. The most suitable match for a boy is the daughter of his 
maternal uncle (the usual Dravidian rule, known elsewhere as 
menarikam) or of his paternal aunt. Betrothals are ratified by 
repeated periodical presents of cloths and the girl remains with 
her own people until she is fifteen or sixteen. Shortly before she 
arrives at puberty a man of some clan other than her own is 
invited to the mand and sleeps a night with her. It is a lasting 
disgrace to her if this is not done before she attains maturity. 
Engagements may be broken even at the last moment on payment 
of certain specified fines. 

Polyandry (nearly always of the ' fraternal ' type) is the rule, 
and in addition to her husbands a woman may also have recognized 
lovers. The Tarthars and Teivalis, as has already been said, may 
not intermarry, but a woman of either division may accept a man 
from the other as her lover, though the children of such unions 
differ from those bom in orthodox wedlock in belonging to the 
division of the mother, and not that of the father. Members of 
the same clan never intermarry. 

Though the decay of infanticide has increased the proportion 
of the wom^i to the men, polyandry shows few signs of dying 



160 



THB NlliOnilS. 



CHA.P. III. 
Pkincipal 

GA8TBS. 



ont. It is often actually associated with polygamy, two broth^n 
haying two wives in common. Probably in time this will r«srL' 
in each of such brothers coming to regard one of the two 
women as his own, and from thence there is but a small st«p t • 
monogamy. 

The marriage tie hcis become very loose, wives being conptaot.- 
transferred from one husband (or set of husbands) to another • * 
payment of a certain number of bufEeJoes fixed by a paacbijBt 
In one case quoted by Mr. Rivers a woman was thus traosferrei 
no less than^five tim^s. It has even become common for a man 
who takes a fancy to another's wife to endeavour to bribe th 
panchdyat to decide that she must go to him.. Dispute Iiat- 
naturally resulted and Government have decided that anmarrirl 
T6das willing to^ sign the declaration prescribed in the Marria j- 
Act III of 1872 m&y contract valid marriages governed bj ti. 
usual law and exempt from the operation of such an nnnaturi. 
custom. 

A man may divorce his wife if she is a fool or if she will z- ' 
work; but not for adultery, which is hardly regarded as wni.:- 
doing. Adultery with natives outside the caste is traditioQA 
supposed to be common in the mands which immediately adji 
the towns, but it is only fair to say that very few T6da cbildr* : 
show any signs of mixed parentage. 

Descent of property among the Todas is in the male lin- * 
person's father being held to be the man who presented h-- 
mother with the bow and arrow in the seventh month of r/ r 
pregnancy in the maijner already described. Adoption i^ n.* 
practised. Daughters inherit nothing. A he£ulman (mooipor 
is responsible for the assessment due to Government, bat he . 
less important, socially, than the head of the tribal panch&yat. 

The Todas play but few games. In one of them one boy 1 
to try to squeeze through a narrow tunnel made of two upri^*' ' 
stones with another laid horizontally upon them before 1. • 
opponent, starting from some distance off, can reach him aL ' 
touch his feet. A game for men consists in trying to lift to t! 
shoulder a large circular stone. Near many mands the 8ton * 
formerly used in this pastime may be seen, and as few Todas cas 
now do more than just lift them off the ground the inferen^ 
follows that the tribe has much degenerated in physical strenc*-' 
T6da dancing is of the simplest description, the men mere..^ 
joiiang arms in a circle and moving round with a sort of hop * > 
the aooompaniment of shouts of h&-h4-h6h. 



THE PBOFLE* 



161 



The langaage of the tribe is undoubtedly Dravidian, and the 
l.^^t judges have considered it to be more nearly allied to Tamil than 
^ » aay other Dravidian tongue. This fact throws some light pn the 
two difficult qaesdons : Who are the Todas ? How do thoy come 
to be living on the Nilgiris ? No answer to these is afforded by 
• le ancient records of the tribe, for they have none ; nor by their • 
traditions, for these, as has been seen, declare that the first T6da 
was miraculously created on the Kundahs. Mr. Rivers considers 
that the similarity of the customs of the Todas with those of 
Malabar points to their having migrated from that part of the 
•oantry . For polyandry still survives in MaKibar ; ihe^sambandham 
fitrm of marriage there has points of resemblance to the custom 
i»7 which T6da women have recognized lovers ; in both areas the 
L'iving of a cloth is an essential part of the marriage ceremony, 
new cloths are placed en the corpse at funerals, And certain wed- 
•ling ceremonies are performed at the obsequies of a girl who has 
ti^d unmarried. Again, the pole decked with cowries with which 
■ he Todas dance at their funerals should, they aver, be procured 
from the Kurumbas from Malabar, where alone suitable kinds 
^Tow; and perhaps the belief that the souls of the dead travel 
westwards enshrines some tradition of the original home of the 
tribe. Moreover Malayilam and Tamil are nearly allied and 
perhaps further research would show that it is with the former 
rather than the latter that the Toda tongue is most nearly con- 
nected; Toda diviners, as has been seen, are declared to speak 
Malay&lam when they are in their frenzies ; and such statistics of 
) hvsical measurements as are available reveal a certain resem- 
lilance between the Todas and the Nayars and Nambiidris of 
^[alabar. 

If, however, the Todas came from Malabar it must have been 
^t a very remote period, as their general manner of life is now 
wholly different from that of any Malabar caste. 

Of the people of the plateau there remain to be considered the irains. 
Irulas and the Kurumbas, two jungle-tribes which are also found 
in several other districts. 

The name Irula is supposed to be derived from the Tamil irw/, 
darkness ', which may refer either to the gloomy jungles in which 
^hey live or to their very swarthy complexions. The tribe lives 
cbiefiy on the eastern lower slopes in rude hamlets called moHae 
'orrned of huts made of plaited bamboo plastered over with mud. 
Tliey cultivate patches of dry grains (ragi, samai, tenai, dhall, maize 
&n«I castor) and grow many plantains and some jack, lime, and 
Hier fruit trees. In some places (round about Arak6d,»for 
example) they do not plough the land, but carry on shifting 



CHAP. III. 
Principal 

CAStXS. 



152 



THE NILQIBIB. 



OHAP. m. 

Pbimcipal 

Castes. 



ooltiyatioii in patches of jungle which they fell and bonL Thej 
q^Jso earn something by collecting forest produce, such as gum?, 
dyeR, etc. They have few dealings with the people of the pitteac 
itself, but frequently travel down to the plains (espeoially to th>' 
M^ttup&laiyam market) to dispose of their produce. They kwf 
cows and, like the Badagas and T6da8, prohibit their women 
from having anything to do with the milk. They pay no guda 
to the Todas. They have a headman called the paitakdran and a 
deputy styled Hlkdran who preside at panch&yats. They arv 
divided into seven exogamous groups, the origin of which is not 
clearly known. The*trulas on the slopes of the Bhav&ni valley 
are sometimes called M^ddum^rs and those round about Masini- 
giidi are known as Easubc^ or Kasuvas. All of them speok a 
corrupt form of Tamil. 

They are small ih stature, very dark-skinned (though sometime? 
much fairer individuals are met with), broad-nosed, and so like 
the Euruinbas that they can with difficulty be told apart The 
men sometimes shave their heads in the Tamil fashion and wear 
a kudumi, or top-knot. The women are generally tattooed on thf 
forehead, wear their upper cloths stretched straight across thfir 
breasts and passed under their arms, like the Badaga women, actl 
their characteristic ornaments are a series of brass bangles on the 
forearms and a necklace made up of many strings of beads roaghl y 
twisted into a regular rope. The Irulas are as fond of daodmr 
as the other people of the hills and have their own musicians. 

Early accounts of the tribe (such as Captain Harknes.*^', 
written in 1832) represent them as sunk in poverty, dirt aui 
wretchedness and subsisting from hand to mouth by priiniti\e 
shifting cultivation and the collection of jungle produce. So [>oor 
they that infanticide was common (the mothens bein^ 



were 



declared to bury their infants alive) and so wild were their habit- 
that fabulous stories of their relations with the animals of the 
forests were recounted by other tribes — one of these (quoted l»y 
Buchanan) declaring that when an Irula woman was too busy V' 
look after her babies she entrusted them to the care of the neare^^t 
tiger. 

. Nowadays work on the numerous tea and coffee plantation<^ 
of the hills has brought them regular wages and raised thvir 
standard of comfort, and they are far less wild (and so less int^^r- 
esting) than they were. 

They worship Vishnu and are the priests at his rude fthrino 
(p. ^40) on Rangasv&mi Peak. They eat meat (thoogh not 
beet) and any game they can catch, pig not excepted. A youtb 



THB PBOPLB. 



153 



has a vested right to the hand of his paternal annVs daughter 
and can claim her before the panch&yat. His mother usually 
makes the proposal for her hand, and if it is accepted she goes 
with a party (which does not include the bridegroom) to the* girl's 
house with presents of food and the bride-price. There tl^ey are 
feasted and that night the bride is handed over with due and < 
quaint ceremony to her future husband's people. Marriage 
generally occurs after puberty ; the right to divorce is mutual ; 
widowa may remarry. 

When an Irula dies^ two Eurumbas who are ' hereditarily 
attached to his village come there and one of the^i shaves the 
head of the other. The latter is fed and presented with 
a clothy which he wraps round his shorn head. This odd ceremo- 
nial is supposed in some way or other to bring good luck to the 
departed.^ Until the time fiLzed for the funeral, the corpse is kept 
inside the house, while the relations dance outside to an Irula band. 
A funeral car something like that used by the Badagas is made 
and afterwards demolished, and the corpse is carried off to the 
cemetery. Each village has its ovn[i cemetery and in this the d&d 
are buried fully dressed and in a sitting posture with the legs 
crossed in tailor fashion. A lamp, knife and hatchet are placed 
beside them and then the grave is filled in and its position marked 
with a stone. As already mentioned (p. 101) the Irulas and 
the Kurumbas used at one time to place a water- worn stone in 
some cromlech every time one of their number died, and in some 
] daces they still place them in a shed at the cemetery, big ones 
being used in the case of grown-up people and little ones for 
children. Sometimes a family has its ovni family grave which 
is opened and used whenever any of the members die. A simple 
annual memorial service is held at the cemetery, food being taken 
tliere, a lamp lit and some p6ja performed. 

The Kurumbas, Kurubas or Kurumas of the district seem to 
be of at least three classes; namely, the Kurumbas proper who 
live in hamlets on the plateau ; the U r Kurumbas round Nel- 
li&lam ; and the J^n Kurumbas or Sh61a Ndyakas who are 
namerous in the Wynaad and especially on the Mudumalai side 
of it. 

A powerful race called Kurumbas or J?allavas, about whom 
much has been conjectured but little is kuown, once held sway 
over much of South India but was overthrown about the ninth 
century A.D. by the Ch61a dynasty of Tanjore. It is usuaEy 

' Mr. Thnnton in JTadrof Mmeum BiMeiin, Vol. II, Vo, 1. Other informa- 
Xuju about thelrolM it contained in Breeks' and Shortt'e books. 
80 



CHAP. III. 

Principal 

Oastes. 



Knmmbaa. 



Castes. 



164 THB NILGIBI8. 

CHAP. III. sapposed that the scattered communities of Kurombas or Enmbas 
Principal which are foond in many parts of this Presidency are the descend- 
ants qf refugees belonging to this race who fled to tbe wilds 
from their conquerors, but there is no real evidence that this 
is so. 

Except the Ur division, the Nilgiri Eurumbas are geneially 
shy people who flee at the sight of a European, and their way« 
stand in much need of further investigation.^ 

The Kurumbas of the plateau reside in rude hamlets known af 
mottas or ham^au whic]} are usually placed on or near the slopes 
of the hills and consist of some half a dozen hute made of wattlf- 
and mud and thatched with grass. This word hxmbai forms part 
of the names of several villages on the edges of the plateau 
(Kulakambai, U anjakambai and others) and apparently denote 
that these were once Kurumba settlements. 

The people of the tribe are short, slightly built and dark- 
complexioned, and resemble the Irulas closely in general 
appearance. The men are noticeable from their wiry and curl,^ 
hair, which sticks up all round their heads like a black halo, ani 
the women from their one garment, a cloth passed straight acro>^ 
the breasts, tied under the arms and reachin|^ down to their 
knees. These Kurumbas speak a dialect which has been de- 
scribed as savouring of Ganarese, but which Dr. Caldwell oonsiderr 
to be a rude Tamil. They subsist in much the same way as tl.* 
Irulas and) like them, are far better off than they used to he. 
They often assist the E6tas to make music at T6da and Badiiga 
ceremonies (they pay no gtidu to the T6das) and they alao trade 
largely on the extraordinary dread of their supposed magical 
powers which possesses the T6das and the Badagas — ^the latt^ r 
especially. 

Each Badaga village or group of villages has its own EummL>i« 
attached to it, and these are invited at the beginning of even- 
cultivation season to officiate at the ceremonies considered essen- 
tial to secare good crops and are paid to turn the first sod aud 
sow the first seeds. Similarly when the harvest is ripe they are 
invited to reap the first sheaf and are again paid for their service^. 
Specific instances of these ceremonies are given in the account of 
M^lfir in Chapter XV. If cattle-disease or blight among the 
crops appear, the Kurumbas are again consulted and begged to 
remove the scourge. The Badagas used to stand in even more 
mortal terror of them than they do now ; and Metz declares tiiat 

> Breoka and Bhorit may be ooniulted aad Mr. Tbirtion's M0vM9rQ/phic Sets* 
ooataiaa material* 



THE PKOPLB. 156 

if a single Badaga met a Karamba ia a lonely, junglj place he CHAP. III. 
* not onf requentlj * died of sheer fright. Now and again when a Pbincipal 
string of nusfortones overiiook the T6das and Badagas, and the Pastes. 
Korombas did not alleviate them, the men of these two castes fell 
apon the Kammbas and murdered a batoh of them. Instances of 
this kind occurred in 1824, 1835 (when as manj as 68 of them 
were massacred), 1875, 1882, 1891 and as recently as 1900. These 
cases have always proved most difficult to detect, as the other 
tribes firmly believe that there is no other way of counter- 
acting the Kurumbas' evil magic and combine to screen the 
murderers. • • 

Kurumba marriage ceremonies are of the simplest. Apparently 
a youth merely selects a girl as his bride and gives a feast to the 
relations on both sides to announce the fact. 

The f unerM rites of the tribe rudely »esemble those of the 
Badagas, the dying man being made to swallow a Viraraya fanam, 
and a funeral car being made round which music and dancing take 
place. The bodv is generally burnt and the ashes left to the 
meroy of the jackals and the winds of heaven. In some places it 
is buried and a water- worn stone is brought and set up in a small 
cromlech close by the cemetery. At long intervals a memorial 
ceremony similar to the manavalai of the Badagas is held. * 

ICummba religious ideas are apparently of the vaguest. They 
call themselves Saivites, but seem to have no regular shrines 
or very definite deities. 

The Ur ('village*) Kurumbas who occur in small numbers 
near Nelli&lam are, as their name implies, a civilized community. 
They speak Canarese and are immigrants from Mysore, where 
numbers more of them (whose ways have often been described) 
reside. 

The J^n (or J^nu) Kurumbas are so called by other castes on 
account of their skill in collecting honey (jenu) from wild bees* 
nests on cliffs and precipices. They clamber down at night with 
the help of rattan ladders. They themselves, however, object to 
this name and call themselves J^nu Koyy6 Sh61a Nayakas (' honey- 
cutting lords of the woods ') or 8h61a Nayakas for short.^ 

They speak Canarese and live in the depths of the jungles in 
bamboo huts thatched with grass. They have a definite *caste 
organiisation, a headman called the ejum^n, assisted by a panchdyat, 
wielding the usaal authority in domestic and caste matters. 

' M. Lonia Lapioque, in a note in the Gomptes rendns des S^nces de la 
fiodM de Biologie, differentiates 8h61a N&yakas from Korumbas; bai Mr. 
Thortton'i enqniriea and those made for the parposetf of this present Vblnme go 
t>o ahow that he ia in error in doiDg- so. 



156 



THE NILGIRIB. 



CHAP. ni. 

Principal 
Gastxs. 



When a girl atiaiiis puberty slie is made to live in a new hnt 
built hj her elder brother for the occasion and is there Tinted b\ 
her roilations. After ten days she has a bath and is aUowed to 
return home. A youth has a claim to the hand of his paternal 
aunt's daughter. Marriage occurs after puberty and the mat^l: 
*is made hy the boy's parents. Preliminary palavers having been 
held, the girl's mother provides a tdli (or marriage badge) and 
a new cloth for the boy and the latter's parents contribute a new 
cloth and brass rings and bangles for the girl. The two parties 
eventually meet and the bride's mother ties the t&li, after which 
a dinner is given whereat the happy couple eat oat of the same 
cup, helping each other in turn to a handful of the fBte provided. 
They are next shut up in a hut together and the ceremony is over. 
Widow remarriage is allowed, but in such cases it is the woman'ts 
parents, and not the*man's, who seek out a suitable match. No 
ceremonies are performed, the couple merely g^ing to Uvh 
together as soon as their parents have arranged matters. Onlj 
the men can claim a divorce — not the women. 

Very old people are cremated and the rest are buried in a 
sitting posture. The grave is marked with a stone. On the 
seventh day afterwards the deceased's family go into the jungle 
and the eldest man among them plucks a piece of gprass and make« 
a hole and plants it. Next he takes a new bamboo pot, fills it with 
water and adds, with his first finger, two drops of castor oiL If 
these remain apart, it is a bad omen and no more is done ; but if 
they run together the oil and water are poured over the grass and 
the new pot is taken back and kept in the shrine of the god Billala. 
Whenever afterwards sikj of the relations pass the grave, they 
throw a little tobacco or betel and nut upon it to solace the dead* 
and for the first two rainy seasons they build a rude hut over it to 
shelter the departed from the wrath of the elements. The same 
observances are paid to the spot where any one has been cremated, 
except that no hut is built in the monsoons. 

Three caste deities are worshipped; namely, Kallitha (a god- 
dess) and Airu Billi and Kadu Billala, both of whom are gods who 
are supposed to have come to the Wynaad from Malabar. A 
ceremony in their honour, subscribed for by the caste in general, 
is held in April every year, a cock or two being sacrificed, much 
rice cooked and eaten by the celebrants, and a dance being held. 

Like their more backward brethren on the Nilgiri plateau, \h^ 
Jen Kurumbas are held to be great magicians, and stories are told 
of how they can summon wild elephants at will and reduce rocks 
♦o |)Owder merely by scattering mystic herbs upon them. 



TtfE raOPLE. 167 

Tlie matual relations of the five tribes who inhabit the hills — CHAP. ill. 
the Badaga8> K6tas, T6da8, Irolas and Knrambas above referred Principal 
to — require a few words by way of summary. The Badagas and ^"" ^' 
Todas have more to do with each other than the rest. The former Belatioos 
are not only the agricalturists of the latter (paying them the fiyg'^tribeB^^ 
yearly contribution of grain called gddu which they also give the • 
E6taa and Eorumbas) bat are the intermediaries between them 
and the world beyond the Nilgiris ; and the two regard themselves 
as more or less social equals. When a Toda meets a Badaga 
headman or an aged Badaga with whom he is acquainted, he stands 
in front of him, bows his head slightly and says ' You have come.' 
The Badaga replies ' Blessing ! Blessing V and rests his hand on 
the top of the T6da'8 head. Eaqh of the ti dairies has attached to 
it a special Badaga whose duty is to supply it with the various 
articles required for the worship which aife made by ordinary 
Hindus — such as the earthenware vessels used in the inner room 
and the garments of the p41ol. A Badaga also sits on certain 
occasions on the T6da panch&yat. 

Both Badagas and Todas regard the carrion-eating E6tas as 
their inferiors. When a E6ta meets a T6da he raises both hands 
to his tsce and salutes from a distance, and a l^oda will not ordin- 
arily sleep or take food in any of the seven K6ta villages. Both 
Badagas and T6da8 avail themselves of the services of the K6tas 
as musicians, potters and smiths, each Eota village supplying 
certain Toda clans. The E6tas are, indeed, artisans to all the 
hill tribes. At Toda green funerals they are expected to provide 
the cloak in which the corpse is wrapped, five to ten measures 
o{ s^mai and a rupee or two ; and at dry funerals another cloak, 
a few rupees towards the expenses, a bow and three arrows^ 
a knife, a sieve and a basket. In return they get the bodies of the 
buffaloes which are slain at funerals or which die a natural death, 
and at K6ta funerals the Todas supply a male buffalo calf and a 
measure of ghi. Once in a year, too, the Todas go to the E!6ta 
village with which they are connected, make a present of ghi and 
receive one of grain, these being offered and taken with much 
ceremonial. 

The Kurumbas and Irulas live a far more exclusive life than 
the other three tribes and come but little in contact with them 
except in connection with their magical powers already referred to. 
When they meet a T6da they bend forward and the T6da places 
his hand on their heads. The Kurumbas supply the T6das with 
the long polQ used at the funeral dances and with the wooden posts 
at which the buffaloes are killed at these ceremonies. 



158 



THE mLOIBli. 



CHAP. III. 

PBlNOirAL 

Castes, 

Chcttis. 



Ghettis. 



It remains to refer to two castes in the Wynaftd — ^the CliAtt: 
LigiidowneTs and their faurm-labonrers the PaniTans. 

7[he former have now no connection whatever with the Ch^ptt: 
traders of the Tamil and Teluga coontry, bat resemble in apppfir- 
anc^ the Navars and Tijans of Malabar, being fEor-akinned ami 
straijrht -featored, wearing their top-knots hanging ovor one sid. 
of their fon^heads, and living in neat little honses after ti- 
Malabar pattern, made of woven bamboo tatties covered wit- 
smoothened earth decorated with patterns and figoros of aniiDai> 
done in chnnam, provided with wide pials and deep eaves, aoi 
Burroonded l>j a trim, fenced froitr garden. 

Thoagb they are all outwardly mnoh alike, thece Chettis an^ 
of two kinds which form two separate castes. The first of ihp^ . 
called the Mandadan ('hettis, speak a corrupt Canarese, follow tl,.- 
Makkatavam law ot inheritance, and seem to have always K'^n 
natives of the Wynaad ; while the second, known as the WynaafiAo 
Chettis, speak Malayalam, follow Marumakkatiyam, and say ihy 
are immigrants from the Coimbatore side. The two commonitus 
do not intermarry and their womenkind will not even mv-- 
together. 

* Mandadan * is supposed to be a corruption of Mahdvalioaii.., 
the traditional name still applied to the country between N^r »• 
kottai and Tippak&du, in which these Ohettis principally ic»Mt 
and over which the Y^lunnavars of Nambalak6d once held svb^ 
These Chettis recognize as many as eight different headmen ▼I'^' 
each have names and a definite order of precedence— the lattt^T 
being accurately marked by the varying lengths of the periods o! 
pollution observed wh«n they die. They are supposed to he tlo 
descendants in the nearest direct line of the original ancestors of 
the caste and they are shown special respect on public occasion 
and settle domestic and oaste disputes. 

Marriages take place after puberty and are arranged throo^i 
go-betweens called Madhyastas. When matters have been set id 
train the contracting parties meet and the boy^s parents measnn^ 
out a certain quantity of paddy and present it to the bridt'- 
people while the Madhyastas formally solicit the approval to th"" 
match of all the nearest relatives. The bride is bathed ani 
dressed in a new cloth and the couple are then seated under a 
pandal. The priest of the Nambalak6d temple comes with flower^ 
blesses the t^li and hands it to the bridegroom^ who ties it roiiDd 
the bride's neck. Sometimes the young man is made to work 
for .the girl as Jacob did for Rachel, serving her lather for a peri^^i 
(generally of from one to four years) the length of which > 



THB PBOPlil. 159 

settled by a panoMyat. In such cases the father-in-law pays the CHAP. III. 
exp0n.^8 of the wedding and sets np the young coaple with a Pbincipal 
hoase and some land. Married women are not prohibited from ^ ^^^ ' 
oonfeiring* &^onrs on their hosbands' brothers, bat addltery 
outaide the caste is severely dealt with. 

Adoption seems to be unknown. A widow may remarry. If • 
ahe weds her deceased husband's brother, the only ceremony is a 
dinner after which the happy pair are formally seated on the same 
mat; bat if she marries any one else a pandal and t^li are 
proyided. 

Divorce is allowed to both parties and divorcees may re- 
marry. In their cases, however, the wedding rites are much 
curtailed. 

The dead are usually burnt ; but those who have beea killed 
by accidents or epidemics are buried. When' any one is at death's 
door, he or she is made to swallow a little water from a vessel in 
which some rice and a gold coin have been placed. The body is 
bathed and dressed in a new cloth, sometimes music is played and 
a gun fired, and in all cases the deceased's family walk three 
times round the pyre before it is fired by the chief mourner. 
When the period of pollution is over, holy water is fetched from 
the Nambalak6d temple and sprinkled all about the house. 

These Chettis are Saivites and worship the B^tariyasvdmi of 
Nambalak6d, the Aim Billi of the Kurumbas and one or two 
other minor gods, and certain deified ancestors. These minor 
gods have no regular shrines, but huts provided with platforms 
for them to sit upon, in which lamps are lit in the evenings, are 
built for them about the fields and jungles. 

Chetti women are often handsome. In the house tbey wear 
only a waist-doth, but they put on an upper cloth when they 
venture abroad. They distend the lobes of their ears, and for the 
first few years after marriage wear in them circular gold ornaments 
somewhat resembling those affected by the Ndyar ladies. After 
that period they substitute a strip of rolled-up palm-leaf. They 
bave an odd custom of wearing a big chignon made up of plaits of 
their own hair cut off at intervals in their girlhood. 

The Wynaadan Chettis say they were originally Velldlas from Wynaadan 
Coimbatore, followed Makkatdyam, spoke Tamil and wore the Cheitii. 
Tamil top-knot. In proof of this they point out that at their 
weddings they still follow certain Tamil customs, the bridegroom 
wearing a turban and a red cloth with a silver girdle over it 
and being shaved, and the women putting on petticoats and 
nose-rings. 



160 



TffS KILQIRIS. 



CHAP. III. 

PUNCIPAL 
0A8TB8. 



PftDiyftm. 



They have headmen called kolapallis, sabordinate to whom arc 
mantiris, bat these are liable to be overrnled by a n^d oooncil. 
No wedding may take place withoat the headman's leave. 

Two forms of marriage are recogniied. In one the conple 
exchange garlands after the Tamil fashion and the father (a relic 
• of the Makkatdyam system) condacts the ceremony. Preliminaries 
are arranged by go-betweens and the chief of the nameroos rit^*^ 
is the placing of a bracelet on the girl's npper arm under a paDd;i! 
before the priest and the assembled relatives. 

The other form is simpler. The bridegroom goes to th- 
girl's honse iv^ith some^ men friends and after a dinner there u 
go-between puts on the bangle. 

Befofe marriages a tdli-ketto ceremony resembling that of th»* 
N&yars is often gone through, all the gfirls of a family who are of 
marriageable age hating tdlis tied round their necks on tbe same 
day by a maternal uncle. 

Married women are allowed intimacy with their husbands' 
brothers. Widows are permitted to marry again. The dead are 
usually burnt, but (as with the Mandidan Chettis) those who hav« 
met their deaths by accidents and epidemics are buried. Witer 
from a vessel containing rice and a gold coin is poured, as before, 
into the dying person's mouth. The other ceremonies are not 
particularly noteworthy. Should the spirit of the dead disturb 
the dreams of the relatives, a hut for it is built under an astrologer •» 
directions close to the house, and in this lights are lit mominj 
and evening and periodical ofTorings of food are made. 

The Wynaadan Chettis reverence the deities in the Ghmapiti, 
Mah&m&ri and Eali)nalai«Tambirdn temples near Sultan's Batten , 
the Airu Billi already mentioned, and one or two others. The 
women wear in their distended ear-lobes the gold discs which are 
so characteristic of the N^yars, and many necklaces. They ii^e 
two white cloths, tying one round the waist and another acroH'! 
their breasts. 

The Paniyans are a short, dark-skinned tribe with broad nose< 
and such curly hair that they are popularly (but erroneooslv) 
supposed to be of African descent. They speak a cormpt patoi> 
of -Malay ilam, live in dirty little huts made of bamboo wattle* 
plastered with mud and thatched with grass, and foUow tlie 
Makkat^yam law of inheritance. Each family is attached to eoiue 
Chetti household and works on its fields, and in past times thpv 
were little better than agrestic slaves. The advent of the coffee- 
plantar did much to liberate them, bat they are still nsnaUy poor, 
unkempt and unclean. They are clever at netting (and poisoniog 



THl PIOPLB. 161 

fish, and daring at spearing tigers in the manner described on CHAP. in. 

p. 30. They have hereditary caste headoien (called Eutt^ns or Pbxkcipal 
Janmis) at all the larger centres, whose consent to aU marriages is ^ ^w »' 
necessary. 

When a joath is betrothed, he is expected to bring his 
fiancee a bundle of firewood at frequent intervals until the 
wedding-day. Weddings take place in the bride's house and the 
Kfitt^ officiates. He invests the girl with a cloth with four 
annas knotted in the comer and a bead necklace, both provided 
by the bridegroom, throws water at the couple's J^et and sprinkles 
some round them to avert the evil eye. The bride-price being 
duly paid, the girl's father hands her over and the Kintiin then 
solemnly adjures the young husband neither to starve nor buUy her 
and, turning to the father, promises that should either occur he 
will get the girl back and return her to her pareiits. delations 
between a married woman and her husband's brothers and cousins 
are loose. Widow re-'marriage is allowed. 

Young folk are buried and the rest cremated. Ghnves are dug 
in an unusual way : ^ at the bottom of a trench some five feet deep 
and running due north and south a chamber big enough for the 
body is excavated in the western wall and the body, wrapped in 
a mat, is laid therein. A little cooked rice for the spirit is added 
and the trench filled in. For seven days afterwards the deceased's 
relations abjure meat and fish, and a little rice gruel is placed at 
some distance from this grave by the K^ttdn, who claps his hands 
as a signal to the evil spirits round about to come and be fed. 
liioaming ceremonies are held in the month of Magaram (January- 
February), when those who have lost relatives during the year 
cook their food in a special shed apart from the village and eat 
neither flesh nor fish. On the last day of the month they assemble 
at the shed and the K^tt^n or Janmi walks round it three times, 
holding in his crossed arms two winnowing sieves containing 
paddy which he eventually deposits in the middle of it. Then a 
komaran, a kind of professional soothsayer, appears with a new 
cloth about his brows, his body smeared with rice-fiour and ghi, 
and bells on his legs to scare away the evil spirits, and advancing 
with short steps and rolling eyes, staggers to and fro, sawing the 
^ir with two email sticks, and gradually works himself into a 
state of frenzy which ends in his collapsing on the ground. The 
^Bsembled mourners then question him as to the reason why their 

' Mr. Colin Msokenii^'s acoonnt qnoted in Madras Museum BuUeti^^, Vol. II, 
1^0,1, p. 22, 

21 



102 TBM HILOIBIi. 

CHAP. III. relations were takea bom them and his disjointed gasps sn 
PsarciPAL accepted as a diyine answer. 

* He eyentnally recoversy and taking the belb oS his legs holds 

them in his hands and to the accompaniment of their jinghng 
chants a foneral lament of which uo man knows the meaning sod 
which lasts till dawn. 

The Panijans' chief goddess is E^ittn Bhagayati or ' Bhagifsti 
of the woods.'. Shrines in her honour are to be foimd at most 
centres of the caste and contain no image, but a box in whioh is 
kept the clothing and jewels presented to her by the deToat. An 
annual ceremony lasting a week is held in her honoar at which the 
k6mdrem and a kind of priest called the nolambuk^ran take tke 
chief parts. The former dresses in the goddess* clothing and tiie 
divine afflatus descends upon him and he prophesies both good aod 
eviL 

The men's dress consists of a waist-cloth. Asa defence against 
rain they wear an odd covering 'like an inverted coal-scoop* 
made of split reeds woven together with arrowroot leaves. The 
women wear one cloth which they throw over the shonldeis and 
knot across the breast, much base-metal jewellery, and sometimes 
in their distended car-lobes a big wax disc set all ronnd with the 
bright, red and black seeds of the Abrus precaiariut which the 
goldsmiths of the plains nse as weights. 



▲ORICVLTTBE. 



188 



CHAPTER IV. 

AGBIOULTUEE. 



Ckkkal Gbops —Statistics — Caltivation on the plateau— Soils — Methods— Chiefr 

crops — CaitiTation in the Wynaad — Soils— Methods ; on dry Jand — On wet 

limd. Spscial Products— Coffee— Its first introdaction— Subsequent viois- 

•ltiid«8~ CnltiTation— Diseases — Frooesses of mannfactnre— Tea— Its iirst 

introdnotion — And subsequent extension — Procesaes of mannfaoture— Gin- 

ohona- Its introdnotion— Ooyemment plantations begun — The first febrifuge 

m*de— Changes in administration— Private pk^nting of olnohona — Work on 

the Oovemment plantations at present — Maintenance of the supply of bark — 

The apeeies of cinohona grown— Harvesting of the bark — Manufacture of 

quinine — Bnbber — Its introduction — Extent now planted — Harvesting — 

Rh«a fibre. Fiuix-tbeks, itc— Apples— Pears— Medlars— Quinces— Peaches 

— Nectarines — Apricots— Plums --Persimmon — CJjLerries— Currants — Goose. 

berries — Baapberries— Strawberries — Mulberries — Figs —Vines — Gnavas — 

Oranges and lemons — Cherimoyer — Nuts — Bee-keeping. Govbbnment 

Fabmb avd Gabdeks — The K^ti farm— The GoverDment Ghirdens, Ootaoamund 

— The Kalhatii branch garden — The Coonoor branch garden — Sim*s Park, 

Coonoor — The Barliyir Garden — The present Government Gardens and 

Parks. 

Agbicultube in the district divides itself naturally into two 
cUsses ; namely, the cultivation of food-crops carried out by the 
natives and the growth by Europeans of special products such as 
coffee, tea, cinchona, rubber, fruit trees, etc. These classes will 
be separately treated and a few words then added regarding the 
fanns and gardens which have been, or still are, maintained by 
Government. 

It may be noted in parenthesis that there is no artificial 
irrigation in any part of the districif and that the land is all 
ryotwari, there being neither zamindaris nor inams in the 
Nilgiris. 

The following statistics show at a glance the general agri- 
Gultaial position in the district : — 



1 


Percentage of the area shown in the village 
aoconnts which is 


Taluk. 


Forest and 
other area 
not avail- 
able for 

cnftivatioD. 


Cultivable 

waste 
other than 

faUow. 


Current 
fallows. 


Net area 
cropped. 


{ Coonoor 

; Ootacamund 

;G4dal^ 

District total ... 


42-8 7-2 ' 29-6 
80-i 1-3 10-7 

1 38-6 22-3 29-6 

1 


20-4 
7-6 
9-6 


58-8 1 8-9 1 20-9 

1 1 ^ : 


11'4 



OHAP. IV. 

CvBEAr. 
Cbops. 



statistics. 



164 



Tax VUAXBXB. 



OHAF. 17. 

Cmmmajl 
Caon. 



Peroenteg0 of area under each orop to 
total area cropped. 



Cropa. 



CooDoor. 



Ootaca- 
mmid. 



I 



66dBl«r. 



Cereala and palaea — 
S&mal 

nioe ... ... ••. 

Kcrali 

Bigi 

Barley 

Wheat ... .^ ... „ 

Othera ... T.. 

Oil-aeeda 

CcmdiiDentB and spioaa 

Dmga and narootioa — 

Coffee 

'£m 

Oinohona * ... 

Othera 

Orcharda and garden prodace — 

Potatoea 

Othen 

JfiBoellaneona non-food crops- - 

Blue gum 

Othera 



147 



4-8 



11-9 


^8 


1-5 


M 


5-4 


3-4 


^•^ . 


2-9 


1-2 ; 


WOrO 




0-7 


0^3 ' 


0-2 



44-6 
7-7 
11 



4-8 
0-4 

4-6 

0-2 



18-1 
12*8 
10-9 



3-2 
0-7 

79 



2-3 
33-1 

4-4 



0-1 

43-9 

18-1 

26 

0-1 



0-4 



Diatrict 
total 



8-4 
7-8 
7-7 
40 
8-5 
1-7 
7-0 
♦2 
Qrl 

86\» 

1016 

46 



3-2 
05 

4-5 
0-1 



From these it will be seen tliat in Goonoor tcdok only half ihe 
area shown in the villa^ acconnts is cropped or nnder fallows. 
while seven per cent, of it is culturable bnt still nnoccnpied ano 
the remainder is forest or other land Dot available for cultivation ; 
that in Ootacamond less than a fifth of the total area is croppe<: 
or fallow and hardly any nnoccnpied land remains, since four-fifth? 
of the talak is forest, or other land not available for onltivatioD ; 
and that in Gfidalfir the forests and the occupied land each mak^ 
up some two-fifths of the total area while as much as one*fifth i§ 
oultuiable but not occupied. 

Again, in Coonoor, of the total area cropped, more than half 
is grown with coffee, tea and cinchona, while the chief C6reaL«> 
are the two milletg called s^mai {Pameum miliare) and korali 
{Seiaria glauca), which are often sown together in the same field ; 
in Ootacamund the area under plantation products is proportioD- 
ately smaller, while korali and r^gi {Xleusifie caracofia) an 
the principal food-crops ; and in 66dal6r the percentag^^ under 
ooffee, tea, etc., is higher than in either of the other taluks, be: 
the chief (indeed almost the only) cereal is paddy. The am 
shown under plantations in this last taluk, however, includes a 
good many estates which have now been practically abandone^i 
In both^ Coonoor and Ootacamund the areas planted with blnv 
gum trees for firewood are considerable. 



AGBICULTUBK. 165 

On the whole, little more than one-tenth of the district area CHAP. IV. 
IS cropped each year and of this less than half is cnltivated with Cbbeal 
food-crops and more than half with coffee, tea and cinchona. , ^* ' 

I onseqnently large quantities of grain have to be imported from 
<.\nnibatore and Mysore, and it has been calculated that the 
iistrict produces food for only four months' consumption and « 
'hut the sapply for the other eight months is imported. 

Begarding the native methods of cultivating the various cereals GnltiTation 
*Jiere is little to be said. Those in vogue on the plateau naturally ^ ^ 
iiiTer from those in the Wynaad, as the seasons, crops and 
iiu'rioultural castes in the two areas are quite dissimilar. 

On the plateau none but ' dry ^ crops are grown, and there the 
[^ddaga and K6ta agriculture is careful only in the fields immedi- 
ately adjoining the villages, which are known as h&lihola. Ib 
'hese, a fair amount of cattle manure is used.; stone walling is 
often practised ; and the women do their best to keep down the 
^ eeds ; and in them are grown the more valuable cereals (such 
IS barley, wheat and rkgi) and garden crops like potatoes, onions, 
:nastard, garlic and the red-fiowered amaranth^ known as 
Prince's feather in England. This h&lihola is the only land 
on which two crops are ever cnltivated, barley and wheat 
^>eing raised between May and September and August and 
December and potatoes between April and September and 
August and January. The land-called sh6lahola, which occupies 
Mie site of woodlands which have been feUed, is also more than 
isually productive and is treated with some care. But the 
kaduhola, or ordinary land of the plateau, is cultivated in the 
ijiost casual manner with korali and s&mai and is neither 
[roperly ploughed, regularly (if ever) manured, nor suflBciently 
weeded, and consequently produces the most wretched crops. It 
^utfers most from the ryots' neglect to prevent the top-s(Ml from 
being scoured away during each monsoon : it is hardly ever 
t»;rraced and rarely even protected with catch-drains ; and conse- 
quently in most places the top-soil has gone down to Tanjore 
>'istrict by way of the Cauvery river and all that is left is the stiff, 
nfertile, red and yell&w clay which forms the subsoil of the 
;f reater part of the plateau. 

The soils of this tract were not classified at the last settlement Soik 
and it is not possible to give statistics of them. Four varieties 
are usually reoognissed. These ar^ (a) the black, which is a rich 

'am and the best of all (the black peaty earth of the bogs, how- 
• ver, is useless until well-worked and manured) ; (b) the browai, a 

ay loam which comes second in productiveness but often lies on a 



166 



THX mLGIBIfl. 



CHAP. lY. 



Method*. 



Chief crops. 



Iftteritdo subsoil wUcK is so dry aod Ymngry tliat aaiiaie is aft 
to be washed down below tLe reacli of plants before it can ie 
utilized ; (e) tbe jellow, a stiff clay wldcli requires diaining aoo 
is fit* for little but grass or timber plantations until it baa beec 
deeply worked and manured; and (d) the red soil, which i* 
not so stiff as the last but is equally hungry and unproductivf . 
The poorness of these soils as a class may be gathered from th^ 
fact that nearly four-fifths of the occupied area in the district i« 
assessed at Aa, 10 and less per adre. Many oi them will not 
stand continuous cropping, and this is the explanation of the lan^ 
areas of f aUoWs whichtappear in the statistics, above. In aD of 
them the proportion of lime is far below norma!, and msnore^ 
containing this constituent are always useful. One of the be?^ 
European authorities on the subject gives as much as a ton t^f 
Ume per acre to all his grain crops and another deokres thi- 
manare to be * the beginning, the middle and the end of agricai- 
ture ' on the hills ; but until the railway reaches Ootacannnd i' 
will continue to be a most expensive substance to import. 

K&dubola land is ploughed in the ordinary way and not deep 
enough, and the seed is sown broadcast (not drilled) and too 
thicUy. Thereafter the crop is practically left to the women t'> 
weed and harvest^ the men earning daily wages as ooolies in the 
towns or on the estates or public roads. Harvesting is done with 
a sickle and the grain is trodden out by cattle, which are driv^A 
round and round over the straw in much the usual manner. Th» 
little circular threshing-floors where this is done are dotted ill 
about the hill-sides, and the men urge the cattle round with a 
quaint cry resembling tjie first five notes in the ordinary mnsicii 
scale. 

Of the crops chiefly raised on the plat.eau the simai and rafo 
resemble those of the plains. Eorali is less commonly knowt. 
It is a tiny millet, the grain of which is about one*tweatieth the 
sine of wheat, is cultivated on every description of soil, and dee* 
well even on the poorest land and in the most exposed ntuationf. 

The wheat chiefly grown is a bearded kind the bosk of whicb 
adheres so closely that it can only be removed by pounding' 
The Badagas consider this characteristic a great merit, aa it pn>- 
teots the grain from the many weevils which swarm on the hilN. 
Another kind is called by the Badagas ^the naked wheat' 
beoause its husk comes off so readily. This ia a European variet; 
and was introduced by Mr. J. Sullivan in the course of hb 

^ This and mAny of the faot« below are faken from a report writUn in IH7' 
by Mr. W. R. Robertaon, Snpsriatendent of GorerBaent V^Mma. 



OtOVl. 



A<nwavns%M. 167 

t^ndeavours to improve Badaga cultivation ; but, whether from bad CHAP. IT. 
^arming, poor soil, hybridization with the indigenous sorts or 9]"^^ 
▼ant of care to keep it separate from these latter, it has gr^atlj 
iw'tanorated. Neither kind produces flour good enough to make 
^read or pastry for Europeans. 

Of barley several varieties are raised. The favourite among 
ttie Badagas is a six-rowed, naked kind called okH gdn;%; and 
two other aix-rowed sorts are the Badaga gdnji, which is supposed 
to be the indigenous barley, and Dorai ( ^.gentleman's ') jrftyV, 
which is said to be descended from some^eed imported by Mr. 
>dlivan but is now inferior to the indigenous kind. Mr. Honey- 
well, who started in 1857 the brewery at Aravank^d referred to 
on p. 289 below, imported the seed of several good sorts of Scotch 
.^ud English malting barleys and distributed them to the Badagas 
ruand Aravank&d, promising to buy the crop raised from them at 
prices much above the market rates for the local barley. But 
after three generations the produce of these quickly deteriorated 
owing to the Badagas giving it insufficient manure and casual 
tillage and not even troubling to keep it separate from their own 
inferior kinds, and it was found necessary continually to import 
fresh seed. The average outturn of Badaga barley is only about 
ten bushels an acre, whereas in England fifty or sixty bushels an 
acre would be nothing unusual. There is always a ready market 
for the gi*ain, the local breweries buying it at from Rs. 1-12-0 to 
Bs. 2 per busheL Mr. George ( )ake^ has obtained better results 
at his place Downham, near Ealhatti, from English (HaUett's 
pedigree), Australian (Best Malting) and Rew^riseed, the English 
producing fifteen bushels an acre which sold for BrS. 3 per bushel. 

Potatoes are much exported to Ceylon, thp Straits and 
Barma, are beginning to be appreciated by native consumers, 
and are consequently a paying crop (a good field fetches Bs. 250' 
per acre as it stands) and are g^own wherever the soil is suitable. 
Bat in size and flavour they are much inferior to English varieties 
owing chiefly to the fact that the same kinds are pat down in the 
same land year after year until the yield diminishes to the point 
where it ceases to be remunerative and disease (which the 
Badaga never attempts to check) is encouraged. Government 
and private individuals have made several efforts to introduce 
better varieties; but little or no care has been taken by the 
natives to reserve or keep separate a stock of this superior seed, 
aad ihey have generally sold the whole crop and returned to their 
own inferior varieties. Potatoes, however, are more carefolly 
cultivated than most crops, the land being dug with a fork, 



168 



THX NILOIBIS. 



OHAP. IV. 

CSBBAL 

Gmops. 



OaltiTAtion 
in the 



manuring and weeding being attended to, and the rows being 
Bidged hj hand with a mamuti. Porcnpioes do inach dama^ 
amqpg them and they are partioolaflj liable to be stolen. The 
pay of watchers is oonseqaently an appreciable item in tlie 
expenses of colfciyation and one European experimenter witli 
pedigree kinds who neglected this precaution discovered when ha 
came to lift his crop that thieves had stolen most of it bj scraps 
ing out the potatoes with their hands, leaving only the binee 
standing. Potatoes do well in the black peaty soils if these are 
drained, broken up deeply and adequately manured ; but the be$t 
are raised in the neighbourhood of Kalhatti, where the soil is s 
reddish-brown loam, the rainfall moderate and frosts rare. 

Oats are a good crop to follow early potatoes, but the Bada(?a0 
grow very little of them. Mr. Cieorge Oakes found the be>t 
variety for hay was the Patna kind and for grain either Austnlian 
or New Zealand. The expenses were : sowing, Rh. 3 per acre; 
lime, Bs. 10; cutting, drying and stacking for hay, Ks. 12; seed 
(three bushels at Rs. 3) Bs. 9 ; total, Bs. 34. The yield was l\ 
tons of hay per acre, value Bs. 60, which gives a profit of Bb. 2f> 
per acre ; or sixteen bushels of grain, value Bs. 48, which make^ 
a surplus of Bs. 14. 

Amaranth is only grown round about the villages, in good soil 
and sheltered situations, and is raised for home consumption and 
not for sale. The seed, a small white grain about one*fortietli 
the size of wheat, is made into flour and the leaves are cooked 
as a vegetable. 

English market-garden crops of very many kinds (saoh as 
carrots, turnips, tomatoes, parsnips, cabbages, vegetable marrows, 
cauliflowers, beet-root, radishes, lettuces, rhubarb, peas, French 
and broad beans, cucumbers, celery, etc.) are largely raised bj 
Badagas and immigrant Canarese, and the towns are well supplier! 
with them ; but the ryots have not yet succeeded in competing with 
the more businesslike and enterprising Bangalore gardeners in 
the large market for these commodities which exists among Euro- 
peans in the plains. The completion of the railway to Ootacamund 
may assist them. 

. In the Wynaad, as the figures already given show, paddy is 
by far the commonest crop and the only others raised on any 
appreciable extent of land are ragi and sdmai. The two latter 
are grown us dry crops on the higher ground while the paddy is 
raised without artificial irrigation in the numerous 8WEtn}>9, 
locally called vayals^ which occupy almost all the depressions 
belNreen the numerous little hills of the country and in many of 
whioh are strong springs of water. 



▲GBICULTUBI. 109 

Owing cUefly to the scarcity and ineflBciency of the labour CHAP. IT. 
sapply (which consists almost entirely of the Paniyans referred Cekiai. 
to in the last chapter)^ both dry and wet cultivation is astonish- Cnon^ 
ingly careless. The dry fields are often so thickly covered with 
every kind of jungle weed that it is necessary to look twice to 
make sure that they really are cultivated and not waste ; and the ' 
paddy swamps are generally quite choked with k6rai grass and 
other intruders which no man moves hand or foot to root out. 
Sometimes the ryot merely roughly clears away the screw- pine 
which covers all swamps in the wild or neglected state and then 
scatters paddy broa4cast among the stamps without farther til- 
lage. The shifting cultivation of backward jungle-tribes is not 
more casual. 

At the last settlement the soils of the dry land in the Wynaad Soili. 
were roughly classified into four classes ; Aamely^ forest land, 
better scrub, inferior scrub and grass land. The first 9f these is 
of two kinds — a dark brown sort on which timber grows luxuri- 
antly and which is well suited to coffee and tea, and a red kind 
which produces good bamboo but only inferior timber. The 
better Siirub land will do for any dry crop and for coffee ; bat the 
inferior scrub will not stcmd continuous cropping and has to be * 
left fallow to recuperate after one year's cultivation with rigi, 

B^gi and s^mai are often grown on the shifting (kumeri) Methods on 
system, a patch of jungle being felled and burnt, the ashes hoed ^^ ^^^* 
in, and the seed scattered over the land after the first rains of the 
south-west monsoon. But the bulk of the dry cultivation is on 
permanent fields. 

Both on dry and wet lands fencing or continuous watching is 
necessary to prevent wild animals from damaging the crops, and 
one of the characteristics of V7ynaad fields is the large number of 
watchers' raised platforms (mach&ns) which are dotted about 
them. During the monsoon, watching all night is a damp and 
ohilly occupation, and the men take &re braziers with them to 
their platforms. Deer, wild pig and (in some places) elephants 
are the ryots' worst foes, and when the crops are ripe parrots and 
monkeys have also to be guarded against. 

On the best land a common rotation is r^gi in the first year, 
then samai, then kartan, or black paddy, and then a long spell of 
fallowing ; but more often a crop of r&gi is followed by several 
years' fallow and then by rigi again. 

The wet land is almost all cultivated continuously with paddy. On wet land. 
Only one crop can be raised in the year^ as in a tract so i;nuch 
oolder than its usual habitat paddy ripens very slowly and is eight 



170 



THE NILGIBIB. 



CHAP. IV. 

Cbbbal 
Ciopt. 



Spxoial 

PlODUOfS. 



OoffM. 



lUftrtt 
introdnotioa. 



months on the groond, while the soath-weat monsoon is the only 
period when the land is wet enongh for it. The seed is eiihsr 
sown broadcast and ploughed in daring April beford the noosooa 
begins (this is called vdlehai) ; or the crop is transplftiitod bi t uss a 
June and August from seed-beds (ndU) ; or seed is aowii bissd- 
cast in July after the fields have been soaked by the rain {ktrnptd)- 
A kind of rotation is secured by cultiyating a field in thase dtfer* 
ent ways in different years. Labour is so scaree thai it is aoi 
possible to plant op all the fields at one time ; and the seed-beds 
are therefore often divided into several sections wbioh are sown at 
intervals one kiter the other so that the seedlings may be readj 
for transplantation in small successive batches. Cattle manure is 
used ; but no green manure, plentiful though it is. ImpIemeDti 
and the manner of using them are muoh the same as elsewhere. 

The figures already given show that of the special, or ptaaU- 
tion, products coffee occupies by far the largest area (36 per cent, 
of the total extent cultivated in the district) ; that tea (10*6 per 
cent.) comes next after a long interval ; th<it cinchona (4*6 per 
cent.) follows third ; and that so &r the area cultivated with others 
(such as the rubber briefly referred to below) is negligible. 

The world's consumption of coffee is estimated at about rizt«eD 
million bags ; and of this about twelve million bags are sappli^ 
by Brazil and the remaining four million by Java and South India- 
In South India more than half the ooffee-produoing area is sito* 
ated in Mysore and the remainder in the Madras Presideacy. 
Coorg and Travanoore. According to the oflSoial retuma, the ana 
in the Nilgiris is now 26^000 acres ; but the figures for tbis 
product are based for the most part on the planters' own reports, 
and as these are too often neither complete nor regolarly 
f orwarde<l the statistics are seldom really trustworthy. 

According to tradition, the coffee-plant was introduced into 
Mysore by a Muhammadan pilgrim named Baba Boodea who 
came and took up his abode in the uninhabited range now 
known as the Baba Booden hills, where he established a kind 
of college. It is said that he brought with him from Moohs 
seven coffee berries, which he planted near hie hermitags. 
Bound about this still stand some very old coffee trees. 

About 1795 Colonel Read, the well-known Collector uf 
Salem, started tin unsuccessful experimental plantation «t 
Tiruppatt6r in his district ; ^ and Dr. Buohaaaa mentiund 
having seen some very thriving young trees at TelUoherrj i^ 

<<Abb4 Dnboit* letter to the Resident of Hjiore, dstad IStli BepUab 
190$, in PaiMTi relftftny fe <A« m/m JiflrMf, Madras, IU9. 



AOfilCUtTUBl. 



171 



1801.* The plant appears to have been introdnoed into the 
tfalabar Wjnaad from Anjarakandi by Mr. Brown in 1828, 
bntit was not nntil I8S9 that its coltiyation became an ontQrprise 
there. ' The first plantations on the Nilgiri plateaa were started 
abont the same time, Mr. Dawson of Goonoor putting doym 
some plants there io 1838 and a small experiment being made * 
in I83U at Kalhatti with seedlings from Manantoddy.' Major 
Oochterlony's survey report of 18*7 on the plateau says — 

'Nuflieions plantatiocs of coffee trees are scattered about the 
Hills, principally situated on the slopes descemiing to the plains, 
where the elevation suitable for the growth of this shrnb can be 
obtained. Until within the last two or three years, coffee plantations 
were only found op the eastern side of the Hills, but representations 
of the excellent quality of the berry, and of the advantages attending 
its cultivation on the Neilgherries, having beeu made in Ceylon, the 
attention of the skilful planters of that island was attracted in this 
diredaon, and the r^ult has been the opening of several plantations! 
where I ventured to predict, in a former memoir, that this description 
of onltivation would sooner or later be introduced, viz., on the 
western slopes of the Hills, where advantages are offered to the 
planter eminently superior to those, the possession of which has of 
late jeara so greatly enhanced the value and importance of the 
aeighbonring islands. 

What may be called the old plantations in the other parts of the 
Hills, but principally on the north-eastern slopes, are insignificant in 
point ol siae but remarkable for the peculiarly fine flavour of the 
coffee produced, which is considered to be owing to the high elevation 
at which most of them are situated* Some plantations near Coonoor 
and Eoterghenry are 5,000 feet above the levf'l of the sea, but it 
seems to me that the advantage derived* from this superiority of 
flavour is more than counterbalanced by the general want of vigour 
and Inxurianoe of the coffee trees, which evidently do not thrive in 
tins latitude so well at an elevation above 4,600 feet, as between that 
and S,006 feet. It is not easy to estimate the amount of land 
at present under actual cultivation for coffee on the Neilgherries, as 
in most oases the coffee fields are so mixed up with the mulberry 
fntuftdi that it is difficult to arrive at the precise extent of each, but 
it may be pronounced not to exceed 280 acres on the eastern side, and 
300 acres on the western.' 

Shortly afterwards the Ouchterlony Valley was opened up 
with coffee in the circamstances set out on p. 374 below, and 
thirty years later (1866-67) the area planted up was returned 
as 13,500 acres yielding 3^ million pounds of crop. The 



CHAP. IV: 
Spbcui. 

PRODUCT!. 



> Uywr; Cmuura and Malahar (Madras, 1870), ii, 

> DiMtrid Manual, 483. 

' A$iaUc Journal, xuciy, 103. 



187. 



l72 



THE Kiiaiiii. 



CHAP. IV. 

8PKCIAL 

Products. 



Bnbieqaenl 
Tioiisitodes. 



eastern, soutbern and north-western slppes proved the m^x^ 
&yonrable to the growth of coiFee, the Kundahs on the west 
being teo mnoh exposed te the sonth-west monsoon and the 
northern slopes too dry. 

A.ccording to the statistics (whioh, however, as already 
' stated, require to be accepted with reserve) the indnstry reached 
its highest point of prosperity in 1879, when the area oultiTated 
in the whole district was 25,000 acres and the crop reached 1(4 
million pounds. Insect pests and disease in the plantaiioDs. 
low piices resulting from increased prodnction in other ooantries, 
and the dissipation of much energy in the vain search for gold 
in tho Wynaad boom of 1879-82 oansed a reaction; and in 
1884-85 the exports were 3 per cent, less than in 1883-84 and 
their value 13 per cent, less^ prices in London having dropped 
from between £3-5-^0 and £4 a cwt. to between £2-15<-6 and 
£2-19-0. Short crops in Brazil and speculation in the European 
and American markets occasioned a recovery in prices in the 
years following, and by 1890 they had risen to £4- 9-0 a cwt. 
Various diseases, however, had mined many estates, and the 
exports, instead of rising in consequence of better prices, began 
te fall. In 18^2-93 prices still kept up owing to the facts that 
the cofFee in Ceylon had been so attacked by variona pests that 
large areas of it had been abandoned, and that the crops in Jars 
and Brazil were small. In 1893-94 the snstained operations of 
a French syndicate, aided by a series of revolutions (in 1889, 
1891 and 1893) in Brazil and a short crop in Java, reenlted in 
the high level being maintained ; bnt in 189&-97 the Brasilian 
crop was splendid and the Indian one short, and prices 
declined sharply. In the next few years over-produotion in 
Brazil caused a further fall in all coffees of the classes which 
(like the Indian sorts) competed with the product of that oonntry 
and were not of a grade superior te it, and this downward 
movement continued until 1900, when the low water-mark was 
reached and tho average price of Indian plantation coffee waa 
only £2-7-0 a cwt. — a decline of 50 per cent, on the figure of 
1897. 

Disease, however, was now doing much less damage than 
before, and in 1900-1901 exports began te rise in spite of the low 
prices realized. This rise has steadily continued np te date, and 
the quantity exported from the Presidency in 1905-1906 (349,500 
owls.) was 45 per cent, higher than the figure for 1900-01 and 
the value (171 lakhs) greater than in any year, except one, since 
1895^96. 



It is only however by rigid economj aud constant care tbat CHAP. IV. 
coffee estates now pay, and the industry is in anything but a Spicial 
flourishing condition. Scores of plantations in the Wynaad have »o^^"- 
been entirely abandoned and relapsed into jnnglet and others 
are in the hands of natives who merely pick such crop as the 
trees will give with the minimum of cultivation. 

Of the 60 species into which the genus Coffea is divided only Caltiv»lioB 
two are of importance ; namely Coffea Arabica and C. Liherica. 
The latter, a native of Liberia, is the more vigorous in growth 
of the two, attains a greater size and age^ withstands wider 
extremes of elimibte, was once (but wiftngly) supposed to be 
less affected by disease, but produces a coarser-flavoured coffee. 
The former is the plant now grown, Liberian being ho longer in 
favour. 

* Its foliage resembles that of tlie Portn|fal laurel ; the small, 
white blossom is not unlike that of the jessamine in form and soent ; 
the berries are at first dark-green, changing, as they mature, to 
yellow, red, and, finally, deep crimson. Beneath the skin of the ripe 
berry, or " cherry " as it is called, is a mucilaginous, Raccharine, 
glutinous '' pulp," closely enveloping the ^* beans," usually a pair of 
oval, plano-convex seeds, though sometimes there is but one seed, 
called, from its shape, " pea-berry ; " these beans are coated with a • 

cartilaginous membrane, known as ''parchment," and beneath this by 
a very delicate, semitransparent, closely-adhering jacket, termed the 
"■ilvertkin".' 

Regarding the caltivation of coffee a very considerable 
literature exists ^ and many divergent opinions regarding pruning, 
nmnuring and so on are held. Discussion of these points would 
be out of plaoe in a book like the presenyb. 

The ' Leeming system,^ so called from its warm advocate 
Mr. H. W. Leeming of the Shevaroy Hills, has lately been tried 
extensively and, in some places, with much success. This consists 
in leaving the coffee trees to grow freely, without any pruning, 
to their natural shape and reducing the number per acre to 
give tiiem plenty of room. It has the advantage of saving all 
the expense of pruning. 

Manures are almost universally employed in large quantities. 
Crude and refined saltpetre, poonacs (such as castor, nim tod 
pnngat) and also imported and artificial manures like basic 
sltg, superphosphates, bone-dust and so on are all widely used ; 
and the planters are now agitating for legislation to provide for 

^ A Mefvl primer it Coj/ee : its culture and eommerce, edited by C. G. 
Varnford Look, F. L. 8. (£. and F. K. Spon, 126 Strand, 18S8), whioh oontjuiiS 
a bibliographj. 



174 



THE IltL«»1i. 



CHAP. IV. 
Special 

PmODVCTS. 



DlMMM. 



the standardization of the latter and for their sale nnder gnaraa- 
tefB of their composition. 

Almost all the labour on co£Fee (and also on tea and other) 
estates is imported ; and in 1903, on the motion of tome of tiie 
planters in this and other districts who considered thai the 
existing Act XIII of 1859 was inadequate to secure ooatrol 
over defaulting labour contractors and absconding coolies, Um 
Madras Planters Labour Act I of 1903 was passed into law tad 
now applies to the Nilgiris. The enactment had been dfafu»d 
by a special committee which included a planter deputed for tie 
purpose by {he Plantmg Associations, but it has not fomd 
favour with employers of labonr and its amendment it alreMiv 
under consideration. 

Passing allusion has already been made to the diseases tad 
pests which have s6 disastrously aifected the coffee indosti;. 
The three worst of these are commonly called bug, borer tnd 
leaf -disease. 

The first to attack the coffee trees was the ' black * or ' sotlj ' 
bug, which is known to science as Leeanium coffea. The femtle 
of this pest resembles a brown conical scale and adheres to t 
young shoot or the under side of a leaf. She produces hondreds 
of eggs and these are so small that they are easily carried from 
tree to tree by adhering to birds, clothing or animals. The Btlf 
of the insect does not derive any nourishment from the tree, hot 
the female has a proboscis with which she incitet the btrk 
and drinks the sap. As the insects increase in nambert the 
foliage is destroyed, a sugary substance, called the hosey-dew. 
appears on the plant and a black fungus covert the whrie of it, 
making it look as if it had been powdered with tool The 
leaves fall off and the plant is starved and produoea no fruit. 

This pest appeared in Ceylon as early at 1845 and oaased t 
great deal of alarm in 1847. It prevailed for a long time, 
appearing and disappearing in the most oncertain and perplex* 
ing manner. No real remedy has ever been ditoovetitd for it, 
though constant weeding and pruning did good by allowing ton 
and air free accett to the trees, but it was found to wear itself 
out gradually. It has lately re-appeared in the estates rooad 
£6tagiri and below Coonoor and is canting much anxiety. 

The ' white ' or ' mealy ' bug is a different pett, tnd is 
called Pmiuloeoceui Adonuhm. It is a small, flat, oval scale 
about a sixteenth of an inch long which is covered with white 
dowit and has parallel ridges mnning across its back from tide to 
tide tomething like a wood -louse. It takes up itt qnarltre on 



▲eRICULTUBB. 



175 



the roots of the trees, at the axils of the leaves, and among the 
dtalks of the frnit olnsters, which it onts off wholesale while t^ey 
are still young. The green berries lying nnder the trees are 
often the first indication of its presence. 

The green bog, L0e(innm viridBj is another of these scale 
perts and has lately appeared in strength on the Nilgiiis. No 
remedy short of the expensive processes of catting out diseased 
trees, or spraying or fnmigating them, has been discovered. It 
has been suggested that parasites which are known to attack it 
elsewhere, or other insects which feed anon it, might be intro- 
duced to keep it iu check ; but Mr. Maxwell Lefroy, Entomolo- 
gist to the Qovemment of India, considers that all experience 
goes to show that snch endeavours are usually complete 
failures. 

After the black bug came the ^ borer,' Xylotrechm qtiadrupea. 
This is a beautiful insect about seven-tenths of an inch long and 
nine-tenths across the wings. The full-grown larva is about an 
inch in length, pale yellow or white in colour, with a. hard head 
armed with very powerful mandibles. It bores its way into the 
heart-wood of the plant and tunnels along it, eventually killing 
the tree. It was the most troublesome of all the South Indian 
pests and in 1865-66 destroyed whole estates in Coorg and 
the Wynaad. In 1867 Surgeon-Major Bidie was deputed by 
Government to investigate its ravages in the Wynaad. It was 
then noticed that the insect seldom laid its eggs in shady places 
and that when it did they did not hatch readily. Planters there- 
fore began to put quick-growing trees (such as Grevillea robuaia) 
among their coffee to create artificial shade, and since this has 
been done much less has been heard of this pest. A similar but 
distinct insect does harm in the gardens in Gotacamund by 
boring into the roots and stems of woody plants such as fuchsias, 
arbntUon and so on. 

Leaf-disease followed the borer. It is a fungus, known to 
scientists as Hemeleia paatatrix^ which begins its attacks on the 
onder side of the leaves of the coffee tree, causing spots or 
blotches which are at first yellow and afterwards black and are 
covered with a pale orange dust which easily rubs off. They 
increase in sisie until the leaf dies and drops off and the tree is 
tbos starved and produces no fruit. The spores are readily 
carried about fron^tree to tree for long distances by the wind, 
and the disease thus spreads vrith rapidity. It w*is first noticed 
in Ceylon in 1869 and in India about 1871 ; and by 1875 it had 
divasti^ted whole districts. 



CHAP. IV 
Special 

PSODUOTfl. 



17^ 

CSAP. IT. Qr^& peata ami *iimmae». sacK m the eoSw rmt which gnaws 

9pkia£. aif. ''Jie bnuiciiffl Ami die jof-rot whi^ BAkes the kftvee aad 

'"^f^ aome of riiie hones toriL hsjskck and dn^ off, have also eppeared ; 
bat ^Lsr rm^vagos are m>t to he cfYmpaied with thoee of tiie bogs, 
che boro' ami ^iBe ksfniiaettae. Pantatioas oa the Nilgin 
plateaa have gestoallT speakziig' ^afe ted kaa fma aU id these 
■fWJMtiTtfJt tiiaa tiiaae in the Wjaaad, bat few caa boast of 
conLpiete esemptioB. 

T) tiiQ»e who IiAT^ le^^r xea a co ffa e uj tat e or coffee-coriag 
wcrks A ^w woria ieacrlptive of the processes neceaaaij to 
cpcdni» the bmwa bean. <rf the breakfast-table from the • cherrr ' 
of t:he pLuLtaatxon may be of intereek. 

Woea the oherrr is ^oite ripe it Is picked bj haad aad taken 
im the eroiin^ to the ** palpiag-hoiLse.' This is nsaallj boih in 
three stages or storeys, oae ab<jve the other, and is so piacel 
that a stream <>f water c.u& le Led to it loth to drire the ' polper' 
and to wash the berry ta the processses below referred to. The 
oherry- co^ee is deposited in the a{.per storej and carried tb^u:*' 
to the polper by w;^teT miuiiiig' <1own a troogh. The duty of 
the pclper » to remove the poip which, as above describexJ. 
enT<»i«>pes the bean^. ^veral patterns are in ose. A commun 
Tanety consists of a metal ryinder sorroonded with a sheet of 
copper .iotted with a namber of small knobs raised with apotiir 
(like the iDa^hne-sses on a erater', which is revolved at a h^rh 
speed close to a horizontal bar of iron provided with a cutting 
edge. The cherry and the rannel of water which bears it abn^ 
fall too^ther on to the cylinder from a hopper, and the former i^ 
can^ht by the cop[*er knobs and forced between them aud the 
iron bar. '1 he distance between these two is so gradoated that 
no cherry can pa5s throaorh whole ; and the palp is thos squeezed 
anil torn off the beans and passes oat one way, while the bean» 
(which are now known as * parchment coflfee *) are washed (»at 
another way bj the stn^am of water. 

The parchment coffee is carried down to the third, or lowest, 
stage of the pulping-house and into cemented tanks placed there 
to receive it. It is still covered with much mucilaginous matter* 
beifeath which is the parchment membrane and, inside that 
again, the * silverskin.' It is left in the tanks until the mucila- 
ginous slime has fermented sufficiently to come away without 
trouble and is then transferred to washing tanks in which it in 
frequently stirred with rakes. The slime, any pulp that has been 
earned down, other refuse and all light beans then fk)at to the 
top and are skimmed off, while the good beans ^re washed oleaa 



AQBICULTUBS. 



177 



aud siak to the bottom. They are next drained and are finally 
dried on open«air cement or asphalt platforms (called barbecnes) 
or on * drying-tables ' made of coir matting laid on woocTen 
j^upports. 

When thoronghly dried, the parchment is sent down to the 
plains (to Coimbatore and Calient) to be ^ cured ' and cleaned • 
of its parchment and silverskin by the firms (often called ' coast 
agents ') which make a speciality of this work. The processes 
are more easily effected in a dry and warm atmosphere, and 
moreover reqnire special machinery and buildings which it would 
not be worth while to erect on each sepaitite estate and special 
experience to bring the sample up to the best standard of which 
it is capable. The pilfering to which the coffee nsed to be 
subject on its way down to the curing works is referred to on 
p. 293 below. 

It is found that the bean retains its colour better if it is 
left for some weeks in the parchment, and this is called cnring. 
At the same time protracted curing increases the difficulty of 
removing the silverskin. The removal of the parchment and 
silverskin is called ^ hulling ' or ^ peeling ' and is effected by 
warming the cnred coffee in the sun and then passing it through 
a machine similar to that used for making mortar and consisting 
of two large rollers which are revolved round, and near the bottom 
of^ a circular iron pan. These I'ollers squeeze and rub off both the 
parchment and silverskin and the latter are then winnowed off 
and the beans are left. 

To render subsequent roasting more uniform, the beans are 
uext sorted into .sizes by a ' separator.' ^This generally consists 
of a cyb'ndrical, horizontal revolving sieve with meshes which 
^^^radually increase in size from one end of it to the other. The 
beans are fed in at the end where the meshes are smallest and 
carried right along the separator by a revolving worm inside it. 
Oust and dirt are first eliminated and fall into one receptacle ; 
then the small and broken beans, which drop into another ; then 
the next two sizes of beans ; and last the peaberry. Finally the 
different gi*ades are * garbled ' by women with native winnowing 
fans, and broken or discoloured beans are removed. The finishjed 
article is sent to England or France in air-tight casks. 

Of the tea exported from India only a very small quantity is Tea 
i^rown in South India, and even of this latter amount the propor- 
tion raised in the Nilgiris is at present less than one-half per cent. 
The area under tea in the district is reported to be about 8,000 
acres, but these figures, like those for coffee, require to be accepted 
23 



OHAP. 17. 

Spkcial 
Products. 



THi.^ TT T-m ^^^^i-^ -Eii^s 1 uiTc?^ iT^ ^ '-" ggr- . w m sending in their 

%-ttjlc a^nms. Tix^ btsi ^ TiiiaiiE!rB^'- mrcoisi^ npidlT, kowerer, as 

' **^ ^- -^ ^ £^i^ _iiii^ -ri-HT -nfei 11 n2<«sBi^ «ni pests and its price hat 

i r T'-r -'Tn^i'r-L ii "liti «a*n»^ f:ir-sir fniL OT^r-prodnction, so that 

iL Tinrrr ar-p* x lar- i-^-gL ^ ior.-t ict -s^r-fcTa* oa wkicli coffee ha^l 

l» iiar Tie iii^« E^ ir "ii* n.^—iT* a. c ••»•-» ix lie district dates from 

^"'' '*• I**IS. A-^i-iPX-^Trr-ia ri:r-r:»5 ii,i r.:rl>=il that a CameUa. 
T'jL.iia Tu?iiii.^v^ "SI 'v'^iL-'ire :r* Miiaci ^\-r :£«-{: luit in its taster, 
TT'pv x-.-rniiiiiir ' 3i**Lj r't-mii-^. i^«i *»r tlef«f ore ordered som*" 
'iar-ziAnrs- zri-iL Ti-iLk. He L_r-i ti££'«« tkej amred, but 
•ir» ^''jLi-^ v-^nre L-?^-':nr:cii *: Tiri»:»i^ [iut$ of the hills for 
^rA\ Zz. is 's roi't Tiki-* rk.^ei fr:3. seed bnioght from 
7i:mi. ': ' ^'i^f ies'^i-rj :£ ^ :t'«itiL.r:a? af pointed by the then 
'j^,'^'tinLic^tn\tiriL z !t:fLiifr ^sl^xt f ic ii.r?»i3oe tea^cnltiTBtioa 
zx Li'L-fc v?T*r rr^or: frr-n. Ci. :xrrj tc lie Xilgiris — and also t- 
0:i:rr- lf;i<-£^ izji 2£j i7k*- Tliree >^:i* to the Xilgiiis wor? 
:!L-T'f T jujtr^: :«l" i* ti-e K-r*:! eif^erizientdil fiarm referred U* 
\*i:.-.^. Wi»e!i 7 !_:* -vT^? ..i'*^* i:i Is o and iis buildings were 
I-ezL* -: tlr S.T-.niT :i P:«ii-lerrr a? a residence ^see p. 331 . 
IL Yzrr.*Zrri tie Ft^-.I b:n=Ii5 ::-^nd tLit the plants had been 
lil:-l::'if^i "j ijrj:r-rr g'i^i-^iiers anl were conseqoentlj in a 
Terr 'i.:.! rre. He -ziCTerE'i tlem and cared for them, and b; 
OM'icer 15->T tlej lii er:-:m to foar feet in height and wen- 
l^aiei wi:l risers. irziX a-i healttj roang leaves. Hepul- 
i'sle*! an anx::z.t of tlea * which attracted attention and m 
184«j sa Tuples crf XHgiri tea made from pli^nta growing at K4ti 
acd Billikil were s^nt hf ilr. J. SulliTan to the Madras Agri* 
hortienltiral S^Krietv. The leaves had beea withered in the open 
and fired in a frring-pan for want of better means, but the tea wa< 
pronoanced excellent bj the enthusiasts who tasted it.' 

Later Mr. !Mann of Coonoor succeeded in making really fair 
tea from the Nilgiri plants and was thus encouraged to get mon- 
•eed. He procured a supply from the finest plantations in China 
early in 185^, and after many difficulties put them down in th^* 
piece of laud near Coouoor which is now known as the Coonoor 
Tea Estate. As. early as 1856 the tea made from these plants was 
favourably reported upon by the London l)roker8, but Mr. Mann 

» lifiikie'ii Nfilgherriea (let edition), 37. 

» TltU will bo found in The Fbrt SU Oeorge Gazette of lOth April 1839 and al^ 
at thn onrl of Mr. llobortmo'a report of 1875 on the asrriciiltnral conditiont of 
ihit dirtrlol. 

* A»iQti€ Journal, ixxii (1810), 23,320. 



▲QBICXJLTUBB. 



179 



CHAP. IV. 

Special 
Products, 



was 80 disheartened by the difficulty of procuring forest land to 
extend his operations that he eventually gave up the experiment.^ 
Dr. Cleghorn, Conservator of Forests, noticed later on how 
well the trees were seeding and endeavoured to induce Government 
to form a nursery from this seed and to import a trained Chinese 
tea-maker or two from the North-West Provinces. But Sir* 
Charles Trevelyan, then Governor of Madras, in a characteristic 
minute strongly deprecated State intervention in the matter and 
the 'morbid habit of dependence upon Government, which in 
some communities has amounted to a moral paralysis.' 

About the same time as Mr. Mann formed his plantation at 
Coonoor, Mr. Eae obtained a grant of land near 8h616r, now 
known as the Dunsandle Estate, for growing tea ; shortly after- 
wards a garden was begun at K6tagiri ; and in 1863 the ei^te 
known as Belmont was formed on the Bishopsdown property at 
Ootacamund. 

During Sir William Denison's governorship some direct aid 
was afforded to the new industry in 1863 and 1864 by bringing 
down tea-makers from the North-West Provinces, distributing 
gratuitously a stock of seed also obtained from thence, and 
forming a small nursery within the cinchona plantations at Doda- 
betta ; but none of these steps effected much good and the tea- 
plantors worked out their own salvation by their own energy. 

By the end of 1869 some 200 or 300 acres had been planted qaent 
with tea and at the Ootacamund agricultural exhibition in that extension, 
year no less than eighteen j)lanters showed samples of their 
produce. At the suggestion of Mr. Bracks, Commissioner of the 
Nilgiris, some of these were sent Home by Government for the 
opinion of the brokers, and many of them were pronounced good 
and some very good, their value ranging from Is, 4d, to 6«. per 
pound. 

Since then the output has steadily increased year by year, 
notwithstanding a corre^onding gradual decrease in the prices 
realized, which are now less than half what they were in the 
seventies. 

Efforts are being made to create a market for tea among 
natives of India, which, if established, would free the growers from 
the heavy middlemen's charges which absorb so much of the profits 
on this and other produce disposed of through Mincing Lane. 
From the 1st April 1903 a compulsory customs cess of one quarter 
0* a pie per pound on aU tea exported from India was impojed by 



^ District Manual^ 611. 



180 



THE KILGIBIS. 



CHAP. IV. 

Special 
Products. 

Prooeatesof 
manufacture. 



law and the proceeds of this are handed oyer to a Tea Cess 
Conunittee to be expended in pushing the sale and increasing tLe 
consomption of tea outside the United Kingdom. 

The tea plant is botanically a Camelia, and its blossom closely 
resembles that of the ordinary single white Camelia and hat a 
' similar scent. Three varieties are grown. First there is the pare 
China tea, the chief merit of which is its hardiness ; then, the 
indigenous Assam sort^ which in its natural habitat is a forest trw 
growing to a height of 25 or 30 feet ; and lastly the hybrid 
between these two, which is the most useful and generally grown 
of the three. "This produces twice as much,leaf as the pure China, 
and yet possesses a great deal of the latter's hardiness. 

The cultivation and manufacture of tea are subjects on whici. 
much has been written ^. and the details of which are quite oQtnde 
the scope of this present volume. A few words may howcTcr U. 
said regarding the processes through which the leaf passes froui 
the time when it is plucked until it is duly pacted in it« lead-lin»'«i 
chest. 

Each of the leaves of the shoot of a tea plant is known by a 
technical name. The bud at the extreme end is called the tip or 
flowery pekoe ; the two next to it orange pekoe ; the two next 
souchong ; and the next two, the largest of the series, congou. 
When a ' flush,' or burst of young green leaf, occurs on the estate 
these (or, if * fine plucking ' is required, the bud and the first two 
are all plucked together by women and children. They are no; 
kept separately then, but are sifted afterwards by machinery. 
The leaves are plucked into baskets and carried the same day to 
the tea factory. Unlike '^offee, tea cannot be partly manufaoiaro<l 
on the estate and partly afterwards elsewhere, and every plantation 
must therefore either possess its own tea-making plant or h" 
near enough to some other estate which is equipped with tbe 
necessary machinery and is willing to make a neighboar's leaf int^^ 
tea for a consideration. Thus much outlay in buildings and 
machinery is usually required for starting a tea-estate ; and tea* 
planting has the further disadvantage when compared with 
coffee-growing that manufacture is going on almost all the year 
round; whereas the coffee-planter enjoys comparative peat*' 
and quiet except at that one period of the year when his crop ^ 
coming in. 

Ilaving beon taken to the tea-houso, the leaf is ' withered ' by 
being spread thinly on shelves ot some material and left there 
nntn it can be rolled between the fingers without breaking. 

* A aaeful handbook is The Tea Planter*** Manual hy T. C. Owen (Foyutftn, 
Colombo, 188G). 



AGklGULTtJRE. ISl 

Like almost every other process in tea-makiog, this stage CHAP. IV. 
requires to be timed with care and experience. If the lea£ is Spxcial 
not sufficiently withered it will break when ' rolled ' as described ^^^^^^^*' 
below, while if it is left to wither too long the quality of the 

* liquor ^ made from it is inferior. 

When the withering is complete the leaf is taken to be rolled. * 
This is done in machines consisting of two horizontal brass- 
faced plates placed cme above the other like the stones in a mill, 
which are rapidly revolved by steam with an eccentric motion. 
This rolling, again, requires to be timed t^ a nicetyrf)r subsequent 
processes are adversely affected. The smaller leaves naturally 
roll quickest, so to secure evenness in the rolling and subsequent 
fermenting (see below) the leaf is next usually sifted and the 
bigger leaf rolled a second time. When the rolling is complete 
the leaf is laid out in a thin layer in a darkened and moist room 
and left to ferment. This process requires perhaps more careful 
watching than any other, the time required to complete it dif- 
fering with the size of the leaf, the elevation, and the humidity 
and warmth of the atmosphere. The point at which the proce^ 
is complete is judged partly by the smell, and partly by the 
colour, of the leaf. It should be a bright copper colour. The ^ 

moment this stage has arrived fermentation must be stopped by 

* firing' or roasting the leaf. This is effected by scattering it in 
vory thin layers on shallow wire trays and placing the latter in 
a machine called a * sirocco,' in which hot air from a charcoal 
fire is drawn over and between the trays by a fan. This firing 
changes the leaf into the usual black tea of the shops. This 
operation again requires extreme care. -Any tea which has been 
burnt by overfiring makes a bitter ' liquor ;' and unless the 
overfiring is detected at once before the spoUt leaf is mixed with 
the rest of the ' break,' a few ounces of this overfired leaf wiU 
ruin the flavour of many pounds of good tea. 

Next, the fired tea is sifted by machinery. Different estates 
make different grades of tea, but the classes usually distinguished 
are orange pekoe, broken pekoe, pekoe, pekoe souchong, broken 
souchong and congou, which are named from the nature of the 
leaves (see above) of which they consist. The largest leaves lire 
then broken in a special machine which cuts them into neat 
pieces. 

The tea is finally stored in bins until it is ready to be packed* 
To make sure that it is absolutely dry and will not get musty in 
transit;, it is generally given a final firing just before being 
placed in its lead-lined chest. Well-equipped tea-factories 



183 






Cincii«Jia. 



Its mtrodac- 
Horn. 



CHAP. IT. poflKfls ma zKge&ioG^ iTiachnie for packing. This conrista of « 
little iable^ lig esMOgk to carrr a chesi, which is vilHmted 
FS{.idlj bj maehmenr. The chest is placed oq this and the 
Tibradoa^ shake the iem erenlj mud tightlj down into all the 
comer?. 

The cinchona tree, it is perhaps hardlj neoessaiy to state, is 
caltiTated for the sake of the quinine and allied alkaloids which 
aie yielded hj its bark and which are the basis of all remedies 
for malaria. The total area planted with cinchona in the district 
is at present onlv some 2.60^3 acres (the greater part of which is 
situated in th^ Ootaeas&and talok) bat the former importance of 
the industry and the share which Goremment take in it with 
the object of providing cheap quinine for the masses justify some 
account of its history in the pa^t and its esistiog position. 

The cinchonas, ef which there are numerous species, aie 
natives of South America. It is an unsettled point whether the 
virtues of quinine were known to the Indians there before the 
arriTal of the Spaniards, but the fact that quinine is a cormptioa 
of the Indian word ' quina-quina/ or ' bark of barks/ raises IL^ 
inference that they were. To the Countess of Chinchon, the 
wife of a Viceroy of Peru, and her Jesuit friends is the world 
indebted for the introduction into Europe, in 1640^ of thi< 
inestimable febrifuge. It was long known as ' Counters* 
powder/ * Jesuit's bark* and * Cardinal's bark / and hence aro^k* 
the early prejudices of Protestants against its use. 

A century elapsed before the genus of the quina-quina tn t- 
was established by the famous botanist Linnaeus in 1742. He 
paid a just tribute to the Coimtess' memory by calling it after her ; 
and his successors have extended the name to the very nnmeron< 
allied plants which are comprised in the natural order Cinchona- 
ceas and include many of the most valuable remedial agents knowu 
to medical science. 

It was not until 1846 that the first cinchona plants were 
grown in Europe. They were raised from some seed of C ealuny i 
despatched to the Jardin des Plantes at Paris by Dr. Weddell in 
that year ; and one of them was sent to Java and became the 
first plant ever grown there and the author of a numeroD<* 
progeny. Fear had long been felt that the wanton destmction 
of the cinchona trees by the bark-collectors in South America 
would eventually result in the destimction or serious restriotiou 
of the supply of quinine from thence, and the importance "f 
introducing the plant into other countries became generailv 
acknowledged — especially by the English and the Dutch, wb<« 
owing to their eastern possessions were the chief consumers. 



AGMCTJLTURB. 183 

The French Gk>Yernment made an nHsnccessful attempt in CHAP. IV; 
1850 to introdace the plant into Algeria; and it was the S^tetiL 

Datch who first took the matter seriously in hand. In 185^ a ^^^^tb- 

botanist was deputed by them to collect in South America plants 
and seeds of the mor^ valuable varieties and convey them to Java, 
and two years later his mission was accomplished. The species • 
he collected were mostly worthless, however, audit was not until 
1864 that the enterprise began to be satisfactorily conducted. 
As will be seen further on, Java now controls the world^s market. 

In British India the importance of actmn had lopg been urged 
on the authorities. As early as 1835 Sr. Forbes Royle, then 
Superintendent of the Gardens at Sahdranpur, had suggested the 
introduction of cinchona on the Ehasia and Nilgiri Mils ; and he 
oontinaed to press the point for many years. At length, in 1852, 
Lord Dalhousie, then G-overnor-General, suggested to the Court 
ot Directors that some one should be deputed to South America 
to collect plants and seeds. Dr. Forbes Royle, who was now 
employed at the India House, supported the recommendation ; 
bat all that was done was to obtain some plants, all of which 
died on the voyage, through the Consular Agents. Undefeated, 
Dr. Royle again brought the matter forward in 1856 and 1857, ' , 

and at length the Directors (perhaps influenced by the fact that 
the Indian Government were now spending nearly £10,000 per 
annnm on quinine and cinchona bark) agreed to despatch a 
botanist-collector to South America. Mr. (afterwards Sir Cle- 
ments) Markham, who was then a clerk in the India Office and 
was well acquainted with the Cordilleras (where cinchonas 
abounded) and the dialects spoken there, volunteered in 1859 to 
^nperintond the work and his services were accepted. 

Accompanied by four assistants, he reached Peru in January 
1860 and arrived on the Nilg^ris in October of the same year 
with a number of plants ot^C. calkaya and some of inferior 
varieties, all of which eventually died. In April of the following 
jear Mr. Cross, one of his assistants, reached Ootacamund with 
a stock of C. auccirubra plants and a few calimya ; later on two 
others of his assistants sent seeds of micranthay nitida, Penmana^ 
CmdamineaBSidLcrispa^ and in \%W Mr. Cross despatched seeds 
and a few plants of lanqfolia and Pitayensis, 

Previous to Mr. Markham's arrival in October 1860, Mr. W. G. aovernm^nt 
Mclvor (an expert horticulturist, trained at Kew, who had been in P^»*»^»«"« 
charge of the Government GFardens at Ootacamund siuce 1848) had 
selected as a site for the cinchona plantations the wooded ravine 



184 



THE NILOIBI8. 



CHAP. IV, 

Special 
Pbooccti. 



on Dodabetta above the Government Gardens wbere the Do(k« 
betta plantation now stands; bnt 11 r. Markham thonght that, 
thongh this would suit the varieties which grew at high elevations 
in Sotith America, the species requiring a warm and moist climate 
would hardlj do well there, and he selected for these latter the 
. site of the present Government plantations at Ifadavattam on the 
western edge of the plateau. In 1862 Government also approved 
Mr. Mclvor's choice of the two wooded slopes on either side of 
the Paikdra waterfall which were afterwards known respectively 
as the Wood and Eooker plantations after Sir Charles Wood, 
then Secretar^^ of 8tat«, and the famous botanist. In 1863 the 
opening of a plantation called Stanley at M^lknndah, on the 
southern edge of the Kundahs, was also sanctioned. The 
cultivation of this, it may here be noted, was stopped in 1871, bnt 
the trees were left standing in order to ascertain whether they 
would flourish if left to themselves. Thoy were speedily choked 
with jungle and the estate is now a rnin.^ 

These estates were only very gradually planted up. In 

1862, 31 acres were opened at Nadnvattam; in 1863 plaating^ 

on the Dodabetta and Wood properties was begun and 

Nadnvattam was slightly extended ; and apparently it was not 

nntil 1868 that the first planting was done on the Hooker estate. 

By that year cinchona seems to have been put down on a total 

of 355 acres in the four estates, but the official figures are eon- 

flicting and unreliable. Labour was so scarce that much of the 

work was done by convict labour ; and the natives still call the 

Government plantations the ' Jail totes ' and the old maps mark 

the sites of the temporary prisons in which the convicts were 

confined. Some of these'men were Chinese who had been sent 

over to Madras jails from the Straits Settlements (where prison 

accommodation was scarce) and when their sentenoes expired n 

few of them settled down with Tamil wives at Nadnvattam in a 

spot now Icnown as * the Chinese village,' where they subsist a^ 

market-gardeners and dairymen. 

The objects to be kept in view in these experiments iftith 
cinchona were described as follows by the Secretary of State :— 
< The two first objects of the eiperiment are the provision of an 
abundant and certain supply of bark for the use of hospitals and 

' Interesting paiticniart regarding tho boginnings of tho experimenta wiib 
oinohona wiU bo f oand in tbc Parliamentary Blue Booke on the labjoct pnblinlied 
in 1863, 1866, 1870 and 1876. The qaioology of the East Indian plantations has 
been eshanstiTely de%1t with by Mr. J. E. Iloward and details regarding the 
caltivatioa of cinchona are to be fonnd in the works of Sir George King, W. 0, 
Molvor, J. C. Owen, Van Gorkom and Moens, 



AORTCDLTUBB. 



186 



troops, and the spread of cnltiyation through the hill districts in order CHAP. IV. 
to bring the remedy within the reach of the frequenters of jungles SpsciiL 
and of the natiye population generally. Tour Oovemment has very Pbodocts. 
justly deemed that the experiment cannot be regarded as A mere * 
money-speculation, nor are the commercial adyantages that may be 
derived from it to be considered as other than a secondary consider^ 
ation, though, of course, a return of the outlay and the spread of 
cinchona cultivation by private enterprize are very desirable in them- 
selves.* * 

Barks from the Nilgiri trees were sent to England for analysis The first 
as early as practicable, and as they showq^ that Ii^ian cultivated f^^^^fi^e 
cinchona would successfully yield the quinine and other alkaloids 
desired, the Secretary of State appointed, in 1866, Mr. John 
Bronghton, B.So., F.C.8., an Assistant at the Boyal Institu- 
tion, as Government Quinologist to investigate on the spot the 
various questions whioh had arisen regarding the cultivation of 
the tree and the extraction and use of its alkaloids, and especially 
the best and cheapest way of preparing an efficient febrifuge for 
use among the poorest classes of the native population, in the 
hospitals, and by the troops. 

After numerous experiments extending over four years Mr. 
Broughton adopted as the best febrifuge a combination of 
alkaloids which was called ' amorphous quinine.' It was manu- 
factured for three years ; but doubts having been thrown upon 
its efficacy and its cost being actually higher than imported 
quinine, Qt)vernment in 1874 resolved to cease making it and Mr, 
Broughton resigned his appointment, which was then abolished. 

All this time the cultivation of the Government estates had 
been under the charge of Mr. McIvDr, who was designated 
Superintendent of the Cinchona Plantations and remained in 
charge of them until his death in 1 876. From that year to 1880 
the estates were directly under the Commissioner of the Nilgiris ; 
and from February 1881 they were placed under the care of the 

Forest department. Practi- 
cally the whole of the 
bark harvested was sent to 
England or sold locally by 
auction, and quinine manu- 
facture by Government was 

in abeyance. The extent 

cultivated in the various es- 
tates (according to a survey made in 1878) was 843 acres distri- 
buted among them as shown in the margin. 



Change! in 
administra- 
tion. 





ACRES. 


Dodabetta 


3U-92 


NadnTattam 


301-68 


Wood 


72-18 


Hooker 


164-19 



Total 



842-92 



24 



^ Bine Book, Vol. I, page 855. 



186 



THE KIIAIBIS. 



CHAP. IV. 

Spbcxal 
Fropucts. 



Private 
plAnting of 
oindbon*. 



Work on the 
QoTernnieiit 
ple&tations at 
pree e nt. 



In June 1883 Mr. M. A. Lawson, who liad been sent cat from 
England, became Government Botanist and Director of tbe 
Gbvemment Cinchona Plantations, Parks and Gardens ; and in 
1884 (he appointment of Gbyemment Qninologist was rarived 
and Mr. D. Hooper appointed thereto. 

Meanwhile the extremely high price of qninine (wholesale, 
£9-12-0 per poand in 1878 against 128. per pound in 1906) and 
the damage which had io so many cases been caused on coffee 
estates by pests and diseases had induced a number of the 
planters on the hills to take to the cultiyation of cinchona ; and 
a flourishing private ifidastry arose of which the highest hopes 
were entertained. It first started in 1867, and by 1884 4,000 
acres of private cinchona plantations had been opened and the 
outturn of bark on these was put at 243,000 lb. against the 
116,000 lb. in the Government estates. For reasons similar tr» 
those already given in the case of coffee and tea, the statistics of 
cultivation and output are not reliable, but apparently tbej 
reached a maximum in 1888-89. The average price of qninine 
in London (which in 1881--82 had been 109. Sd. an ounce and in 
1884-85, Is.) had by then fallen to 2«. owing to over-production 
in Ceylon and Java, and cinchona-growing ceased to be a pro- 
fitable investment. Its extension has long entirely ceased, 
though owners of estates planted in the prosperous days still con- 
tinue to collect and sell the bark of such trees aa have not been 
dug up to make room for more paying products. About the 
same time (1888-89) as the industry began to decline on tb- 
Nilgiris, Cejlon planters also began to abandon oinchona-giowiDg: 
and the world's market is now controlled by Java, which pro- 
duces about 800,000 lb. out of the total annual consumption of 
one million lb. of quinine. 

To revert to the operations in the Government plantations or. 
the Nilgiris. With the appointment of Mr. Hooper in 1884. 
local manufacture began again. The production of a mixture of 
the cinchona alkaloids was at once undertaken, and in 1889 the 
Naduvattam factory was established and the first sulphate of 
quinine was made. 

In 1896 the post of Government Quinologist was aboli8he<l, 
that of G-overnment Botanist was made distinct from it, and the 
plautatioDS were placed under a Director, who was required not 
only to attend to their cultivation but also to superintend opern- 
tions in the quinine factoiy at Naduvattam.^ 

> The Director eo appointed WM Mr. W. H. Btanden, who eiiU hold« th« 
poet. 'He hee yery kindly eapplied moet of the materiftl for this sooosnt of 
oinohone. 



iiSBICtLTUBS. 



18? 



In 1901 new and improved machinery was installed in the CHAP. IV. 
factory which not only increased its capacity but almost halved Spscial 
the cost of production. The factory now treats the whole of* the »^^t*- 
bark raised on the Government estates and^ since 1897, also buys 
largely from private growers. The bark thus purchased is paid 
for at the prevailing Lond.on market rate in accordance with it^ 
richness in alkaloids as ascertained by analysis by the Director, 
and the planter thus saves the cost of freight to England and all 
sale commissions. As these amount to about one anna per pound 
of bark and as during the nine years 1897 to 1905-06 no less 
than 2,387,000 lb. have thus been pur^hased^ tlte planters have 
benefited by the arrangement to the extent of £s. 1,49,000. 

In 1905-06 the output of the factory was 16,300 lb. of sul- 
phate of quinine. The quinine made there is sent to the Medical 
D^pdts at Madras and Bombay, to the Central Provinces, the 
United Provinces, Rajputana, Burma and to Native States, aa 
well as to local fund and municipal hospitals in this Presidency. 
In addition to this despatch in bulk, the drug is placed within 
the reach of the poorest classes all over the country by the well- 
known ' pice- packet system,^ which was first started in 1892 and 
under which 7-grain doses are sold to the public for three pies 
apiece at all post-offices and certain revenue offices. In 1905-06, 
4,000 lb. of quinine were sold in this manner in Madras and 
other provinces and the constantly increasing demand sufficiently 
proves the success of the plan. The total sales of quinine at the 
Naduvattam factory have risen from 234 lb. in 1889 to 17,446 lb. 
in 1905-06. Since the plantations were first established the 
receipts have exceeded the expenditure^ by no less than 15 lakhs. 

It has already been said that private cinchona cultivation is Maintenanoe 
at its lowest ebb, and it is therefore necessary that GFovemment ^^ *^® supply 
should maintain sufficient trees to meet the increasing demand for 
quinine. In 1897 the area of the G-ovemment plantations had 
fallen from the 843 acres of 1878 to 740 acres — partly owing to 
the closing (in 1895) of the Wood estate, which had never been 
successful, and partly to the abandonment of inferior plots in the 
others. Government therefore decided to open new land and 
directed that 80 acres should be planted annually for the next 15 
years so as to bring the extensions to 1 ,200 acres in all. By the 
end ot 1903, 440 acres had been opened in this manner ; but the 
difficulty of finding sufficient suitable laud in the neighbourhood 
of the factory has prevented the completion of this project, and 
the present policy is to increase the yield by intensive rather than 
extensive cultivation. The existing estates are therefore being 



:** 






VL WTfi»*tiTiytt. 






Maonfftctor* 
of quinine. 



;i*i:£dt rnnL siiiL ^ms teiifisftai ti t g§ vkick kaTe been prored 
17 uifcl7Hj» •! 7-frHti A jL;rl j^cnsiswe of ^uuBe. The bark of 

It rpna^n^ 1: <a3"itrT "icasfT ihe prcceaees followed in 
^aj^±: "r.T;g T^ ZihTK loii nftTT^fc*TariiLg tbe salpjttte. Of the 
ziuitt^ .11:^ Fresiiti:^ ic rbnr li^okft. ifammUg has been proved fto be 
\iit iii:?s: ^srzx.i'A :il 1^ V-I.gir». Tae bark of this is still kaoim 
**<!- lofrr TiwrTT»*> - vTZ'wi^ " bbTc vi^TX va^ ongiaailj given it because 
1^ ij^.'ittcLi loru fr:«!L 1^ Loxa re^ioii ia Sooth Aiaerica 

Ti T-^sen^i 2a 1J» :1? i*T* iz^ tae ase of the royal family of 



^pKX. ^l»'rfyTi'*^3 



wT'iHt va§ iotm e ilj iar]^j grown 00 the 
Xlzf riiu ijl^ xiw bset z^rs. ^ tigcasae ix jri^ds a poor pereaatage 
:£ ^^iLza*: bn kjtTTii* brca^B&a it aod c f i amt lm are still calti- 
T^;iirii K^ ^Z3AS,T il 2in£CB are itzk ia alkaloids aad thej are ol a more 

In hhTT'E^rz tie b&rk of the cinchoaa foor methods hare 
l^eea f 2"_r«-r<i ; raz>r-Iy. strrrf infi^, shaving, coppicing and aproot- 
VLg. Strip fui? co:is:^t<Ed in remoTing long, narrow, lei^itfawise 
strips of ibe bark ai inierrals round the tree, binding mom over 
the wo:icd to iiccelerate the formation of fresh bark, and repealing 
the Yr>;^e?s as &oon as the new bark had grown soficientlT. This 
sjstein and shaTing^ hare long been given np in the OoyernBent 
plantations, as thej were found to affect the health of the treeii 
prejadiciallj ; and at present almost all the harresting is done by 
coppicing, nprooting being resorted to only in the case of old 
trees which are not likely to reprodoce froely from stools. In 
the coppice system, the t^ee is cat down cloae to the groond in 
about its fifteenth year, and the bark is sliced off and dried in the 
son or by artificial heat. 

All bark, however harvested, is treated in the same manner in 
the factory. It is first reduced to a fine powder in a disintegrator ; 
is next mixed with a solution of caustic soda ; and is then con- 
veyed to two large extractors each taking 1,000 lb. of bark, which 
are fitted with stirrers and steam coils. 8hale oil is run into each 
extractor and the mixture of oil, bark and soda is well stirred 
while iiieum is let into the coils to maintain the temperature at 
the mass at about 100'' C. The power required fot driving the 
stirrers is supplied by a turbine, and two boilers are used to pro« 
vide the steam. After two hours' agitation the contents of the 
extractors are allowed to rest, and the bark and soda solution 
then settle at the bottom of the extractors while the oil rises to 
tlio Mtiffttce. In this first process the shale oil, which is a valuable 



▲aBICtLXUBE. 



189 



solvent, takes ap the cincliona alkaloids in the bark. These 
alkaloids, which consist chiefly of quinine, cinchonidine and cin- 
chonine^ exist in the bark in the form of quinates and cincho- 
tannates. As salts, they are insoluble in the ordinary solvents, 
bat the canstic soda breaks up the combination with the organic 
acids and leaves the alkaloids in a condition in which they are 
soluble in shale oil. 

The oil, now charged with alkaloids, is run into a rectangular 
lead-lined tank at the bottom of which is a perforated coil for 
the admission of compressed air. A hot solution of sulphuric 
acid is led into this tank, and the oil and %cid are ^ell mixed by 
a strong current of compressed air. After a short agitation the 
contents of the tank are allowed to rest, with the result that the 
acid solution settles at the bottom while the oil remains above. 
At this stage the alkaloids have combined with the sulphuric acid 
to form acid salts which are in a state of solution in the acid 
liquor. The oil is now free from alkaloids and is pumped into 
the extractors and used for a second washing or agitation with 
the bark, and finally for a third washing. After each period of 
agitation the oil is relieved of its alkaloids by admixture with the 
hot sulphuric acid solution as above described. After the third 
agitation all the alkaloids in the bark have been extracted ; and 
the bark itself is then run out as waste while the acid liquor, which 
is highly charged with acid salts of the alkaloids, is filtered and 
ran into a montejus, from which it is driven by compressed air 
to the boiling pans on the upper floor of the factory. 

There it is boiled and neutralized, and is then transferred to 
troughs for crystallization. The basic jsalts of quinine (with 
some oiuchopidine) now crystallize out when the liquor cools ; 
while the salts of oicohonino remain in solution on account' of their 
greater solubility. 

The contents of the troughs are next run into a centrifugal 
machine which quickly drives off the mother liquor. This liquor, 
which contains sulphate of cinchonine and some sulphate of cin- 
chonidine in solution, is led into a masonry tank where it is 
treated with an excess of caustic soda with the result that the 
alkaloids are precipitated. These are filtered and dried. The 
crude quinine sulphate is taken from the basket of the centrifu- 
gal, is dissolved in boiling water, filtered, and recrystallized in 
shallow troughs. The cinchonidine sulphate, being more soluble, 
remains in solution while the quinine sulphate crystallizes out. 
The contents of the troughs are now put throagh the centrifugal, 
the pore quinine sulphate remaining in the basket of the centrifugal 



CHAP. IV. 

Special 
Pboducts. 



180 



THB HILGIBIS. 



CHAP. IV. 

Spectal 
Pboducti. 



Babbor. 



Jt« introdne- 
tioiu 



while the liquor which holds the cinclioiiidiiie sulphate and aome 
qajnine sulphate iu solution is run into a tank where it is trenled 
with an excess of caustio soda. The result is a preoipitatioii oi 
the cinohonidine alkaloid with some quinine alkaloid* This 
mixture of alkaloids is subsequently treated with solphuric acid, 
is boiled and neatralized, and a small quantity of quinine solphst^ 
is recovered by fractional crystallizatiou. The cinohonidine sal- 
phate which remains in solution after passing through the centri- 
fugal is precipitated with an excess of caustic soda. The oincho* 
nidine alkaloid is then collected and dried and mixed with the 
cinchonine alkaloid. The mixture is known as cinchona febri* 
fuge. The quinine sulphate, which has been partially dried 
in the centrifugal, is removed to the drying room, where it i* 
dried on trays until it contains the requisite amount of moisture, 
which is about 15 per cqnt. It is then ready for packing and 
distribution. 

It has been the practice for some years to give a pink colour 
to the GK)vemment quinine with a view to preventing its fraada- 
lent sale. This colour is obtained by the use of eosin, a weak 
solution of which is run into the centrifugal while the qninina 
sulphate is being dried. 

Of the less important special products grown by Buropean 
enterprise on the hills that which is at present attracting the most 
attention is rubber. 

Of the 80 odd plants and trees which yield marketable robber' 
three stand out above the others ; namely, (1) Heeea BnuUmsit, 
called Parii rubber from the district round one of the months of 
the Amazon in which it* abounds, (2) Manihot ghxiomi^ known as 
Cear^ after a coastal province in Brazil where it flourishes, and 
(3) CastiUoa ehstica^ which is also a Central American tree. 

The first rubber trees planted in South India were apparently 
some Gear£ plants sent from Kewto the teak plantations at 
Nilamb^r in Malabar in October 1878. Some Par& plants were 
received at the same plantations in Tune 1879 from the Botanic 
Gtardens, Ceylon, and some Castilloa at about the same time. At 
the Government Gardens at Barliydr in this district stand Para 
and Castilloa trees which were planted in 1881 and are now five 
or six feet in girth one foot from the ground ; and at Plantatiou 



' A oonspeotuB of theee will be found in J. O. Molatoah'a tranalalioii uf 
Scolismann and Torrilhon's India SMher amd QiUiofrcha (Seoit, Greeovrood i 
Co., Lndgaie HiU| 1908), which also contains a hibliographj of rabber ooeofifiDg 
oloTen olosely-printed pages. The latest handbook on Pari mbber is BitHi 
Bra9ili9fm9 or Pturd rMt^r by Herbert Wright (FerKvoa, Colombo, 190Q. 



AOBICUI/rtTBB. 



191 



HoQse, the late Mr. T. J. Ferguson's residence at Calicut, are ohap, iv. 
some speoimens of the three trees which were put down abqut Special 

1879. PRODUCTS 

• 
About 1882 Mr. Colin Mackenzie and some others combined 
to open an experimental plantation of tea and Cear& with experi- ^ 
mental patches of Castilloa and Landolphia (a West African 
rabber-jielding creeper) at Ingapoya in the Calicut taluk at the 
foot of the Tamarass^ri gh&t, but abandoned the undertaking 
owing to the title to the land being defective. About the same 
time, following the lead of Ceylon, many gi the Wynaad planters 
and at least one of those at K6tagiri tried Cear^ either in small 
plots or as shade among coffee. The distractions of the gold- 
mining boom, the discovery that Ceard actually killed any coftee 
growing under it, Ihe reports from Ceylon that this tree's yield of 
rubber was variable and uncertain, the damage done to it by 
monkeys, pigs and porcupine, and the general ignorance of the 
best methods of tapping it, gradually led to the neglect of the 
experiment. Numbers of Cear^ trees planted then are still 
standing (there are some fine specimens, for example, in some 
abandoned coffee at Cheppat6du near Ch^ramb^di on the right of 
the road to Sultan's Battery) and several hundred in the Malabar • 

Wynaad were recently tapped by an enterprising planter and 
yielded rubber which realized 6«. a pound. 

About 1898 interest in rubber revive^ and Mr. A G. Niohol- Extent now 
son planted some Pard and Castilloa on his Hawthorne estate on P^«''**®^- 
the Shevaroys and some more in 1902 on his Glenbum property 
below E6tagiri. Many planters have lately put down trees (nearly 
all Par£) among their coffee or in small patches, and it is cal- 
culated that about 1 ,200 acres have thus been planted up in this 
district. In Cochin, the Anaimalais, and the Shevaroys somewhat . 
similar areas have been planted out, in Malabar and on the Palnis 
smaller extents, and in Travancore as much as 6,000 acres. The 
Nilgiris thus has no monopoly of the new industry in this part of 
India. The biggest venture to date in that district is that of the 
Glenrock Company at Pandaliir, which has just put down on the 
lower part of its property 16,000j plants obtained ^from the 
Barliyir Gardens. 

Bubber«producing~ trees yield a latex [consisting chiefly of Harveiting, 
water and caoutchouc globules but oontitining small quantities 
of sugars, proteids, gnms, resin and mineral matter. This is 
contained in definite ducts occurring throughout the plant and 
especially in the bark, from which latter alone is it usually 
eztnoted. Extraction is effected by cutting through the outer 
layers of the bark with special tapping-knives so constructed as 



192 THE KIL0IBT8. 

f;UAP. IV. to render injury to the cambiom impossible and collecting in tiny 
Special the latex as it drips from the incisions. The incisions are 
Pr oduc ts. sjstQmaticallj and regtdarly made in the form of spirals romdiiir 
roond the tree^ herring-bone patterns, and so on, and the edges of 
them require to be continually carefoUy re-cut so that the latex 
cells may be re-opened and continue to flow. In this way the 
whole of the bark of a tree is in time removed and renewed. 
After collection, the latex is left to coagulate in shallow pans (or 
the process is accelerated by artificial means), the caoutchooc 
globules rising to the surface and forming a thin sheet of rebber 
which is known as ' biscuit ' or * sheet ' rubber. These contain 
proteid matter which is apt to putrefy and spoil the rubber, and 
they have consequently to be carefully washed and dried. Some- 
times this is effected by putting the rubber through a machine 
which cuts it up into small pieces, exposes these to a strong 
carrent of clean water, and finallj reunites them by pressure. 
The resultant product is known as * crApe ' rubber. ' Lace ' and 
'flake' rubber are otlier newer forms. 'Scrap* rubber is that 
which dries in and round the incisions made by the tapping' 
knives and fails to fall into the collecting tins. 
^ The whole subject of the cultivation of rubber trees is as yet 

in its infancy and it has still to be definitely ascertained what 
soils, climates and elevations will best suit the various varieties. 
Harvesting processes are similarly in the initial^ stages : as yet no 
really satisfactory tapping knife has been invented and widely 
different views prevail as to the best manner of tapping, the ag*» 
at which it should be begun, and the frequency which is 
permissible. The best methods of preparing the rubber for the 
market are even less settled as yet, and doubtless the next few 
years will see great advances. Fortunately for South Indian 
planters, the whole subject is being most caref ally and systemati- 
cally worked out in Ceylon. 

Rheft fibre. Between 1886 and 1888 an experiment on a large scale with 

rhea (or ramie) fibre was made by the Indian Qlenrock Company. 
About 400 acres were planted near Pandal&r by the late Mr. 
J. W. Minchin and 200 on the plateau by Mr. H. P. Hodgson. 
The plant grew well and gave long, fine stems, but it was found 
impossible to produce either the ribbons or the clean fibre on a 
commercial scale with profit, and after considerable ezpenditare 
the experiment was abandoned. 

FiciT.TiKKs, English fruit-trees were imported to the Nilgiris almost as 

vTf. BooQ as the first Europeans had settled there ; but no systematio 

record survives of the varieties which were tried or of the sacce^i^ 

which each achieved. The following notes have kindly been 

written by Mr. Oeorge Oakes, who has oondncted nnmeren8 



A6BICULTUBE. 193 

experiments at his estate Dowaham near Kalhatti, in consnlta- CHAP. IV. 
tion with Mr. Charles Gray, who is also matipg sjstematio trj/eds Fbuit^tsebb, 
ftt his place Orohardene near Coonoor. Papers on- the shb ject hj '^' 
General Morgan, Sir Fredeiiok Price and General Baker, all well 
known for their interest in it, will be found in the Proceedings of 
the Nilgiri Agri-horticnltaral SoQiet7 for Maroh 1902. 

Apples and pears have perhaps received more attention than Applet, 
any other English fmit. Mr. John Davison, who was a gardener 
trained at Kew and at one time owned Gray^s Hotel at Coonoor, 
was one of the first to sucoeed with apples, and is said to have 
introduoed the pippin which is now so common on the hills and 
is quite acclimatized. The frait of this is a handsome apple which 
frequently weighs oVier a pound and varies in colour from yellow 
!)treaked with red to a brilliant scarlet. Grafted on the crab 
stock it thrives vigorously and bears heavily in situations above 
5,OuO feet in elevation. It is best grown in bush form. 

Coonoor, Eit4ri, K6tagiri, the slopes round Ealhatti and the 
higher parts of OotcK^mund where frost does not settle all suit 
apples well ; and excellent varieties have been raised by General 
Baker at Tudor Hall, General Morgan at Snowdon and Captain 
Prend, while the Badagas have also planted numerous patches of 
the pippin above mentioned. Almost all the apple orchards have, 
however, been attacked by that worst of foes the American aphis, 
which affects not only the branches but the roots as well and for 
which no real cure short of burning up the whole tree, root and 
stock, is known. This pest has killed out whole orchards and is so 
easily spread broadcast by the clothes of coolies working among the 
trees, by sambhar, by grafts from infected trees and even by fruit 
being hawked round, that fear of it now deters many from 
attempting apple-growing. Plants brought from England, where 
no proper precautions are taken to disinfect exported plants, 
sre often infected when they arrive ; and the safest method is 
to obtain fresh stocks from Australia, with which a Government 
certificate testifying that the plants have been disinfected with 
hydrocyanic acid gas can always be obtained for a small fee. 
Owing to the difference in the Australian seasons these, moreover, 
arrive on the hills at a more suitable time and so run fewer risks 
iu becoming established. 

Besides the American aphis, the only other disease from which 
apple trees greatly suffer is canker, which generally starts at the 
collar and is usually effused by excess of manure, by the roots 
getting down into a cold subsoil, or by the bark being 
injured by the careless use of the mamuti when weeding. It can 
be checked by cutting out the diseased part and painting the 
S5 



194 THS viLonus. 

CHAP. IV. wound with grafting-wax or ordinary oil-paint. So far tht 
FmuiT-TftKBs, oodlin moth has not reached the hills, but the indiaoniniiiatc 
f^ importation of trees from England may at any time resnli in iu 
introdnotion. 

At Downham, Australian apples have been laagely planted and 
do well, the best kinds being Margil, Devonshire Qoanenden, 
Adams' Pearmain and Eoklinville Seedling. The trees winter 
well from December to the end of Febmary, are pramed ami 
winter- sprayed in January and ripen their crop in Joly and 
August. Owing to the forcing dimate, trees require root-pnmin^ 
oftener than in England and summer pinching or stopping in 
July. In ordinanly good soil manure is hardly ueoessary^ a 
mulching of burnt refuse, with a small quantity of well^roit^d 
manure being sufficient. Apples do well as espaliers, since the 
fruit does not get bibwn off so much as on the standard or bush 
tree, the trees do not take up so much room, and they are more 
easily netted to keep off birds. 
Peart. Pears do as well as apples, but take longer to oome int4« 

bearing. On the other hand they are very long-lived and (onless 
the frost cuts off the blossom) bear very regular crops. Tbey do 
• no good if grafted on the quince, and as imported trees are often 

so grafted the only way to remedy matters is to earth up the tree 
above the stock and induce the pear to send out roots. Tbe^^e 
will soon completely suppress the quinoe. I'he best stock for 
pears of any variety is the China pear, which is generally knows 
on the Nilgiris as * the country pear.' Cuttings from this will 
be sufficiently rooted in twelve mouths to be bodded or gniieA 
The best season for these operations is January or Febmary. 

Pears do best on a rather heavy soil, but this must be well 
drained. They are very impatient of drought, and as soon as 
growth begins in February the roots should be mulched over with 
long manure or bracken and kept moist. The most soocessful 
variety at Downham has been the Jargonelle grown as a standard 
or bush tree. It blossoms in January nnA the fruit ripens in 
May and June. There are a few trees of Williams* Bon Chretien 
in old Ooty which bear well. This is a large pear and very 
highly flavoured, but like the Jargonelle it does not keep well. 
A pear known as the Eeiffer or Bartlett, which is grdWn verv 
largely in America for canning, has lately been introduced from 
Sahdranpur. It is very vigorous and gives early and regular 
crops. The fruit is not unlike the Bon Chretien. Grafted or 
budded on the China pear it fruits in the second or third yetir. 
Pitmaston Duchess, Louise Bonne of Jersey and Benrre Diel, all 
imported from Australia, promise well at Downham. Tkey are 



AQHICVITUBS. 195 

now in their third j ear and are from 7 to 10 feet high and winter CHA? IV. 
regularly from December to March. - Fbuit-tuxs, 

• BTC. 

Medlars are growing well at Downham and have fruited. 

The variety tried is the' Boyal. These are handsome trees, 
especially when in blossom, but their frait is not much liked. 
They winter for only about six weeks. 

The qninoe thrives in almost any part of the hills if only its Quinoei. 
roots, which grow very near the surface, do not get too dry. 
The fruit is abundant, but is only fit for making into jam or 
jelly. The tree is easily propagated front layers of Quttings, but 
is of no oae as a stock in this country except perhaps for fruit 
culture in pots. 

Peaches are generally raised from the stone and may be seen PeaohM. 
growing in almost every coffee estate and garden about Goonoor 
and Kdtagiri ; bat with hardly any exception their fruit is only 
fit for stewing. Mr. Bedmond introduced some very good 
varieties into E6tagiri over twenty years ago, but when he 
left the trees were neglected and have mostly disappeared. 
Peaches grow and fruit best in the warmer parts of the hills 
(5,000 to 6,000 feet) and prefer a light warm soil. If the land 
is at all stiff or cold they are very subject to ' curl ^ and the 
wood does not ripen well. Peaches from England are generally 
gyafted or budded on the almond or plum stock and do not 
thrive. The best stock on the Nilgiris is the seedling of the 
common peaoh* which at one year old is large enough to bud. 
For grafting, it is better to move the stock when one year old 
and graft the following season. The trees generally fruit the 
second year thereafter. Good varieties imported from Australia 
which Imve fraited at Downham are Bed Shanghai, Carmen, Gros 
Mignon and Emma. The peach winters from October to Febru- 
ary, and should be pmned and sprayed in January ; it requires 
root-pruning if making gross growth| and a good dressing of old 
lime lightly pricked in Is advisable. The roots should never be 
allowed to get dnst-dry or the trees will shed their buds. The 
early varieties blossom in 1^'ebruary aud fruit in May-Jnne. 
Peach ' curl ' seems to be the only disease the tree suffers from, 
and the best remedy for this is to pick and burn the affected leaves 
aud spray the branches with Bordeaux mixture. 

Nectarines grow and fruit well. They like the same condi- Neotarinet. 
tions as peaches, but being more vigorous require summer 
pmching. , 

Apricots seem only to have been grown in a very small way Apricots 
Hitherto. Those at Coonoor and K6tagiri are seedlings of the 



l96 



THi NiLaifiii. 



CHAP. IV. 
Fbuxt-triks, 

ETC. 



Plums. 



Pertimtnon. 



Afghan varietj, a very poor kind wliioli is generally broogbi 
round for sale in the dried state. 

The varieties that do best at Downham are the Moorpark sod 
Mansfield Seedling, both imported from Australia. Elmge al«o 
promises well. The trees winter from December to February 
and then burst into a mass of blossom. This sets well, bat the 
fruit ripens jast when the south-west monsoon begins, and ko 
is very liable to split. It is advisable, therefore^ to forre the 
trees to blossom as early as possible. They woiUd probably do 
better in warQi localiti^p away from the effects of the monsoon, 
such as K6tagiri and Goonoor. 

The plum is one of the hardiest and most easily grown of the 
stone fruits, and thrives well in Goonoor and Kdtagiri. Mr. C. 
Gray had a very fine orchard of Black Aloocha and (?) Victoris 
plums at the hotel at* the former place some ten years ago, the 
branches being ropes of fruit and having to be supported owing to 
the weight of the crop. The trees are readily raised from seed 
but the fruit of these can never be depended upon ; so when a 
seedling proves a good one the best plan is to propagate it bj 
budding on the peach, which is the best stock for all plums oq 
the Nilgiris. 

The plum winters only for about a month or six weeks in 
November and December and is generally a sheet of blossom in 
January, It requires but little pruning, and this should be done 
in November. A good dressing of barnt refuse, old mortar 
refuse, and well-rotted manure spread over the roots and lightlj 
pricked in will enable the tree to set its blossom, and the Cmit is 
much improved by being thinned when it is the size of a pea 
At Downham are several well-grown varieties of the Japanese 
plum which seem quite acclimatised and promise well. Their fmit 
is very large, semi-transparent, and has a very small stone. The 
tree takes a year or two to accastom itself to the change of season, 
but then flowers and fruits well. Plants grafted on the peach 
stock do better than those on the plum which the Japanese use. 
The best varieties are Botankyo, Shiro, Satsuma and Sultan. The 
Prunus Pisardi is a very handsome tree, the foliage being a rich 
purple ; bat the fruit is not particularly good, being small thoogh 
sweet. 

The persimmon or date plum grows welL It has been raised 
by General Morgan and Sir Frederick Price, and the former 
exhibited some very fine frait about six years ago. The trees at 
Downham, which were imported direct from Japan, are too 
yoang to fruit yet but are promising well* The beet and most 
vigorous variety is the Daidai Ham. This winters between 
September and October and begins to grow again in December. 



A^BlCUiTullB. lot 

A large oheriy tree some 85 7ear8 old, wbicli blossoms and CHAP, iv, 
fruits every year, grows in Captain Frend's orchard at Snowdon, Fbuit-treis, 
bat the fmit is poor, and owing to its situation the tree has been f^' 
much knocked about by the wind. The Himalayan chefryi or Cherries. 
Pranas Pnddnm, is common in Ooonoor and on several estates, 
but its small fruit is extremely acid. It is however an excellent* 
stock on which to bud or graft the better English cherry. This 
has been done at Downham, where trees of the Early Rivers and 
Bigarreau Napoleon, imported from Australia, are growing. 
In Ootacamund, at Walpole House, is a Bigarreau Napoleon 
which fruits every year in May. • * 

Messrs. George Oakes and Charles G-ray imported in Febru- 
ary 1906 one hundred plants of the famous Japanese flowering 
cherry. These have been planted at Downham, Walpole House, 
Whitmore, and Orchardene near Coonoor aUd seem to have taken 
kindly to their new surroundings. The tree does not fruit, but 
is grown for its sheets of blossom in the spring and its scarlet 
and gold leaves in autumn. 

Currants have been but little grown. General Baker tried Currants, 
the red variety at Tudor Hall and it produced and ripened fruit ; 
Mr. Oakes also grew some bushes, but they did not fruit and 
after about three years died out. The black Naples variety was 
import^ by Mr. Oakes^ did fairly well and was increased from 
cuttings ; and a dozen plants imported from Australia in 1906 
promise to do better. They winter from December to February 
Hud fruit in May. The white Dutch kind has not been tried. 

Gooseberries have been imported from time to time but have Gooseberrist. 
uot been a success. Mr. Oakes obtafned a dozen plants from 
England in 1900 which are still alive and make a growth of some 
six inches a year ; but though they bloqm the blossom so far 
has not set. Fruit has been grown by Mr. Proudlock, Curator 
oi the Government Botanic Gardens, but the climate is too 
mild for gooseberries to do really well. 

Raspberries seem to have been imported many years ago, and RMpbemes. 
one of the red kinds is fairly plentiful in Ootacamund and in- 
creases rapidly from suckers. It succeeds best in rows, and 
should be planted in a trench 1^ ft. deep filled with a good 
compost of burnt earth, old mortar, and a fair proportion of well* 
rotted manure. The old canes should be cut out after they have 
fruited and three or four new ones from each stool allowed to 
grow in their place, the younger and smaller shoots, and those 
growing out of line, being repressed. The canes may be 
ftQpp<frted by being lightly tied to a wire stretched on posts. 
They should not be topped. 



198 



THB NILOIBtfl. 



CHAP. iV^. There are three indigenous raspberries on the hills ; namelj 

l?oujT.TRKE«, jRffi^ rugo8U8 (now known as JB. moluccanua)^ R. gotcre^hul (now 

1 jR. eUipticus) and 22. laaiocarpu^. The fruit of this last is the 

best flavoared and most plentif a1 of » the three ; that of 
jR. gowreephul is jellow and insipid , and that of H. ru^pottw, 
* though large, cannot compare in flavoar with that of lanocarpUM. 
Mr. Oakes imported from England the American variety of 
blackberry known as the Wilson Junior. This grew and fraited 
well at Downham, bnt not at Ootaoamund. He also obUined 
from Australia the Lawton blackberry, which does well nt 
Downham. Both varieties have a very large black fruit. Thev 
arc not attacked by any disease but are much troubled fay the 
borer and have to be netted to keep off the birds. H. Hookeru 
also grows well at Downham, but the canes are not old enough to 
fruit yet. 

Strawberries. Strawberries have always been largely grown on the hilU, 
and do admirably at the higher elevations. General Baker, Sir 
Frederick Price and the late Colonel De Montmorency have been 
very successful with them. They fruit more or less all the year 
round, but the principal season is April and May, They are pro- 
pagated from runners or by division, and these should be ti^en 
from plants reserved for the purpose and from which all bloMom 
has been pinched off. Strawberries prefer a stiffish soil, with a 
good proportion of well-rotted stable manure. With a light soil 
cow-manure is better. The beds should be deeply trenched (two 
feet if possible), well mauured* and renewed every seoond year in 
fresh ground. The strawberry is nearly blight-proof, and 
apparently its only disease is the leaf -spot caused by a fungus, 
the remedy for which is to spray the plants with vermorite or to 
dust sulphur over them in the early morning before the dew hss 
evaporated. The grubs of the cockchafer attack the roots and 
should be picked out by pricking over the beds to the depth of 
three or four inches. The Laxton is the only variety the name of 
which seems to have been preserved, and this does well at 
Downham. The Alpine variety has been grown at Coonoor with 
much success. 

Mttiberriei. . Mulberries appear to have been intcoduoed into the Nilgirw 

many years ago, and both the white and blaok varietiee do well at 
any elevation above 4,000 ft. When once established they 
require bnt little cultivation and bear freely. The while was 
introduced for the purpose of feeding silkworms ; the black ii 
grown for its fruit, and some fine specimens, which bear aboad- 
antl/, may be seen in the Government gardens at Ck>taoamnBd. 
Mr. Oakes has a dozen trees of the black variety at Downham 
and Mr. G-ray has several specimens of both kinds at Coonoor. 



▲QBIOULTUBB. 199 

Figs will not ripen on the higher elevations, "but do well at CHAP. IV. 
Coonoor, Kotagiii and Ealhatti. The best varieties are the white £RuiT.iftBRa, 
Adriatic, Brunswick, Brown Tarkejr and Brown Gbnoa. ^he f^ 
trees require to have their roots restricted or thej make a 'gross vig: 
growth and yield but little ; and before the fruit ripens the trees 
most be carefully netted. Figs are among the easiest fruit trees « 
to grow in pots. They are particularly hardy and apparently are 
not attacked by any disease. Trees imported from Australia 
bear a year after planting and are easily propagated from 
cuttings. 

Both white and purple grapes were introduced from Banga- Vinei. 
lore and England very soon after the first Europeans settled on 
the lulls. Mr. John Davison of Coonoor grew bosh very 
saccessfully. The vine winters in July, August and September, 
and begins to make new growth in Deceihber. It requires a 
weH-made border with free drainage, and a good compost of 
tarfy loam mixed with half-inch pieces of bone and, if available, 
some old mortar refuse. Pruning and pinching must be care- 
fully attended to, or the vine will not bear. Tlie winter pruning 
most be done as soon as the leaves are down, only two or three 
eyes of the new wood being left. When the blossom has set, the 
laterals should be stopped to three leaves beyond the bunch and 
ioblaterals to one leaf. At Downham there are specimens of the 
Gros Colmar, CSamden Sherry, Black Malaga and the Catawba. 
Mr. Gray has a good vinery at Coonoor. 

The only variety of guava that does well is the Psidium Goavas. 
CaltkianuM, a native of Brazil giving a very dark purple 
frnit about \^ inch in diameter which* has a pleasant subacid 
flavour but is generally used for making preserves. It is easily 
niised from seed and requires but little cultivation. 

Oranges will not thrive on the plateau, bnt there are few Orangea and 
coffee estates which have not round their bungalows some trees ^®"^*' 
raised from pips. The flavour of the fruit is not usually good, 
and of late years efforts have been made to introduce better 
varieties. In 1905 Mr. Gray imported plants of the Navel, 
Maltese Blood, St. Michael, Seville and other kinds, which .are 
doing well but are too young to bear yet. Mr. Oakes also im- 
ported the two first-named in 1904 and is growing them at 
Kalhatti. Lemons and limes thrive at elevations of from 4,000 
^0 6,000 feet. The Metford and Spanish lemons are very 
prolific aud come fairly true from seed. A large variety of lime 
known as the Maltese is often met with on coffee estates. It 
e^ves a large quantity of juice, and the peel makes a marmalade of 



200 



THK HUiOnUS. 



CHAP. IV. 

FftUIT-TBEBt, 
KTO. 



Cherimoyer. 



Knts. 



Bee-keepingf. 



good flavour. The shaddock (pomelo) is also grown to a oertaiL 
ez^nt, bat the fruit is of indifferent qoalitj. The seedHogs 
however are an ezcelleot stock on which to graft or bod the betttrr 
known varieties of oranges. The trees of all the oibrna bmHy 
are attacked by the brown scale (Leemiium hemUf^erkum) and 
canker. The best remedj for the former is the resin wash 
mentioned in Mr. Maxwell Lefrojr's recent work od insect pestf . 

The citron is fonnd on many coffee estates, but as there seeing 
little or no demand for the fruit its cultivation has not extended 

The delicious cherisiojer {Anona eherhnoKer) was introduced 
to the Nilgiris bj Mr. Clements Markham and planted at the 
Kalhatti garden referred to below. The trees there appear to have 
died out, and we hear nothing more of this fruit until about 181^0, 
when Mr. A. Q. Nicholson reintroduced it to these hills from 
Yercaud, whither the late Surgeon-General Shortt had brongbt it 
from S^outh America. The tree thrives and fruiia well at a)i 
elevations between 4,500 and 6,500 ft., is easily raised from seed. 
quickly responds to a little care and cultivation, and bears in t):i 
third or fourth year from seed. 

The Spanish Chestnut (Cohtanea vesica) grows well at thebighf r 
elevations and has fruited well at Paik&ra and Ootacamond* It 
has always been raised from seed. A new variety called the 
Mammoth (grafted) was imported last year by Messm. Gray 
& Oaken but the trees have not beeu planted long enough t< 
enable the quality of their fruit to be tested. The smalUfroited 
Japanese chestnut was introduced by Sir Frederick Price tnd 
appears to be quite acclimatized. Mr. Oakes has several specimens 
at Downham. 

The walnut is quite established and fruits satisfactorily. At 
Cluny Hall are some very large trees which appear to be about 
40 or 50 years old. The best variety seems to be the thin-shelled 
kind from Burma (Bhamo), which grows very rapidly. 

Several kinds of bees are native to the hills, butnone of them 
are any good as producers of honey. Having no long winter to 
live through, as English bees have, they do not store any appreiM- 
able surplus stock. Mr. Oakes hived the Apit indiea for some 
years in modern frame hives, partly to fertilize fruit blossom in 
his orchard, but the yield of surplus honey was insignificant and 
rarely amounted to 10 lb. per annum per stock. Sections were 
tried but were never occupied by the bees. The ApU donata has 
also .been hived, but never remains more than a month or two 
and then nugrates. It is a useless variety and at timea veiy 
vioions. It forms large colonies^ generally on lofty bine gnm 



AGRICULTUBE. 201 

branohee from the under side of whioli it bailds big single comba. CHAP. IV. 
As Hiany as twenty have been oonnted on one tree. It seeme to ¥»ui»iTaBEt, 
leave tbe bigber ranges when the sonth-west monsoon sots in. '^^* 
Another very small bee builds on the branches of low-growing 
shrubs and after swarming leaves the old comb. The combs are 
seldom larger than a cricket ball and are built of very fine white * 
wax. The honey is almost white and of very delicate flavour. 
This variety seems most plentiful on the slopes of the hills, and 
is not often seen on the plateau. 

Bnglish, or rather the Punic strain of European, bees, were 
first introduced in January 1903 by Major G-. de Heriez Smith 
o{ the Central India Horse and Mr. George Oakes. By a curious 
coincidence they both (unknown to each other) ordered the nuclei 
from the same dealer and introduced the same variety. 

Some two or three years before this Mr. Ni^^holson of Halli- 
karai estate, Coonoor, had tried Italian bees, but without success. 

Both the nuclei of Punic bees were brought out by friends of 
the importers by Brindisi and Bombay with the mails, and were 
eighteen days on the journey. They were allowed a cleansing 
Hight at Port Said, Aden and Bombay and were then sent on to 
Ootacamund by mail train. Three frames of brood and one 
frame of heather honey, with about a quart of bees and a queen, 
made each nucleusi and ventilation was given by an opening 
covered with wire gauze. On their arrival a number of worker 
bees were found dead owing to heat and being knocked aboutj 
Lot a good proportion of them and both queens were in excellent 
condition. They were at once put into modem hives, and on 
being fed the queens at once began laying. In two months 
the bees had increased to the fall extent of the hives, and on the 
20th of July the first swarm was thrown off and the apiary very 
soon increased from two stocks to twenty. 

In May^ racks of sections were put on the stronger stocks and 
were rapidly filled and capped, proving that there is abundance 
of bee fodder. The honey was a very good light colour and 
well flavoured. Some of it was sent to England and favourably 
reported on there. The results for 1903-04 were 588 lb. run 
honey and 184 sections, but afterwards the stocks began to fail, and 
thoQgh the bees were frequently fed no swarms were thrown off 
in 1905 and some of the stocks gradually died out. In 1906 only 
four stocks were left, and though drones were hatched in all the 
hives there were no swarms, and thus it was impossible tore-queen 
—the only hope of re-building the apiary. Attempts were mad^ 
?6 



%0i: THS kiijgibib. 

CHAP. IV. to import qTieens by poet, as is done in America and Europe, be* 
Fmr-nxn the dealen said the joomej would be too long for the qneens ti 
"^ sorrire. 

Owing to the livelj fear which most people have of bees, it 
. has been fonnd impossible to get aaj one to bring ontfiresh noclti, 
and the necessitj of the bees beinsr allowed a cleansing fligl: 
prerents their being shipped unaccompanied. They most he 
brought out by some one who is not too timid to open the hire a^ 
the ports above mentioned. If this can be done, there is no other 
trouble ; no oleAuing, feeding or ti-atering, and the nudeos cac 
be hung up in a cabin like an ordinary birdcage. 

Imported bees must be kept warm on the Nilgiris. A goij 
blanket quilt of double thickness and weather-proof hives are 
necessary. The best asf)ect is east, with a hedge or building to the 
west. Then the morning sun warms the bees and induces tlit-rn 
to work early, and they are shielded from the hot afternoon sun 
and the force of the south-west monsoon. Unless stocks hav^ 
a sufficiency (»f natural stores, which can easily be ascertained 1 y 
taking out a few frames now and then, feeding is advisable fiom 
November to February. The queen in this country li^ all the 
year round, but chiefly in March, April and May. It is advisable 
to re-queen every second year and to provide queens for tl e 
purpose. 

It is difficult to say, in such a land of flowers, which is the 
chief source of the honey ; but the eucalyptus yields a great deal, 
and also the many hedges of heliotrope and principia. Many of 
the wild flowers seem to give nectar, and the Chapman honey- 
plant {Echinopa apherecephalus^ known in England as the Globe 
thistle) yields largely. The garden poppy is Yery largely drawn 
upon for its pollen. 
Q^^jj The earliest action taken by Government to encourage horti- 

Faims and culture or agriculture on the hills was the leasing from 1837 to 
OAaDKNii. 1334 Qf atonehouse and the garden laid out there by Mr. Sullivan 
(who was the pioneer of all enterprize in this direction) and the 
purchase in December 1829, along with his house Bishopsdown 
(then called Southdowns)^ of the other garden he had made round 
about this latter residence. A European gardener was put in 
charge of each of them ; but they appear to have been rather 
ornamental than useful.^ 
The K^tl ^^ April 1830 the then Governor, Mr. Stephen Lushington, 

ftirm. wrotf) a long minute on the desirability of horticultural and 

' 8eo BirlVederiok Priced book. 



AGBIOtJLTUBE. 203 

tigricnltoral improvementas and an experimental farm was started CHAP. iv. 
forthwith at K^ti. This and the two gardens aboTe mentioned Govbbnihint 
were placed under the care of Major Crewe, Assistant Commis- ^aTdens^ 

sarj-General on the Nilgiris. Most ambitious schemes* were 

contemplated : a large stock of tools, including four ploughs, was 
ordered from the Arsenal at Madras; six cast artillery horses to • 
draw the ploughs were indented for ; the Court of Directors was 
asked to send out a large quantity of agricultural and garden 
seeds and fruit trees ; an indent for fruit trees and vegetable and 
flower seeds from Persia was sent to the Q-ovemment of Bombay ; 
and cattle for dairy and draught purpose^were ordbred up. 

It was known that the climate of the plateau was delightful 
and it was believed that its soils were much more fertile than they 
really are ; and it was in consequence confidently hoped that with 
Government assistance and encouragement permanent settlements 
of English and Eurasian farmers ajid mechanics might be 
established on the plateau, and that the Nilgiris might become a 
British colony as flourishing as Australia or the Cape.^ 

By 1832,' under Major Crewe's superintendence, fields at 
K^ti had been broken up in the English fashion with English 
ploughs ; potatoes, wheat, oats and barley had been put down on 
about 150 acres ; some plots had been laid out as gardens ; 
buildings had been erected ; ils. 2,000 had been realized from the 
sale of produce and seeds ; and three families of Eurasians had 
settled on the hills and been aided from the farm, and six more 
were desirous of imitating them. The Directors, however, poured 
cold water on the whole scheme, and even refused to comply with 
the indent for fruit trees and seeds. In 4836 the land belonging 
to the farm was restored to the Badagas from whom (by rather 
bigh-handed methods) it had been taken and only the* buildings 
and the gardens adjoining them were retained. The subsequent 
fate of these is sketched in the account of K^ti on p. 331 below. 
Thus ended the first and last effort by Government to establish a 
model farm on the Nilgiris. 

In his survey report of 1847 on the hiUs Major Ouchterlony 
Qrged the establishment of a farm on the plateau — more especially 
for the growth of wheat and barley, which latter he wished to see 
improved suflSciently to render brewing profitable. He recom- 
mended two alternative sites (the elevated tract west of the 

* See, for example, Hocgh't Letters oti the yeilglierries, 187 1 Jervis' book, 
'^) i and Major Crewe's outline plan for a settlement on p. 121 of the first edjliom 
of Baikie. 

* KM.O., MUitary Department, dated Bih October 1832. | 



204 



THB KiLanin* 



oniT, IT. 

GlMPftMllEKt 
FaftlttAND 



The GoTWii- 
meat 
Oardensv 
OotaoM&iiiid. 



PdUra from Madavattam to Mfikarti Peak, and Eoduid in ti *^ 
nortli-eaat corser of tiie platoati) and urged that English settlprt 
on the Nilgiris would be far better oif than ^ the manj hundreds vi 
tbeir (mfortonate fellow-conntrTmen who have hurried heedless j 
ont to the Australian colonies^ only to meet with disappointment 
>and rain/ H# considered that they would find an ezc€li<nt 
market for English crops, batter and eggs, and fresh and saltetl 
meat (the latter for the shipping) and pointed out that they won <i 
haye a great advantage in the cheapness of native laboor — coul>'- 
being then paid only two annas a day, or less than half the prest nt 
rate. He furMier argutd that the planting of trees for firBwo>vi 
(then unheard of) would soon be profitable ; but discourage<I tl' 
silkworm culture which had been tried at Coonoor, Billikal (^-x 
p. 349) and other places without much success. 

No action was taken by Ooyemment on this part of his re]^rt. 
In the seventies, when the Saidapet farm was established ar«i 
schemes Were afoot for starting experimental farms in vanv>u« 
parts of the Presidency, the re-awakened interest in matter* 
agricultural led to the opening of a model farm at the Lawrence 
Afifylum, and to the despatch of Mr. Robertson, Superintendent at 
Saidapet, to the Nilgiris to report on the capabilities of tl^t 
country. The idea of colonizing the hills was not yet ent.ir»\} 
dead; in suggesting Mr. Eobertson's deputution to the hi N 
Lord Napier wrote in 1871 : — 

< Much of the good land on the warm side of the Hills is snbjH* 
to the rights of native cultivators ; the cost of building is exoessivp ; 
the price of labour is high ; clothing is dear ; medical attendance at.l 
education woiild be costly and difficult of access ; the sale of gnun 
crops, frnits, and vegetables would offer little money remnneratim 
compared to the wants even of a humble European family ; the return* 
of tea and coffee cultivation are slow and liable to great flnotuation.*. 
A poor man would find it difficult to establish and maintain him&eH ; 
a richer man would prefer to go elsewhere. My own impressions ai>* 
decidedly unfavourable to the Hills as a scene of agricultural settlem'^nt 
for Englishmen ; but I think it would tend to the correction of erro&«iiu« 
impressions and to the formation of sound opinions that this qneMion 
should be illustrated by the report of a person of unquestionall'^ 
judgment and practical knowledge in such matters.' 

Mr Bobertson, however, was not at all hopeful of suct'css 
and no definite action followed his report. 

The Government Gardens at Ootacamund began life in 1845 
as a kitchen garden started by subscription among the European 
residents and designed to supply them witli vegetables at reason* 
able cost. Their history is detailed in Sir Frederick Price's book. 



AaBlCULTURS. 205 

In 1847 money was raised to improve them into a Public Garden CHAP. IV, 

and form a Horticnltural Society. The then Governor of Mad];^s, Government 

the Marqnis of Tweed dale, took much interest in the pr9ieot; ^^l^^^ 

subscribed Rs. 1,000 ; and persuaded the Directors to send out — * 

Mr. W« G. Mclvor, a scientific and practical gardener trained 

at Kew, to take charge of matters. He arrived in 1848 ; and * 

Government sanctioned Bs. 100 per mensem in support of the 

Gardens and appointed a committee to manage them. At that 

time the site of the present Gardens was in a very primitive state : 

* the upper portion was a forest, with heavy trees on its steep and 

rugged banks, the lower part was a s\^mp, the* whole being 

traversed by deep ravines.* The upper portion, ^ where sambhar, 

jungle-sheep, sometimes a bear and numbers of jungle-fowl were 

to be found ' in former times, was first improved ; and in 1851 

the lower part was purchased and added to it. The swamp there 

waa reclaimed, the ravines were filled up with silt shovelled into 

the streams which poured down the hill side, and at length 

Mr. Mclvor's isste and judgment resulted in the formation of one 

of the most beautiful Public Gardens in India. Much of his 

buccess is * due to the happy manner in which advantage has 

been taken of the picturesque lay of the land and of the trees and 

rocks with which it abounds. Bits of fine old sh61a still nestle 

undisturbed in nooks and comers of the grounds, though they 

are now connected by gravel paths and grassy slopes intersected 

by beds of flowers.'' The ornamental pond and the parterre round 

it were made between 1864 and 1867. 

Differences between Mr. Mclvor and his committee led to the 
latter's supersession in 1853 by a smalliir body, consisting of the 
Collector, the Ofiicer Commanding Ootacamund and the Senior 
Medical Officer, which exercised a less direct control; in 1867 the 
Gardens were placed under the superintendence of the Conser- 
vator of Forests ; in 1860 Mr. Mcfvor was in addition put in 
charge of the cinchona plantations and in 1868 he was given 
a Deputy, Mr, Jamieson, to assist him ; in 1871 the latter took 
entire charge of the Gardens ; in 1883 the Government Parks and 
Gardens on the Nilgiris were put under the Mr. Lawson already 
mentioned, who had juHt arrived as Government Botanist and 
Director of the Cinchona Plantations (subject to the general 
control of the Commissioner of the Nilgiris) ; and this arrange- 
ment continued until 1896, when (as above stated) these two posts 
were separated and the Parks and Gardens were placed under the 
Collector's control and managed by a trained horticulturist 
designated the Curator. 



206 



THE KILaiBIS. 



C1TA?. IV. 

Government 

Farms avd 

Gardens. 

The Kalbatti 

branch 

garden. 



The Goonoor 

branch 

garden. 



Hiui'a Park, 
Goonoor. 



Tho Barliyir 
Garden. 



In 1878 a medicinal garden^ five acres in extent, was loraed 
at the head of the Gardens at the snggestion of the Snrgecm* 
GFenei|il, the plants grown wherein included ipecacnanha, jalap, 
rhubarb^ peppermint, digitalis and taraxacum. 

About 1855 Mr. Mclvor opened a small branch gardeo of 
* about five acres just above the Kalhatti falls on the Sig6r ghat 
for the cultivation of plants requiring a warmer climate and lower 
elevation than those of Ootacamund. Sir (then Mr.) QemenU 
Markham, who visited it in I860, says that it then contained 
'' oranges of mauj kinds^ shaddocks, lemons, limes, cition:?, 
"nutmegs, loquats and 'plantains. On this spot the delicioQ.^ 
Chiriraoyas, the seeds of which we brought from Pern, will 
hereafter ripen and enable the people of India to taste * the 
masterpiece of nature.' '' Mr. Mclvor's reports show that, in 
addition to the abovlB trees, apples, pears, plums, peaches, fig^, 
mulberries, raspberries, nectarines, apricots, vines, filbert«>, 
currants, strawberries and pice-apples (in all 178 species and 
varieties) were being tried in 1859 in the garden, which^ he claimed, 
then possessed the most extensive stock of such fruit in all India. 

Subsequrntly the garden attracted less and less int^reai an<l 
eventually in October 1887 the land was sold in public auction, it 
being considered that the climate of Kalhatti was so similar to 
that of Goonoor that it was unnecessary to keep up a separate 
garden in the former. 

A branch garden had been established in Goonoor in 1857 
for raising vegetable seeds and English fruit trees. It was soM 
in 1873, the year before Sim's Park there was taken over. 

Sim's Park was so named after Mr, J. D. Sim, C.S.L, who 
had taken much interest in laying it out. It wa? begun in 1874 
and was taken over by Government in December of that year 
It lies in a beautiful little ravine which contains some admirable 
patches of natural shola and has been considered to be even more 
picturesque than the Ootaoamund Gardens. At the bottom 
of the ravine a small stream has been dammed up to form a 
miniature lake. 

In 1870 Government purchased for Rs. 2,000 the Garden at 
Barliyar, 7^ miles from Goonoor down the ghit road and 2,300 
to 2,500 feet above the sea. This had been originally forme*! 
by Mr. E. B. Thomas when he was Collector of Coimbatore and 
the Nilgiris (1851-58) and by 1857 ^ already contained a large 
collection of tropical and aub-tropieal fruit trees and plants, some 

^ Dr. Cleghom's note in M.J.L.S.| x^ii, 803. 



AQBIOULTUHE. 207 

of them of raritj and valae. When it came into the market in chap. iv. ] 
1870 Messrs. Mclror and Jamieson strongly recommended its Government 
parchasOi partly in order to try ipeoacnanha there, and their ^q^rJenbI^ 

snggestion was approved. It now covers abont eight acres and 

the trees and plants thriving in it include several kinds of rabber, 
mangosteen, nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, allspice, cocoa,^mahogany, « 
camphor, breadfruit, litchi, langsat and durian. The fruit raised 
in the garden is sold to the public and of late years some income 
has also been made by the sale^ofjrubber plants^ and seeds. 

The Government Gardens and Parks in charge of the Curator The prasent 
now include, at Ootacamund, the BotanicM Gardens, the Govern- ^▼©nimont 
ment House Gurden adjoining, and sundry pieces of public land Paries, 
in the station which require to be kept in an ornameittal condition ; 
at Coonoor, Sim's Park; at Barliy&r the Gardens above mentioned ; 
a small nursery at Benhope, on the Coonoor ^h^t and about 2,800 
feet in elevation, which was taken over from the Forest department 
in 1902 ; and a block of about ten acres near Kall^r, at the foot 
of the same gh&t and about 1,300 feet above the sea, which was 
taken over from the Forest department in 1900 and is used for 
experiments with rubber trees and fibre-producing pknts. 



808 



TEB KlLarBIS. 



CHAPTER V. 

FORESTS. 



CHAP. V. 
Woods on 

THE 

Plateau. 



Their nature. 



Destntotion 
in early dayi. 



Woods on the Plateau — Their natnre—Destroction in early dayt—Fitvft con«w- 
vation — Dr. Cleghorn's BuggeEtioiis» 1858 — HiileB for their protaodan, Iv-* 
— Their transfer to the <Oommiftsioner, 1868 — Be-tranafer to the Vurv-t 
department, ^187 5 — Reservation under the Forest Act — T6da patta laci* 
— Present syflcem in the platean woodlands. Artificial Firewoop Plant. 
ATioNs— First introduction of Australian trees — The first GoTeiftBi«(*' 
plantations —The existing* plantations — Their chief enemies. DECiMorr 
Forests of the Nouthern Slopes — Growth in the Moyar rslley— San -in- 
wood plantation. Deciduous Forests of the Wyxaad— Bennf* forr^-t— 
Teak plantation — Mtfdumalai forest — Teak plantation there. 

The forests of the district may be divided into four cUss»?» : 
namely, the evergreen woods (sholas) on the plateau, the arti- 
ficial plantations (for firewood) of Australian trees round thi* 
stations there, the deciduous forests of the northern slopes inclu'i- 
ing the Moydr valley, and the forests of the Wynaad, which ar*» 
also deciduous but are far heavier and more dense than the lii**^ 
The trees characteristic of each of these tracts have alrea^iy 
(pp. 20-26) been briefly mentioned. The growth on the top «»f 
the plateau and along its upper edges is the only forest which i« 
really evergreen. The greater part of the eastern and sontherfi 
slopes of the plateau is included in the Coimbatore district and 
the forests there thus need no detailed mention here. 

The first of the above four classes, the 8h61as on the plateau, 
are not of any great importance from a commercial point of view, 
as the trees in them are slow-growing varieties (largely Eugenias 
and rhododendron) which produce timber of little or no valne an*! 
probably take at least a century to mature ; but they add gn atly 
to the beauty of the country and are of immense use in protectinj; 
sources of water-supply. 

There can be little doubt that throughout the country ni;w 
occupied by the Badagas these sh61a8 were formerly far mup^ 
numerous and extensive than at present^ and that the Badaga« 
had done immense destruction among them even before the fii>t 
Europeans came to the hills. The frequency of the ozistence pi 
the suffix kdd, meaning jungle or forest, to the names of placo> 
where, though the soil is particularly suitable for the groivtli *! 
timber, hardly a tree is now to be found, is one evidence of thi< ; 
and another is the way in which, in many otherwise almost Lnrc* 



90BX8TS. lOd 

localities, a few great 8li61a trees Iiave sarvived the general d&AP- ^« 
destruction because they were considered to be holy or the bgrnee Wood« ok 
of tbe unseen genii of the place. ^ P&Ivbau 

Even after the British occupation of the plateau this denuda- 
lion was not at once checked. As is mentioned on p. 268 below, a 
Badaga was then allowed to occupy a tract five or even ten times* 
greater than that for whi(*h he actually paid assessment ; and 
^ grazing pattHS ' were also allowed under which a ryot could hold 
grass land up to one-fifth of his regular holding at one-quarter 
of the ordinary rate of assessment ; while in the, Kundahs there 
were plough and hoe leases under which a ryot could cultivate 
any land he chose on payment of the assessment for the number 
of ploughs or hoes he used. 

The destruction which resulted from these \s,x systems was im- 
mense : except at Bikkapattimand there is now not a sh61a worth 
mention all along the north side ot the plateau from Marlimand 
toK6dan^cl, an area of about 75 square miles; and even the 
Orange Valley, once (see p. 8) famous for its groves of wild 
oranges and limes, has been so stripped of its growth that most of 
its rich soil has been washed down to the plains. A Collector of 
experience described as under the results which had ensued : — 

' They (the Badagas) have Hystematioally destroyed every tree in 
the nei{;hbonrhood of their villages and for miles around, leaving 
nothing standing for their requirements but stunted shrubs such as 
DodcfiCBOj BerherUy Carma, etc. This has brought its own punish- 
ment, for the Badagas have to travel miles to obtain timber and fuel. 
The manure that is so necessary for their impoverished lands is now 
extensively used for burning bricks and tilps ; and for want of protec- • 
tion the monsoon gales sweep over the fields unchecked, to the great 
detriment of the crops. The ground is parched in the dry weather 
and there is no grass for the cattle, which the owners are compelled 
to drive into the malarious forests below, where the herdsmen get 
fever and the cattle are killed by tigers. The villages also suffer 
from scarcity of water in the hot weather, owing to exhaustion of the 
springs in the ravines which have been denuded of trees.' 

He might have added that many streams which were onoe 
perennial are now, owing to the absence of forests which might 
absorb rainfall, quite dry one day and raging torrents the next^ 
and that the amount of scour they occasion when in these sudden 
floods is a danger to cultivation, roads and bridges. 

This description applies to the Badaga country proper — ^in the 

east and north-east of the plateau and round about Eilkundah. 

Probably the grass land to the west of Ootacamund and oi^ the 

Kundahs was never covered with forest (though there are signa 

37 



mo THB KXLQIRia. 

CHAP. y. that the slidlas were biggdr than now) for its soil, with its thick 
Woodson underlying stratum of cold gravellj claj, is scarcely suited to 
pJtbau. timber. 

When Enropeans first settled on the plateau the great demand 
Tation. for firewood and building material resulted in much reckless 

Celling of the sl)61as near Ootacamund and Goonoor, and GoTern- 
ment miide early efforts to check the mischief. They inserted a 
olaus^e in the title-deeds of land granted by them requiring the 
grantee to plant a sapling for every tree he felled ; and in 18S7 
they directed that in future no trees should be cut down williin 
the military limits of Ootacamund without special sanction, which 
sanction was never to be grauted unless the trees were neither 
ornamental nor useful as protectors of springs. 

Neither rule did much good^ apparently ; and about 1852 a 
Conservancy establishlnent, of a Forester and six peons was sanc- 
tioned. Mr. E. B. Thomas, a great lover of trees, was now 
Collector of Coimbatore (in which the Nilgiris waa at the tone 
included) and it was largely due to his efforts that the destno- 
tion was somewhat checked. In a report of 1858 on the hill 
woodlands Dr. Cleghorn, the first Conservator of Forests, wrote 

of him — 

• 

' He has earnestly and unceasingly exercised a personal sapsr- 
vision of the woods around Ootacamund when he visited the Nil- 
giris, and has manifested a warm interest in the progress of thin 
depHrtment as evinced by the establishment of his private garden at 
Barliy&r, which hns been productive of much good in disseminating 
fruit and other trees. 1 do not h»'sitate to afiirm with truth that hot 
for his continued exertions the neighbourhood of Ootacamund would 
have been denuded of its remaining beautiful sh61as long since.' 
Dr. Cleg. Pr. Gleghorn suggested that matters should be improved 

i^ettioDf^^" by appointing a European Forester, limiting the amount of 
1866. felling allowed, planting quick-growing trees to replace those cut 

down, encouraging the use of peat for fuel, and forming plan* 
tations at Ootacamund and Wellington and avenues along the 
main lines of roads. Government directed him and Mr. Thomas 
to draw up rules for the oonservancy of the woodlands and sane* 
tioned a grant for the proposed planting at Ootacamund ; but 
further than this they did not go. 

Towards the close of 1859 Mr. Thomas again drew their 
attention to the urgency of the matter, especially round the 
stations. People were still allowed to fell trees where and when 
they chose in Government sh61as without payment, and thus the 
most ^werful incentive to private planting for firewood (which 
had now^ see below, begun) was lost. 



. ^ORSfltS. 1^11 

Sir Charles Treyeljan's Government again consulted the Con- CHAP. V« 
serrator and then passed a series of rules and regulations which, Woods oh 
if only they had been enforced, would have been ample to protect Pxlxwia. 
the shdias from further depredations. It was ordered, for example, — 
that the whole of the woods round Ootacamund should be abso- f^^ ^roteo- 
lately reserved, no wood-cutters being allowed inside them and th» tion, isdo. 
vacant spaces in them being planted up ; and that certain 6h61a8 
at a distance from the station should be felled in rotation to supply 
the current demand and afterwards planted up again by the CoU'* 
servanoy department. 

These rules were also to be applied, %o far as^night be neces- 
sary, to the sh61as at and round Coonoor. An additional Forester 
was sanctioned ; an overseer was appointed for Coonoor ; and not 
long afterwards Major (now General) Morgan, Deputy Conser- 
vator of Forests, was placed in charge of the Nilgiri sh61as 
and plantations, and also of the 7*^Kidumalai and other forests in 
Wynaad. 

Protection, however, continued to be ineffectual ; and in 1868 Their trant- 
Mr. Breeks, who had recently been appointed Commissioner of ^^mfa^^ 
the district, said ^ Day by day I feel more satisfied that, unless lioner, 1868. 
conservancy is taken in hand and organized on some efficient foot- 
ing under the control of an experienced officer, the destruction of 
the surrounding sh61as is but a question of time.^ 

From 1st April 1869 the Government sanctioned the transfer 
of the woods and plantations on the plateau to the Commissioner's 
care, the Jungle Conservancy Rules being introduced into them ; 
and in September of the same year the late Major Jago, attached 
to the Wellington d^pdt, was put in dy'ect charge of them under 
the Commissioner's control. 

In 1875, the woods were retransferred to the Forest depart- Ee-transfer 
ment, under the care of which they have ever since remained. *? the Fore«t 

But the destruction of the woodlands'round the stations which 1875. 
had come into private hands either by purchase from the Badagas or 
by sales under the Waste Land Rules went on as before ; and in 
January 1878 a commission was appointed to report what forests 
might be regularly reserved. Kventually Government decided in 
1880 to reserve strictly the whole of the woods remaining on the 
plateau, which by now, except on the west, were of small extent. 

But no demarcation of these woods on the ground was pro- Reservafcioo 
vided for, their boundaries being merely marked on the maps ; and J^^^^V^®*^ 
when^ in 1882, the Forest Act was introduced, the selection, map- 
ping and demarcation of the reserves had for the most pai^ to be 
done afresh. 



212 



THB NIIGIKIS. 



CHAP. r. 

WOOOSON 
tEM 

Platcau. 



T6d» pfttta 



Tliis work lias now been systematically completed thioiiglioat 
the district and the reserved forests in the Nilgiris at present in- 
clude practicaUy the whole of the slopes of the platean so &r as 
they are included in the district ; the stretch of land between the 
plateau's northern crest and the Moyir river ; such scattered blocks 
of isolated forest on the top of the eastern half of the plateau as 
have escaped destruction by Badagas and those who opened coffee 
and tea estates ; and (the most noteworthy stretch of all) practi- 
cally the whole of the country (excluding a few patches of culti- 
vation and estates) between Ootacamund and the western edge of 
the plateau, coniprising the Kundah range and the 30 square miles 
pf the lately-reserved ' Wenlock Dbwns.' 

In tho case of the Kundahs and the Downs an exception to the 
usual forest rules was made, after much discussion, in 1905 in that 
the annual burning of the grass was permitted, lliese areas are 
chiefly of value as great grazing-grounds ; and it was considered 
that burning was essential to the production of the young green 
grass so desired by the graziei*sand did no appreciable harm to the 
sh61as as long as it was done early in the year while the under- 
growth and bracken in and round them was still green and if 
precautions were taken to prevent the fire from spreading to any 
inflammable growth which ran up into them. 

The figures in the margin show the extents now finally pro* 

tected. The 
percentage of 
the area of 
QiidMr taluk 
(an almost un- 
broken sea of 
j'ungle) which 
18 reserved is 
small because 
so much ol the 
land there has been declared to be private janmam property. 

Besides the reserves proper on the plateau, the Forest depart- 
ment abo controls the Gkllotments of land which (see p. 272) were 
made to the various T6da mands in I ^43 and 1863 and confirmed at 
the last settlement. These allotments consist largely of woodland 
and were intended to provide the T6das with a certain extent of 
inalienable grazing-ground round about their dwellings. Ditiioulty^ 
however, was from the first experienced in preventing them from 
snb-leasing the land to market-gardeners and others to be broken 
up for«the cultivation of potatoes or other vegetables ; and in 1882 
it was found necessary to direct that a heavy penal assewmeBi 



--. ni;jr=. "»? 


Coonoor 
Ootaoamand ... 
GddtUdr 

Total ... 


74 

300 

80 


81 
68 
11 


404 


42 



FOSKsn. 



2ld 



should be imposed on any land so alienated. These T6da reserra- CHA.P. v. 
tions often maFch with tLe Government forests and in the aggre- Woodb on 
^ate thpy comprise a considerable extent of forest. They are -pjj^^jjj 

accordingly now controlled by rules framed under section 26 oi the 

Forest Act which, while they protect the T6das in the exercise of 
their ancient privileges — allowing them to graze their buffaloes • 
free, to take fuel £uid grass for their domestic requirements, to 
receive free permits to remove timber, bamboos, etc. for repairing 
their mands or temples, and even (though the privilege is never 
exercised) to cultivate — yet prevent other classes of people from 
molesting these patches of forest. The T6dbs are al fallowed free 
grazing for their buffaloes in the other reserves — a concession 
aUowed to no others. 

The woods on the plateau itself are now strictly conserved and Present 
no felling of any kind is permitted in them.- JJead wood is re- ""['J^^" ^^® 
moved, however, and grass and bracken are allowed to be cut on woodlands, 
permit on the usual system. Cattle- grazing is also permitted on 
payment of fees in all the sh6las except a few in the immediate 
neighbourhood of the* stations in the case of which special rc^asons 
(such as the necessity of protecting water-supply from pollution) 
exist for excluding cattle. 

The Government's efforts to preserve the wo'>dlands have been Aktipicial 
immensely furthered by the extensive planting of Australian trees Fibbwood 
for firewood which has been undertaken officially and by private 
agency. These plantations form the second of the four classes 
of forests in the district above referred to. 

The Australian blaskwood (Acacia melanoxylon) and wattle First intro- 
{A. dealbata) were* first introduced about i832, and Sir Frederick luiftwli^ 
Price considers that they were brought over from Tasmania by trees. 
the Captain Dun whose name has already (p. 116) been mentioned. 
The blue gum {Eucalyptus globulus) was first introduced in 1843, 
in which year (says Sir Frederick) (Japtain F. Cotton of the 
Madras Engineers planted in the grounds of Gay ton Park at 
Outacamund a tree of that species which is still standing and is 
now upwards of loO feet high. Four others which he put down 
shortly afterwards at Woodcot are also stiU in existence, and three 
of these are even bigger than that at Gayton Park. The most 
rapidly growing forest trees in Europe would not attain these 
dimensions in less than 150 years. 

In 1853 the systematic planting of blackwood and wattle was 
begun in the neighbourhood of Wellington, but it was not until 
1856 that Captain (now General) Morgan imported a quantity of 
blae gum seed from Australia, set to work to sow some of it on a 



au 



THB ini/>iiti8. 



CHAP. V. 

Artificial 

FiBEWOOD 

Plantations. 



The first 
wGoTemmenfc 
plantations* 



deBnite plan on tbe Tador Hall estate^ and disbribated the nrt 
aipong the settlers on the hills. Even by 1857 blael:wood uid 
wattle were so scarce that plants of them were sold at the OoTero- 
ment GFt»rdens at f onr annas apiece, while bine gum plants fetched 
as mach as twelve annas. These three trees have since then 
altered the whole appearance of the Nilgiri hill*8tations, and Bcn^ 
of land which appear in the old sketches and photographs as opes 
grass are now covered with their gloomy foliage. 

They are held in little esteem as timber. The wattle grow^ 
into a dense scrub of small shoots springing up from its oreepine 
underground "'snclcerSj^nd the wood of the black wood and blae 
gum is said to rot rapidly when placed in the ground. Blue gnm, 
moreover, warps greatly if sawn when green, and if left to season 
is stated to become difficult to work. On the other hand it may 
be urged in defence^ of both the latter timbers that in theNilgiris 
they have seldom been cut from really matured trees; tbat 
seasoning in water would probably improve them ; and that ia 
Australia blue gum wood is largely used for building, fencing and 
railway sleepers and blackwood for furniture and the interior 
fittings of houses. 

The first Government plantation of Australian trees in tbe 
district was made in 1856 near Bleak Uouse, Wellington, bv 
Captain Campbell, Assistant Executive Engineer. It is nov 
known as Bandy Sh61a. By 1859 he had expended Bs. 10,000 
and had planted with blackwood (and a few deodars and pises) 
98 acres of laud, on which two hundred thousand of these trees 
were alive.^ 

At Ootacainund, the Collector, Mr. E. B» Thomas, began 
planting in 1857. He put down 8,000 blackwood and bine gam 
trees and sowed some more in sh61as which had been partiallr 
denuded. The existence of Australian trees in the heart of some 
of the sh61as near Ootacamund (which does not add to th^ir 
beauty) is due to this latter aotinn of his. 

In 1658 Government sanctioned the planting, under Mr. 
Mclvor's superintendence, of 10,000 trees in and about Ootaca* 
mund for ornamental purposes and with the idea of enoouraging 
tree-growing by private persons. Except about the borders of tiie 
lake, few of the trees then put down survive, and these few have 
been indifferently cared for. Thereafter Government fuel planta- 
tions were formed at an increasing rate. By 1869, when tbe 
forests of the plateau were put under Jungle Conservtncy as 

' Interesting information regarding this and other plantations on tbe hill* 
willlM fonnd in Dr. Cleghom*i ForuU and Qardmu pf tfo«lA Indim (Loodoof 
1S61}, 171-88. 



FOBBSn. 



216 



already described, they covered 191 acres; and hj 1875, when CHAP. Y. 

the Forest department took charge, they had grown to 919 acres. Artificial 

Private planting had also been foond to be very profitable and Plantations. 

had proceeded apace, and the cry to-day is not that there id any 

want of firewood (for trees barely pay for the felling) bnt that 

the hoQSAS in the stations are too often buried ia masses of tall • 

Anstralian trees which shut ont light, air and the view. 

The Government plantations now in exiRtenco are as under ^ : The ezistiDg 

plantations. 



1 

Name. 


Area. 


VHien 
planted. 


Species of treej. 


Method of treatment, 
. • etc. 




Aoa, 




Ooiaeamund Range, 




Arambi 


224 


1863-65, 


Bine gum, Frenela, 


Part of this is one of 






1876-76 


pines and cy- 


the oldest of the 


( 




and 


presses. 


• plantations, 68 acres 


1 




1886-87 




having been put down 
in 1863. Since 1882 
the blue gnm has been 
worked on a ten years' 
rotation. 


1 Cairn Hm ... 


110 


1877-78 


Bine gum and 
conifers. 


Ten years' rotation from 
1882. 


{ Dbanna Tope. 


6*5 


1876 


Bine gnm 


Not worked ; was pnt 
down as an experiment 
and to induce private 
planting. 


Marlimand ... 


12-4 


1860 and 


Blue gnm mixed 


Thinned in 1891-92. 






1888 


with wattle. 


Not worked, as no 
demand. 


• BrooUandi ... 

! 


22 


1862 


Wattle and a little 
bine gnm. 


Thinned in 18(0-91. 
Wattle cut over twice. 


1 Snowdon ... 

1 


U 


1860 


Wattle and mela- 
noxjlon. 


Thinned in 1891-93. 


iBaikie 


62 


1874 and 


Bine gnm and 


Coppiced on a 10 years' 


! 




1882 


wattie. • 


rotation from 1884. 


Vadana 


18-6 


1863 


Bine gnm and 
wattle. 


Do. do. 


{Hheffield ... 


25 


1862 


Wattle and mela- 
noxylon and a 
few bine gnms. 


Do. do. 


\ KaUi 


14 


1870 


Bine gnm 


Ont in 1881. Coppiced 
on a ten years' rotation. 


Chaogfait 


21 


1871 


Do. 


Cut in 1889 and 1891. 


KUU. 








Coppiced on a ten 
years' mtalion. 


. indl 


24-5 


1873 


Bine gnm and 
melanoxjlon. 


The blue gum was ont 
over in 1886. Cop- 
piced on a ten jears' 
rotation. 


! Oaremor'a 


24-7 


1863-72 


Blue gum and 


Was out over in 1881. 


1 Bh6]aNo.I 

1 






wattle. 


Coppiced on a ten 
years' rotation. 



' The pariionlars which follow have been supplied by Mr. A. 6, Jackson, 
Diitrict Forest Offioer, who has also been kind enough to aaslst with other «parta 
of this chapter. 



' 


J16 


m 


THl NILQXRIS. 




CHAP. y. 










Aetificial 

Firewood 

Plantations. 


Name. 

• 


Area. 


When 
planted. 


Species of trees. 

• 


Method of treatmest. 
etc 


• 


Ac. 




Ootaeamumd Ba9*ge 










— oont. 


1 




Governor's 


31-5 


1863-72 


Bine gam 


Was out om ia 188S 


• 


Shdla No. ir 








to 1887. Coppiced on ft. 
ten 7ear»* rotntion 




Arnakal 


6-4 


1873 


Do. 


CntiQ 1892. Co.pieed 
on a ten jean' rct»- 
tton. 




Huppatti ... 


iOrf 


1870 


Do. 


Cntin 1893. Coppiced 
on a ten yean* loto- 






• 


c 




tion. 




Muttanid ... 


75-5 


1880-81 


Do. 


Not cnt ; wa« original'T 
planred with the ide* 
of supplying ttnibsr. 




Ghemmangnli. 


278 


1879 


Do. 
Coonoor Range. 


Worked for charoosl s« 
demand arises. 




Black liridge. 


66 


1874 and 
1876-77 


Bine gam 


Inolodes *ihe Bock PUs- 
tatioD. Felling beg^L 
in 189rt, aaademsci 
arose for snpply to tb# 
Commissariat depsrt- 
meni. 




Bleak Hoane. 


57 


1857 


Wattle with a 


Has been worked wit^ 


« 








sprinkling of 
melaaoxylon and 
bine gnm. 


Springfield as oni 
working circle. 




Springfield ... 


30 


... 


Wattle with pat- 


Worked with Blcnk 










ches of blue gn.n. Honse under ooppi-.v. 




Bandj Sh6la. 


94 


1866 


Melanoxylon and The earliest Ouvern- 
wattle. 1 ment plantation. 












Worked as copptc« 












nnder standard. 












Closed to grastng. 




CooDoor Peak. 


221 


187»-78 


Bine gnm 206 
acres and exotios 
16 acres. 


Blue gnm worked sim^ 
1883 nnder a teayear«' 
rotation as ooppir* 
under standard. 








1 
( 


ohangod to simpN^ 










ooppic« daring scconu 










roUtioo. Closed t" 

1 -- - * 




Teppaknchi ... 


33 


Not knowr 


Bine gam ... j Not worked jel. 




Rallia 


60 


1872 


Bine gnm and j^ q .^^ „^^ ,^^„, 
Do. ...J '^•****^"- 




Little Rallia. 
Newman 


1 10 
j 35 


1872 
1870-71 



Practically the whole of them consist of blue gnm. Thi«^ 
tree is now coppiced at ten-jear intervals. The Ry.stem known 
as ^ ooppice with standards ' was tried formerly, but it was foauJ 
that the standards were of little ase for timber and that their 
shad^ retarded the growth of the ooppioe. Soch wattle as 
exists is also coppiced, and does well ander that system.' The 



F0B88TS. 217 

A'ood 18 all felled and stacked in cut lengths by the Forest de- CHi^P. Y. 
partment, and is sold either retail at the d^pdts at Ootaoamund, Abtificxal 
CooDoor or Wellington or iu the plantations by the * lot ' to plantacions. 

large purchasers who remove it at their own cost and retail it at 

a profit. The average annual quantity thus disposed of by the 
Forest department now amounts to as much as 3,500 tons of fire- • 
wood vaioed at Bs. 11,760 and 2,H00 bags o\' charcoal worth 
ll<i 1,970, and firewood costs as little as Bs. 4 per ton delivered at 
the door. The successful cultivation of these foreign trees has 
til us solved one of the most difficult of the problems which beset 
riie fonndatiim of the hill-stations on the Hilgiris. * 

The plantations consist so largely of blue gum because that 
tree has proved far more satisfactory as a firewood producer than 
either wattle or black wood and than the pines (chiefiy Pinua 
IffigifoUd)^ cypresses (mainly Cupressua macSrocarpa) and other 
trees (such as Frenela rhomboidea) which have been tried on 
smaller scales round about Ootacamund. It grows admirably 
from coppice; whereas blackwood coppices poorly and wattle 
^ws into a dense mass of small stems which are of little use 
except for small firewood. Experiments made at Dr. Brandis' 
suggestion in 1882 by a special officer showed that the annual 
increment per acre of blue gum was from 11 to 13 tons, whereas 
that of blackwood was only about 6 tons. Even the second of 
these figures, however, is far above the yield of the most produc- 
tive natural forests or plantations in Europe ; and the indigenous 
>h61a8 of the plateau are of such exceedingly slow growth that 
it has been calculated that thoir yield is only about half a ton 
per acre per annum. The blue gum should not be planted near 
springs which are deserving of protection as it absorbs immense 
quantities of subsoil moisture. The leaves of the trees felled in the 
(lovemment plantations are sold to a contractor who distils 
eucalyptus oil from them. 

The greatest enemy of the blue gum is high winds, and a Their chief 
shelter belt to windward is usually left when coppicing is carried ^J*®"**®*' 
out. The worst foes of the blackwood are the loranthaceous 
misletoe-like parasites which abound on the hills and attack 
Damarous varieties of trees and plants from the small St. John's 
wort up to the largest forest timber. The seeds of these pests 
are ooated with an extremely tenacious gum, and being carried 
from tree to tree by birds, which are very fond of them, adhere 
to the bark and there germinate. Their action is slow but 
sore and no cure for it has yet been discovered ; they eventuAlly 
88 



218 



THE NILGIRIfl. 



CHAP. V. 

Al«IPICIAL 

FniwooD 

PLAKTAnOHS. 



Deciduous 
F0BE8TS 

OF THK 

xorthbrn 
Slopes. 
Growth in 
the Moyir 
▼alley. 



Sandalwood 
plantation. 



kill branoh after branch of their host until the latter ia atarttM 
b^ the death of its leaves and the abstraction of it« sap. The 
black wood possesses a very rough bark to whioh the seeda Adheiy- 
easifv ; bat the blue gum bark is not only smooth, bat sh^i- 
itself periodically, aud this tree thus escapes damage. A 
description of these serious pests, with numerous illustntiona, wii 
be found iu Dr. Bidie's Neilgheny Loranthaeeous paraitiiieal plfl^* 
(Madras Government Press, 1874). 

The third group of the Nilgiri forests comprises the deeiduon^ 
woods of the northern slopes between the crest of the plat*>a': 
and the Moyftr river. 

Just under the crest and in the Moydr ralley are son;»* 
sparsely distributed teak (mostly badly-shaped, small and dam- 
aged), some good vengai {Pterocarpus Marsupknn) andblackwo<*i 
{Dalbergia lati/olia), and also La gersircBmiaa and TermttiaUai; wL:'» 
on the drier strip between these two areas is much «^iio^'^*-> 
and, as far west as Masinigudi, a good deal of sandalwoM 
Further west than this, where the raiufall is heavier, the sanda. 
grows with but little heart and is thus of small commercial valu'^ 

The best patch of timber in this tract is that below tS 
Paik^ra falls ; but this has been very heavily worked in p*^' 
years. Elsewhere timber trees gix>w but indifferently, as tr.> 
country gets but little of the south-west monsoon ; and the for* <* 
has chiefly been worked as a grazing-groimd for the catti* ••' 
Mysore and the Nilgiris, for its minor produce (which is ci - 
looted by the Kasubas) and for its sandalwood, whioh i> *>' 
£air quality and has brought in a steady revenue for years pf^**. 
The minor produce chie'dy consists of honey, wax, shed deer>hom- 
and myrabolams. The last, however, have become almost onsa.e^ 
able since chrome tanning came into favour. 

The sandal is marked and felled departmentally, cleaned of it^ 
sapwood, and taken to the Masinigudi d^pdt for saleby ten^l^r. 
Present prices are about Ks. 5 per maund of heartwood. 

Near the Northern Hay estate, below the Paikira fidls, a plan- 
tation of sandalwood 23 acres in extent was started in 1872-73 
and for several years much money was expended upon it. Mr. 
Gamble calculated in'1885 that the oatlay had by then amountcil 
to Rs. 10,050, or Es. 437 per acre. The site is nnsaitable, bein:: 
altogether beyond the western boundary of the range of natu aJ 
sandal, and though the trees grow well enough they form I'^t 
little heartwood owing to the dampness of the climate. The plan- 
tation has not been a success, therefore, and is not being extended 



F0BEST6. 219 

lu the last class of the Nilgiri forests, the deciduous growth in CHAP. v. 
the Wynaad, the onlj tracts of importance are the Benne ajid ^Youm^ 
Madomahu forests, the position of which is shown in the map in of thk 
the pocket at the end of this volume. Though almost all the W^^^aad. 
Soath-east Wjnaad is covered with forest, much of the land is 
private janmam property in which the jungles are not at the * 
disposal of Qovemment. Some areas have been reserved round 
about Gh^ramb^di, but thej are far from any market and all that 
is done in them is to collect and sell the minor produce. 

The Benne forest consists of a block J 1,000 a^ res in extent f^^ 
Ijing in the north-west comer of the Wjmetad. It contains teak, 
vengai, ven-teak {LagerstrcBinia lanceolata), blackwood and Termi- 
nalia iomentona (karamatti), and along the edges of the numerous 
streams which traverse it, and in its south-west comer, is much 
bamboo. 'J^eak, vengai and ven-teak timber tfsed to be extracted 
in large quantities, but the forest was grievously overworked and 
felling has now been stopped. A few years back a quantity of 
T. iomento^a was felled for sleepers on the extension of the Madras 
Uailway up the west coast; but this wood, which is very 
common in the forest and is held in much esteem elsewhere, is 
for some reason almost unsaleable in Mysore. No timber at all is 
now being extracted from the Benne reserve and the only cattle 
which graze in it are those of the few Ohettis who cultivat ^.ome 
of the paddy-flats within it. Minor produce is collected th igh 
the Eunimbas who live in the forest. 

In 1871-72 a teak plantation was started in this forest ; it T®ak 
though the expenditure on it has been heavy it does not ^ e ^ "^ 
promise of much result since the trees, though healthy, grow w 
disappointing slowness. The soil is poor and moreover the rsdnt. 
k> smaller, and the elevation greater, than teak cares for. Of lav 
years endeavours have been made to induce the Eurumbas to 
lielp in raising teak seedlings. They have been given patches of 
^•Hmboo jungle to cultivate on condition that in the second 
}i'ar they raised in pits, together with their crop, a certain 
number of teak seedlings supplied them from the Forest depart- 
laenVs nurseries. Up to date two small areas have been treated 
in this way ; but the Kurumbas do not take much interest in the 
matter and the teak is patchy and indifferent. 

The Mndumalai forest (46,600 acres) is the janmam property of Mudumalai 
the Nilambiir Tirumalpdd and was leased from him by (j-overnment 
for five years from 1857 and again for 99 years from October 1863 
at a rental of Bs. 3,500 per annum. In 1891 the lease was revised 
u> indade a block of three square miles to the south-east ; and 



Sl20 



THE iVILOlltlS. 



CHAP. V. 

DcciDuoyt 

FOBSSTI 
or THE 

Wtnaao. 



at the same time some of the oiiginal conditions ( which were 
on^olj restrictiye) were modified or cancelled, the rent was raiBfri 
to Es. 4,500, and it was stipulated that the lease should be lenew- 
able at this same figure for a further period of fiftj jear^ ufter 
the expir7 of the original term. 

The forest contains much teak, vengai, ven-teak and several 
of the TerminaUaSy parflcularlj T. tomentoaa and 7. Ckebula^ while 
in the yalleys are blackwood and the large thomj bamboo {BamlMAni 
arundinacea) and on the drier uplands Anogemus laHfoUa and the 
smaller or male kind of bamboo {Dendrocalamus gtridug) in lesser 
quantities. On the noilhem border, next MTSore, large areas ar^ 
covered only with coarse elephant grass through which fierce fires 
sweep annuallj, but in places the rather uncommon Sharmi Talura 
grows gregariously and is usefol for posts, smaller timber, and 
mine props. In th^ ravines the teak does splendidly, but the 
forest has suffered in the past from frequent fires aud from indis- 
criminate felling. It was originally leased to a timber merohant 
who removed as far as possible all accessible timber that hud any 
value. It was then worked by Government and with the Benne 
forest contributed the greater part of the timber for the Wdling- 
ton barracks. When it was first leased in 1863 Kurombaa wer^ 
employed to search out, fell and square any teak trees of sufficient 
size which th^y could find, and these were then dragged out by 
elephants and sent to Masinigudi and Ootacamund for sale. Kven 
in 1863 it was reported that at the close of the year's opeiations 
' little or no teak fit for extraction would be left ;' but felling went 
on none the less. In 1878 Major Jago put some check on thu^ 
recklessness, but betweei^ 1860 and 1882 the teak broogfat to tb^ 
d^p6ts realized no less than 7} lakhs. 

In 1885, on Mr. Gfamble's advice, a beginning of better oonser* 
vation was made. Parts of the forest were divided off and tree^ 
were felled in them in a more systematic manner, all big timber 
and also all stunted and useless trees being removed to give the 
young teak as much light and air as possible and the oomparimeni 
being then closed to cattle to allow of natural reproduction. Camp* 
ing places were also fixed at definite spots in the hope of reducing 
tha number of fires which occurred every dry season from people 
halting promiscuously in the forest. 

The system then inaugurated has been more or less adhered to 
since, but, as a late Conservator put it, ' we cannot expect to make 
a large revenue from the improvement fellings ; the plums have 
most effectually been picked out of the cake.' These fellings are 
^^ -^sent being carried out on an extent of about 200 acres yearly ; 



FOfiSStS. 



1^21 



and mature teak, vengai, Ten- teak and blaokwood are also being CHAP. y. 
extracted to the extent of 10,000 or 12,000 cubic feet per annam. Deciduods 
Except the bkckwood, this timber is dragged by elephants to q^ ^hk 
roadside d^pdts in the forest and there sold. The blaokwood in Wtniad. 
particularly fine and is taken to Nanjang6d in Mysore, where it 
commands a ready sale at as much as Bs. 2 a cubic foot for the 
European market. 

These operations, however, are being worked at a loss and it 
is under contemplation to extract some of the smaller timber as 
welL I'he forest is of little use for grazing as, tl^e grass is long 
and rank. A few local cattle use it and the bullocks belonging 
to the numerous carts which ply from Mysore to the Wynaad and 
Ootacamund are grazed in it in considerable numbers on daily 
permits. The minor produce is of the ordinary kind. 

A small plantation of teak, 20 acres in extent, was formed in Teak 
this forest in 1808-69 ; but, being outside the real influence of ?^**'"' 
the south-west monsoon, it has not succeeded well, the growth 
being exceedingly slow. It has been thinned once or twice and 
is protected from fire ; but it is not being extended. 



222 



THE NIUItBlS. 



CHAPTER VI. 
OCCUPATIONS AND TRADE. 



CHAP. VI. 

OcCCPATIONi. 



Arts and 
indaitriei. 



OccuPArioNH— Arts and isduttriet. Teadk. Weights and MBAsuu8.~Ls&d 
measare — Measures of capacity — Lineal measure— Table of wei^hto^-MMe- 
tary terms. 

• t 

The peculiar ciroumstances of the Nilgiris make ihe siaiiflties of 

the occapatioDs by whioh its inhabitants sabsist very different 
from those of the average district on the plains. In the low 
country as a whole, seven-tenths of the people Hve by agriooltiual 
and pastoral pursuits and in some areas the figure rises to as high 
as four-fifths; whereas in the Nilgiris the proportion of them 
which subsists in these ways is as low as three-fifths^ or lees than 
in any Madras district except the Presidency town iteelf. The 
number of those who earn a living by industrial pursuits is bIbo 
proportionally lower than usual. 

On the other hand the percentage of those who subsist hj 
domestic service, building, commerce, the transport of meroksD* 
dise, cooly labour and the learned and artistic professioiis is 
higher than usual, while the existence of the cantonment st 
Wellington brings up beyond the normal the proportion of those 
who belong to the army. 

That these things should be so would be obvious, even 
without the aid of offiofel statistics, to any one knowing the 
district. Nearly one-fourth of the people of the Nilgiris (^ 
higher figure than in any other district in Madras) live in it» 
towns, and thus the urban occupations bear a higher ratio to the 
rural callings than elsewhere ; native industries are practically 
non-existent; European residents and their domestic servants 
are unusually numerous ; and the district is not self-supporting 
and thus employs a large number of traders to organize its supply 
of necessaries and (in the absence of a railway further than 
Coohoor) a still larger number of cart-men to bring up and 
distribute these. 

In no other Madras district are indigenous native industries 
so rare. The K6tas, who are but few in number, make a little 
rough pottery and leather, and some tools and implements for the 
tribes who are indigenous to the plateau ; but otherwise almost 
eveiy manufactured article on the hills is either brought up from 



OOOUPATtONS JkKB TBADB. 228 

the plams or made bj immigrant artisans in the two towns of CHAP. Yl. 
Ootacamond and Goonoor. The weavers, djers, ootton-oleaners, Occupations. 
toddj-diawers, fishermen, oil-pressers, rice-poQndarS| lime- 
burners, bangle-makers, jewellers, rope-makers, metal-workers, 
basket-makers^ leather-workers, potters and others who form so 
considerable a proportion of the population of the districts in the* 
plains are extremely rare in the NUgiris. There is, for example, 
perhaps not a single working weaver or dyer on the whole of the 
plateau. 

Suoh industries as do exist and flourish are almost entirely 
those which are due to European entel'prise anoL capital or are 
necessitated by the existence of Europeans in the district, and 
most of these have been referred to sufficiently elsewhere. They 
comprise the brewing at the Nilgiri and Rose and Crown breweries ; 
the tea-faotories at the D^varshola, K6danid, Ouchterlony Valley, 
Liddellsdale and other estates ; a few dairies, soda-water factories 
and printing-presses, the Cinchona Factory at Naduvattam and 
the Cordite Factory at Aravankdd. 

When the hills first became known to Europeans, enthusiaste 
believed that the inexhaustible supply of water-power afforded 
by the streams upon them would lead to the establishment there 
of mills and factories of every kind. But the absence (until 
comparatively recently) of any railway to them and the high rates 
of wages demanded by native labour on them were sufficient 
obstacles to the realization of any such dream. The ordinary 
native greatly dislikes life on the cold plateau away from his 
temples, bazaars and relations ; the cost of living there, necessi- 
tating as it does warm clothing and a sjibstantial house, is higher 
than on the plains ; and consequently wages of all kinds rule very 
high. Those for unskilled labour are aboat double what they are 
in the low country. 

The trade of the district is of no particular interest. The A'baim. 
exports inclade the coffee, tea, cinchona, potatoes, cordite, beer 
and quinine wliich are grown or manufactured on it, and the 
imports comprise almost every necessary of life which is consumed 
within it, including (since, see p. 165, the country does not grow 
nearly enough food to support its population) large quantities of 
grain from Coimbatore and Mysore State. 

Complete statistics are not available either for imports or 
exports. Those for rail-borne trade are collected, but not those 
for merchandise which travels by road; and the proportion 
of the trade which is carried by the railway is small. ^ The 
oatlet and inlet of the eastern part of the distrioty for examjde, is 



224 THE NILOIRnu 

CHAP. yj. the K6tagiri gh&t ; the Ooonoor ghit road carries an immoiue 

Trade. traffic notwithstanding the faot that the railway rons alongside it; 

a great many carts travel between Mysore and Ootacamond by the 

G-1^dal%r and Sig6r ghdts ; and the whole of the exports and im- 

ports of the Wynaad and Oachterlony \ralley go and come by road. 

* The trade^ wholesale and retail, on the plateaa is largely in 
the hands of Musalmans, and these people are also the money- 
lenders. In the Wynaad the M&ppiUas do a great portion of the 
trade. 

WeU-attencl^d markets are held onoe a week at Ootaoamand, 
Coonoor, K6tagiri and G-6dal6r, the last of which supplies the 
Wynaad and the Oachterlony Valley. Those at Ootacamnnd and 
Goonoor bring in the mnnicipalities which manage them an aimaal 
revenne of over Bs. 20,000 each, a higher figare than is realised 
in any town in the Presidency except- Triphinopolj. 

Wrights avd Xhe table of land measures in use ia the district is as 
MiAsumu.^ J 

under : — 

e. 28 adis, or country feet = 1 kdl =24 Englidi feet 

1 square kdl =1 gtili = 676 sq. ft. 

100 gtiUs = 1 oawnie = 67,600 sq. ft or 

1-883 I 



1 balla = 3-83 acres = 166,464 sq. ft 

The revenae accounts used to be kept in terms of oawaies, 
suSdivided into annas and pies : — 
1 pie = 800 square feet 
12 pies = I anna or 8,600 square feet. 
16 annas = 1 oawnie or 67,600 square feet. 

A cawuie is to the English acre as 160 is to 121, and to 
convert cawnies into acres, the usual course was to multiply the 
oawnie by 160 and divide by 121. Since the Beyenue Sarvey 
was introduced, acres and cents have been used, as elsewhere, in all 
official measurements. For house sites, the measure known as a 
manai or ground (= 60 X 40 feet, or 2,400 square feet) is used. 

oi*aSr* ^' '^^^ measures of capacity are : — 

^ ^' 2aUoks = lullok. 

8 allcks = 1 padi or measure. 

8 measures = 1 markil. 

5 markils = 1 para. 

•too markdls = 1 garisa. 
60 jodis (Mysore measures) or 100 

Madras half-measures = 1 palla. 

> This MoHon ii tskea from Mr. Gtriggh DifMct Mmmmi. 



OCCUPATIONS AND TBADB. 



225 



Thns the Nilgiii measure is oniy half that of Madras. A 
Madras half-measure filled to overflowing is used in all transac- 
tions. Its cubic contents equal 50*17 inches. In the weekly 
markets held at the several stations and other parts of the district 
this measure is used, in selling articles such as chillies, pepper, 
tarmeric, and other condiments, which are generally purchased 
by weight in other places. Ghi is also sold bj measure. Oil is 
sold by the Imperial quart bottle, of which 25 make one kodam 
or pot. The indigenous tribes of the district have a measure 
called kolagam, nearly equivalent in size and contents to the 
Madras hall-measure. « • 

The measures of length are : — 

9 angulams os inches = 

12 do. = 

18 do. = 

2 cubits or 3 English feet = 

The ordinary table of weights is : — 

I palam = 

8 palams = 

5 seers or (St rdttal) = 

1^ viss or 60 palams = 

8 visa = 

20 maunds = 

Jewellers use the following : — 
32 kundumani (^Ahrus precatoriue) seeds = 



1 j&n or span. 
1 adi or foot. 
1 m^a or cubit. 
1 gajam or yard. 

3 rupees' weight. 

1 seer. 

1 viss. 

1 t^. 

1 maund. 

1 bdram or candy. 



10 vardhas 



= 1 



star pagoda or 
var&ha. 
palam (1^ 
oz. avoirdu- 
pois). 
1 seer. 



CHAP. VI, 

Weights and 
Measubbs. 



Lineal 
measure. 



Table of 
weighte. 



ferms« 



8 palams 

The following variations of the ordinary monetary terms are Monetary 
IB popular use : — 

4 kds (pies) = 1 dtiddu. 

3 dtiddns = 1 anna. 

4 annas = 1 belli. 
4 bellis = 1 rupee. 

3^ rupees = 1 vardha. 

Four annas is known 
chikkahana. 



as dodda-hana and two annas' as 



29 



326 



TRB HILaiBtt. 



CHAPTER VII. 
MEANS OF OOMMUNIOATION. 



CHAP. VII. 



The D«a&4- 
yakankdttoi- 
DMA path. 



The 

Bfindapfttti 

PMI. 



A0AD8 — The Dann&7akank6ttai-D6n&d path — The S&Ddapatti paw—Tbe tm- 
K6tagiri ghit— The preBent Kdtagiri gh&t — The flnt Goonoar ghit— T'^ 
present Cooitoor gh4t— The Sig6r gh4t— The K^ispAra ghit— The fiiel G&da "■ 
ghit— The prenent Gddaltir ghit — Roads on the pUteau— Wjnaad romd»~ 
Management of the roads — Avenues — Travellers' bnngalotrs and ohattrEia* 
—Table of distances. Railways— The Nilgiri Railway— Sketch history of • 
— Extension to Ootaoamnnd— Projected railways. 

In the Nilgiris ro&ds have always been a vital part of ti.* 
distriot's existence. In the plains (aa some one has 8aid)^a>': 
India's a road in the dry weather ' and oarts can generally g*. * 
along after a fashion across oonntry ; bat a steep^sided platan 
with an undulating surface intersected in every direction by 
streams and bogs requires made roads and plenty of them if its 
existence is not to be crippled. 

Something has already been seen in Chapter II of the rnaon'. r 
in which the advance of the district followed directly on tl t^ 
construction of the first roads up to and across it, and the snbjt'-'i 
may now be considered in rather more detail. 

The earliest European visitors clambered up to Dlmhatti at« 
K6tagiri by the rough path which led from the now deserts- 
village of Dann^yakankdttai (near the confluence of the Bhavau: 
and the Moy^r) to D^ndd. This was 20^ miles long and so ste^p 
that laden cattle could get up it only with difficulty. 

Some of the first visitors descended the plateau again by the 
almost equally unformed track (called in the old records Mh(' 
Elil^r pass ' or ' the S6ndapatti pass ') which ran from Manja- 
kambai (Kil6r), near the Kundah river ravine, down to S^udn- 
patti in the Bhavini valley, whence paths led east to Coimbatorr^ 
and west to Nfan^rgh&t in Malabar district through the deoso 
jungle. This track along the Bhav^ni valley from Coimbatore 
to Malabar was for many years a favourite route with the people 
who used to smuggle to the latter district the excellent tobacco 
grown in the former in the days when the sovereign herb was a 
Government monopoly in Malabar; and it is still nsed h\ 
hundreds of pack cattle to carry dry grain from the (me to th^ 
other. As early as 1822 a travellers' bungalow had been built 



MEANS OF COMMUKICATIOK. 2S7 

near Manjakambai,^ and Mr. SnlliYaDi then Collector, so improyed CHAP. VII. 
the track about 1826' that it is still known sometimes as ' Salii- BoADt. 
van's gli4t/ In 1847 Major Ouchterlony said ^ * the remains of a 
verj good road still exist from the top of this ghdt all the* way 
fo Ootacamnnd, but it has become impassable in many places 
omng to bogs having formed in the hollows and closed over it/ , 
This road and the S6ndapatti gh^t are now no more than foot- 
paths. 

The first bridle-path to be made to the hills was that Thefint 
from Simmngai (near Mettupalaiyam) to Dimhatti (where the ^J^*^* 
tirdt European residence on the plateau was l&uilt) and its 
neighbour K6tagiri. This path was due to the initiative of Mr. 
Sal li van, who suggested its construction in March 1819^ within 
a few months after his first visit to the plateau. It was made 
by some Pioneers under the command of Lieutenant Evans 
Macpherson and was passable in 1821 and reported as completed 
m 1823. Travellers' bungalows were built at Sirumugai at the 
fooc, in which ' servants are stationed, with every convenience 
for the reception of travellers^ who are particularly recommended 
to refresh themselves there previous to ascending ;' at Serulu, 
' a delightful situation, amidst lofty wood, about 4,000 feet above 
the plain;' at Ariv^nu (sometimes called Jakkan^ri)^ about 
0,400 feet ; and at Dimhatti at the top. That at Arivenu had 
nriginally been the quarters of Lieutenant Macpherson when he 
was making the*path.^ The path was 16^ miles in length and 
* the whole way one continued ascent and descent, thus rendering 
the passage excessivelj tedious.' * The journey was performed 
on horseback or in a palanquin, the lattpr taking twelve hours. 
Tliis continued to be the chief route to the hills from the 
'Joimbatore side until the first Coonoor gh^t was completed in 

In 1830 Mr. James Thomas, then Collector, made another 
path from E6tagiri direct to M^ttup^laiyam. This was only ten 
miles long, and thus was exceedingly steep ; and it was never 
nach Qsed. 

The present E6tagiri gh^t, which is a metalled cart-road 21 The 
iiiiles in length, generally seventeen feet wide, and with* a Si^SSpi 



* Ward's report printed in the District Manual, Appendix, Ijmi. 

* Uoogh'B L0ttBr9 on the Neilghsrries, 49. 
' Hie tarrey report, MJ.L.S., xt, 75. 

« Hoagfa't LtU9rs on the 'Neilgherriet, 50-2, wbioh partly follows Ward's 
-^port «bo?e cited. 

* Jorris, 1S4. 



gh4t. 



328 



THE KILOIBII. 



CHAP. vn. 

Roads. 



The present 
Coonoor 



gradient of one in seventeen, was made from E6tagirito MAtu* 
p^laiyam in 1872-75, and was traced and conatruoted bv MaJji 
Morant, RE., District Engineer. It was originallj onlf eigh/ 
or nine feet wide. In 1881 it was handed over to the DiFtnct 
Board, and it was severely injni*ed bjr the storm of November ii: 
that year. Between 1885 and 1888 it was widened to its present 
breadth and metalled, the improvements costing Rs. 32,000, ani 
from 1889 it was maintained as a metalled road. It is little osei 
except by the residents of K6tagiri and the planters thereabo:!* 

The first ghdt from M^ttup^iyam to Coonoor (now kn'w:, 
as ' the old C&onoor g'hit ') was begun in 1829. It was di** t. 
Mr. 8. B. Lnshington, then Governor, who in a mbQt«> o* 
September 1829 condemned in strong terms the defects of Ma • 
pherson's biidle-path above mentioned. He directed Lieatenmt 
O.F. LeHardy to trace a path np the Coonoor ravine, and tL> 
was done the next year. Constmction was begun at once w.rii 
a detachment of Pioneers under LeHardy and Captain Harri> 
whose head-quarters were at Coonoor, and on the 29th Deceml- : 
1832 the road was reported to have been completed. 

The alignment is very faulty : the average gradient is aK n' 
one in twelve, but near the top it is as steep as one in fivo, a:. ! 
in places is reversed. It took eight pairs of cattle to get a Ui* : 
cart up it' and consequently almost all the traffic was carrieil ' • 
pack-bullocks, which ascended it ' by thousands on the 0(»m.»- 
mund market day, and indeed almost daily.' But the diuo r.^ 
the great advantages over the old E6tagiri gh&t that it ran m *- 
directly towards Ootacamund and that there was a trarel'^r^ 
bungalow at Coonoor, w.hereas E6tagiri boasted no such conveni 
enoe ; and it was more popular than the 8ig6r and G-^dalAr gn .t- 
referred to below because the belt of malarial jungle at its f '*■ 
W£ks so narrow that travellers could pass through it with>.t 
spending a night there. 

It became almost at once the chief route from Madra^** tv 
Ootacamund, and it led to the abandonment of the S4ndapat: 
pass, the neglect of the old Kotagiri gh^t, and the foundation m! 
Coonoor as a sanitarium. Ail along the road between Ma<ir .> 
and the Nilgiris Mr. Lnshington posted two sets of palanqii:: 
bearers whose services were obtainable by application to ti.< 
various Collectors, and the journals of that day ' were jubilan* 
•at the fact that the journey could now be accomplished in i- 

> Jeivis' book, 130 ff. Page 86 of this iiits Onptams Marraf and Eaatnu*n( i!i« 
tho work. 

*• Ooa and th» Blu9 Moimiain9, 868. 

* Soe, for example, Asiatic /owmal, x, 108. 



XBAKB OF COMMTJKIOATION. 229 

little as four days and for something less than Bs. 160. The CHAP. vji. 
Bhavdni used to be crossed at M^btnpdlaijam in basket-boats, Roadb. 
bat in 1840 the first arched masonry bridge was erected*at a 
cost of Bs. 12,500. It was washed away in 1847 bnt rebnilt. 
One of the arches was recently again washed away and has been 
replaced by a steel girder. • 

The existing Goonoor gh^tisa splendid metalled cart-road, The present 
eighteen feet wide with a rnliug gradient of 1 in 18^, and is 16 ^^4°°°' 
miles in length from Coonoor to Kalldr at the foot of the hiUs, 
whence a nearly level stretch of five miles more leads to M^tta- 
pdlaiyam. It crosses the old gh^t at nine diffeAnt points. Its 
chief defect is its zigzags, of which there are no less than twelve. 
It was completed in 187 1 and was traced, and mainly oonstmcted, 
by Lientenant (afterwards Colonel) Q-.V. Law. who snbseqnently 
ont the ' Law's ghit ' to Kodaikanal. His* name is perpetuated 
by the cascade called * Law's fall ' on the lower part of the 
Coonoor river near the Wenlock bridge by which his road crosses 
that stream. 

The completion of the road was hailed with delight by every 
one on the hills, for through carriage traffic was now possible 
between Ootacamund and the terminus of the Madras Railway 
at Coimbatore and ^ the stoppage at Coonoor, hesitation whether 
to take palanquin, tonjon or munchiel down the gh^t, disputes 
about coolies and several smaller inconveniences' were at length 
things of the past. This ghdt remained the chief route to the 
hills until the railway to Coonoor was opened in 1899. 

The handsome suspension bridge over the Kalldr river was 
built in 1894 at a cost of Rs. 56,000 to^replace a wooden bridge 
on masonry piers which had been washed away by floods in 
1891. 

Tie great beauty of the scenery along this road has 
frequently aroused enthusiasm. Sir Edwin Arnold ' says — 

* As yon approach that gigantic wall through the belt of primeval 
forest which girdles its foot — a tangled wilderness of tropical growth, 
teeming with wild beasts and haunted by malaria — it seems impossi- 
ble that any road can exist to lead to the summit. But the storHy 
little ponies hitched to the pole of the tonga gallop off from KuUar, 
after a vicious kick or two ; and you begin to ascend imperceptibly by 
cunning slopes and sudden advantages taken of deft and ledge, until 
you look down through a visti of bamboos and palms upon the plain 
nnd the fever-belt. The way lies upward through a long forest-clad 
gouge, studded with rocks and waterfalls, and surmounted hy peaks 
which catch and hold the clouds. From the thickets on either hand 

1 Jndia BmridiUd (1S86), M6. 



280 



TXB IVUiOXBlS. 



CHAP. VII. mcmkeye and jimgle-fowl break ; strange birds call and dng behind 

*oApt. the veil of the thick creepers and rattans ; the cry of wild animaLs i« 

heaid at intervals, with the noise of water and an oocaaional crashing 

tree. M every third mile the lean but plucky little ponies are 

ohajiged, and the ascent continues uninterrupted, except by trains of 

native carts, drawn by those hardy milk-white bullooks of Mjsow 

•with the crooked, coloured horns, which enabled Tippoo Sullan to 

make such long marches against us. Here and there oocun a nativ*^ 

village with its little bazaar perched upon some shoulder o! tL*^ 

magnificent glen, and parties of naked coolies are eveiywhoe «**r. 

metaHing and repairing the blood-red road, that winds for thirty-on»- 

(sic) long and wqpderful n^les skywards to Coonoor. You pass in tlii^ 

way all the zones of Indian vegetation, from the almost tier.^ 

luxuriance of the dark jungle of the pkin to the figs, bamboos anl 

acacias of the lower spurs, then to the region of the coffee garden*. 

and, finally, to the tea plantations, and to a new floral world wh*>T^ 

Australian blue gums and wattles dominate.* 

This constant change in the vegetation is, indeed, one of the 
chief charms of the journey and, as Sir Mountstuart Grant DtiiT 
said, 'the whole road is one long botanical debauch.' 

Jhitf^^ ^®^^''® ^^^ present Coonoor gUt was made, the old Coono r 

ghdt had a formidable rival in the Sig6r ghft, which leads from 
the northern crest of the plateau down to Si]Lr6r at the foot of tht* 
hills and is continued via Masinigudi and Tippakidu to Gundlu- 
pet, Mysore town and Bangalore. Though very st«ep, this N 
practicable for carts with two pairs of bullocks and in the fifties 
the authorities in Mysore made great efforts to facilitate journnT. 
through that State and an enterprising transit company carrie'i 
passengers from Madras via Bangalore through by this route iu 
leas time than it took tfiem to get to Coiinbatore and up bv 
Coonoor. The fact that oarts could use the 8lg6r road also M 
to the greater part of the supplies for the district, and ail 
commissariat stores, being taken up that way ; and much teiik 
was also carried up from the Benne and Mudnmalai forests.* 

From the earliest times a path had led from Sigir up to 
Billikal, where a travellers' bungalow had been constructed, it 
was four miles iu length and exceedingly steep; but bein^ tho 
nearest route to Bangalore had been dignified l)y the name of 
'the Sig6r Pass.'^ Another path ran from' Kalhatti t.. 
Semb^nattam, and thence to Mysore territory.* 

I naroah's OazeUe^r (1855), 474 j Report on Important Pa bUo Woriii o 
1854, 169 { Baikie (2nd edn.), 19. 

» Hongh, 48 1 Baikie (Itt edn.), 4j Jervit. 130; Hepori oT l»44 on tm 
Medioaj Topography of the hillt, 6. 

■ Ward*! report already cited. 



MBAV8 OP COMMUNICATION. 381 

The BiUikal path was so bad (one report says that in wet CHAP. YII. 
weather it became so slippery that it was really dangerous even Koai>8. 
for foot-passengers to ascend) that in 1836 the existing ghit was 
begun. It was traced by Captain Underwood of the l^adras 
Engineers, the officer who built St. Stephen's at Ootacamund, 
and was carried out by him and the Sappers and Miners under** 
his command, their camp being at Ealhatti. It was finished in 
1838. The road in oontinuation of it turns suddenly west a mile 
or two short of Semb^natcam and makes a long detour to avoid 
crossing the * Mysore IHtch ' at the bottom of which the Moy&r 
runs some WOO feet below the level of tlie surror&iding country. 
At one time proposals were made to carry the road down into 
the Ditch and op the other side, which would have shortened the 
distance to Mysore by nine miles and avoided much elephant- 
infested jungle ; ^ but they were never carried out. The exist- 
ing bridge over the Moy^r at Tippakddu was built in 1897 at a 
cost of Bs. 7,000. The original bridcfe there was erected in 1841 
and washed away in 1647 ; after which Major Cotton put up a 
new one which apparently lasted till 1877, when the woodwork 
had to be renewed. The bridge over the Sig6r river was 
constructed in 1889 at an outlay of Bs. 10,000 in place of an 
earher lattice bridge made in 1854. 

The gradient of the Sig6r gh^t is usually 1 in 12, but in parts 
it is as steep as 1 in 10 and laden carts travelling from Mysore to 
Ootacamnnd usually prefer to go all the way round by the G6da- 
lix gh&t. In 1840, however, Lady Gbugh and family drove up 
it ' in their carriage and foar horses, and throughout the heavy 
carriage got on with great ease. ' ^ 

The head of the gh^t is about four miles from Ootacamund ; 
At Ealhatti (six miles) is a travellers' bungalow ; Sig6r, at the 
foot of the descent, where there used to be another bungalow, 
is thirteen miles; at Masinigudi (sixteenth mile) is a second 
bungalow; and at Tippakddu, which is 24 miles from Ootacamund, 
IB a third. 

The country at the foot of the ghdt is a malarious jungle 
which has always been infested with elephants. In former 
times they sometimes — 

'Played sad pranks at the expense of invalids seeking the hills. 
The great backs are met singly on the roads whisking the flies with 
ball a tree for a Ian, and a poor lady, having thus encountered one the 

1 Roport on Med. Topogr. aboTe quoted, 7. 

• AMiatie /ottmai, xzxi, 129. Major-General Sir Hugh Gongh, K.o.a., 
(^terwtrda Lord Gongh), was then in oominand of thp Mysore DivisioA, the 
hnd^joarterB of whioh were at Bangalore. 



232 TKB VTunms. 



Kfc^ 



CflAP. T0« other ^t. vx»k r«fage with all h^ attendaiitB in the thidteto. Thp 
b€8ut vent tip V> her palanquin and twirled it by one pole over h> 
hesui with mnch glee, then hj the other pole till it gave way, an<i 
thfm danced upon it with mach ddight, and eap«*red into the jnngl<*, a* 
ftfae wid, with a borae langh.' ^ 

The iiipAfs ^ AVx>ot the same time that the Sig^ gh^t was made the 
6isp£ra ghat was completed. 

This ran weat-eoath-west from Ootacamond to Avalanche 
(l'>^ mfles} ; thence op the Kandahs to the spot now called 
Banghi Tappal (nine miles more) ; to Sispara in the extremf 
sooth-western Corner of the plateau (another nine miles) ; and 
thence down a steep descent to Walagh£t {haU waj down th^ 
slopes) and Sholakal at the bottom of them, 10^ miles more. It 
is now practicable for lightlj-laden carts as far as Ayalaiidie (Id 
miles hj the improTad trace) and is a maintained bridle-path as 
far as Bispara ; but the gh&t portion is absolately impassable, 
except on foot, being overgrown with dense jnngle. Up to 
Sisp&ra it is mach used bj shooting-parties; and two priTsto 
shooting hats stand not far south of it at Pirmand and Bis<?D 
Swamp. 

This Sispara gb^t, originally known as the Kandah ghiiy vas 
suggested in November 1831 by Mr. S. R. Lushington, then 
Governor of Madras, with the idea of providing a speedy roote 
from Calicut (whither invalids from Bombay could easily trare! 
by steamer) to Ootacamund. Major Crewe, Commandant of the 
Nilgiris, Lieutenant LeHardy, the tracer of the old Coonoor ghsf 
then in progress, and Captain Murray of the Pioneers already 
mentioned searched the T^estem side of the plateau for a practi- 
cable ghdt and at length beard of the Sisp&ra path, whicb, tiioag). 
greatly overgrown, was then used by tobacco-smugglers. 

Lieutenant LeHardy traced a line down this and CaptaiL 
Murray and his Pioneers were entrusted witli the oonstruction of 
the road. They established camps at Avalancbe and Bispar:^ 
(which latter became known as Murraypet) and between the l(»ih 
of January and the 'ilst of May 1832, with the aid of ooolies ana 
* tank-diggers,' they succeeded in opening up a path of a kind 
down the slopes and connecting it with the roads in the plains.* 
The line of this was so infested with elephants and tigen> 
that the Collector of Malabar obtained sanction to the pnroha*«e 
of five jingalls and the employment of ten peons to shoot the^ 
beasts and protect the coolies. 

• 1 lt«ophersou*8 MemorimU of Strrtet m Iwdta (Murray* 1(M5), It. 
t Jervis, 1S6-7. 141-8. 



MEANS OF COMMUNICATION. 333 

The rains then set in and stopped work^ and later on the CHAP. VII. 
Pioneers were diverted to the widening of the Goonoor gbit. Boads. 

Xo more was- done to the Sisp&ra ghdt until 1836, when, in . 

conseqnence of a minute of Sir Frederiok' Adam's, work was 
begun again. One of the arguments in favour of this line was 
that it led, at a distance of fifteen miles from the base of the 
hills, to the Bey pore river, which was navigable thence to the 
sea and by the help of which it was believed that it would be 
possible to travel from Sispdra to Calicut in one day. 

Dr. Benza, surgeon to Sir Frederici; Adam, j)assed along 
tlie road in 1836 on a geologizing tour, and his account ^ shows 
what had then been done. The track was so narrow that two 
people oonld not ride abreast along it. The principal obstacle 
was the ' ladder hill ' near the middle of the descent, which was 
sarmounted by steep zigzags at very acute angles. The Pioneers 
were camped at Walagh&t, half way down, in huts scattered 
through the jungle, the site being too steep and confined for any 
regular lines. 

The road was finished in 1838, the gradient being one in 
nine, and bungalows for travellers were built at Sh61akal» 
Walagh&t, Sisp&r^ and Avalanche. But the extraordinarily 
heavy rainfall at that end of the Kundahs necessitated large 
annnal repairs in subsequent years ; the trace was so steep that 
it was seldom used for laden cattle; and the climate was so 
severe and the sheltor en route so insufficient that Europeans 
often oould not get coolies to come with them to carry their 
baggage. The ghdt thus failed to fulfil the high hopes which 
had been formed of it. As early as 1844 it was declared^ to be 
* rarely traversed except at the height of the dry season,' and it 
was eventually abandoned. The bungalow at Sispdra was acci- 
dentally burnt down and was never rebuilt. 

The G&dalAr ghdt runs down the western side of the plateau The firat 
from Naduvattam to G6dal6r, where it connects with the roads ^^^^'^'^^^ 
leading to Mysore via Tippakddu, to Sultan's Battery, to Vayitri 
and the Tdmrass^ri (Tambraoherry) pass, and to Calicut via the 
Karkur ghdt. The first track at this point was made from a 
grant of Bs. 5,000 obtained by Mr. Sullivan in 1823. Hough's 
Letter B^ written in 1826, make no mention of it, so that if finished 
by then it cannot have been much used ; but Mr. 3. R. Lushing- 
ton, the Oovernor, asceitded and descended by it In 1829, when 
it was almost completed. It was made by the Pioneei'S. Writing 

' M J.U.S., iv, 2»6 ff. 

* Report on Med. Topogf. already citedi 6, 
30 



234 THB NJLGIBI8. 

CHAP. Yll. in 1833^ Baikie calls it and the old Coonoor gh&t the two chief 
BoADs. routes to the hills, bat sa^s it was exceedingly steep, being only 
4f (later accounts say 5^) miles long with a gradient of about 
one in four, and in wet weather very slippery. 

Bungalows had been built by then at Gh6dalur and Nadu- 
vattam, but the great objection to the route to travellers frcrn 
Mysore was the fact that the road at the foot of the hills W\ 
through the extremely malarious Wynaad jungle. Baikie's bo*, k 
contains elaborate instructions to the wayfarer who migK* 
unluckily be ^ompelle/1 to spend a night in these pestifeivi:;* 
forests, warning him to keep awake and moving about all iht 
time, ^have a large fire lighted, avoid all stimnlants, bat ^ if 
accustomed to the use of tobacco, light his segar,' and consu.t 
a doctor the moment he reached Ootacamund. The emphasis Lv 
laid on the neod for every precaution was probably largely 
due to the fact that his friend Dr. A. T. Christie (mentioned o& 
p. 178 as the man who sent for the first tea-plants brought to tl.* 
plateau, and clearly an officer of much promise) had died of 
malaria contracted when passing through these jungles ; bat t' c 
danger of the journey was so well understood that the palaaqoin- 
bearers were posted in such a way that no one need spend a ni^' • 
in the forests, and travellers were strictly enjoined so to arranp* 
matters that these men might be able to get out of the jung'* 
before dusk. People from the west coast were obliged to n^ 
this route ; but European troops marching from Bangalore tv 
Ootacamund were sent all the way round by M^ttup&laiyam vl \ 
the old Coonoor ghdt. When the Kundah gh^t was first opene*!. 
traffic from the west eoaut for some time followed it in pre! erer.i o 
to the QMaliir route and about 1846 the tapp^l runners wer 
transferred to it from the latter.^ This latter then became Def- 
lected, the ferries along the roads connecting with it beinj 
irregularly worked and the jungle encroaching seriously upon it. 
This was the more deplorable in that the continuation froin 
Naduvattam to Ootacamund had about this time been repairs 
and made practicable for carts.^ 

Th# present ^^ ^^^ sixties the opening up of the district was acti\t!. 

Oildal&rghit. pushed on, and among other works the present O^dalfir ghii w:«* 
made. It was started in 1865, the trace being made by Colon* . 
Farewell, M.S.C., and was opened to cart traffic in 1870 ; Im/ 
later reports showed that it was not really completed then, p r- 
tions of it being only eight feet wide and much rock being l-i 

* Ouchterlony*! inrToy ref ort, M J.L.8«, xt, 78. 
* » Hid, 



MBAN8 OF COMHimiGATlON. 285 

QBremoved. The oontinaation from Naduvattam to Ootaoamnnd CHAP. yil. 
was also widened aud improved in 1870 ; but it was not metaUed, Roads. 
and in 1882 was declared to be only a fair-weather rOate^ 
' thoagh carts have straggled along it even in wet weather.' 
Proposals to improve it from the revenue of the G-ovemment 
Cinchona Plantations to which it led were negatived. , 

When the Wynaad gold-boom of 1879-82 beg^n, complaints 
of the state of the road from Ootacamund to 66dalar were load 
and long and Qovemment sanctioned large sums for its improve- 
ment. By 1885 Es. 1,83,250 had been spent upon it. The 
f:h&i portion is now nine miles long with«a maximum gradient of 
1 in 19, and the whole section from (sFMal^r to Ootacamund is 
admirably metalled and maintained throughout. A bridle-path 
un steeper gradients provides a shorter route for foot-passengers 
and horses. This is greatly used by coolies passing from the 
Wynaad to Ootacamund, and in the monsoon the whole country 
is so swept by bitter winds and rain that, though shelters exist 
at intervals^ numbers of natives have died along the path from 
cold and exposure. The number of the shelters is now being 
increased. 

The bridge over the Paik&ra river, twelve miles from Ootaca- 
mund, was made in 1857. Up to at least as late as 1830 ^ the * 
only means of crossing the Paikara in flood^time was a basket- 
boat. This was replaced, some time before 1834, by a Govern- 
ment ferry consisting of a platform laid upon two boats which 
was worked by hauling on a cable of twisted rattan fixed from 
bank to bank. The platform of the 1857 bridge was partly 
washed away in June 1896 and the height of the piers was then 
raised by three feet. 

The lie of the various main roads on the plateau is sufii- Boads on the 
cieutly indicated in the map at the end of this volume and need platean. 
not be described in detail. Nor are their histories of individual 
interest, practically all of them having grown by gradual 
expenditure from footpaths to bridle-paths and from bridle-paths 
to roads. Exceptions to this slow process of evolution are the 
driving roads which have been initiated in or round aboiit 
Ootacamund itself by the Governors of Madras from Sir M. E. 
Grant DafE onwards, and have been named after them the Grant 
DafF, Gonnemara, Wenlock, Havelock and Ampthill Eoads. 

The road from Q6dal&r to N^dgdni and thence three miles Wjnaad 
down the Eark6r ghdt as far as the Malabar frontier was '<»^* 
made in 1865, and the wooden girder bridge at Sipatti was 
completed by Captain Goningham, R.B., in 1866. The original 

^ Asiatic Jimmali iii, 312 ff. 



236 



THE HILGIBIfl. 



OHAP.TIL 

R0AD8. 



Management 
of the roa<li. 



Avennea. 



TraTellera* 
bttngalowa 
Aodohat- 
Iramst 



rood onwards from N^g^ni to the Malabar frontier near 
GMrainUd] was maie by the planters in that part of tbe 
WTfiaad, and the Planters' Association received a grant for iU 
upkeep until 1879-80, when the road was transferred to the 
District Board. 

When the gold-boom drew attention to the indiflerent slat" 
of the communications with the Wynaad, GoTemment resolved 
to put tbe whole line from Ootaoamnnd to Calicut, via 64dftlur 
and Vajitri, into good order. On the Ootacamnnd-Gidalor 
section of this Rs. 1,83,250 had (as above mentioned) boen 
spent by 1885c and on ^he Yayitri-Calicut section Bs. 8,19,785. 
The Gh6dal6r-Vayitri section was thea taken up and estimates for 
Us. 4,10,000 for an eighteen feet road on a partly new trace 
were sanctioned. These were subsequently revised on moro 
than one occasion and eventually the work, which was completed 
in November 1892, cost Es. 6,60,700. The Ch61Adi bridge at 
the Malabar frontier was included in this, and cost Bs. 32,75'^ 
Owing to the present desolate state of the country through wlticii 
the road runs in this diatriot, it is now but little used, and oue 
hardly meets a cart a mile along it. 

The Q&dalAr-Tippak^du road was formed, bridged and partly 
metalled between 1866 and 1867. 

All the roads in the district are now under the care of tLc 
District Board except that from Ootacamund to EaU^r at th^- 
bottom of the Goonoor gh^t, which is maintained by the Public 
Works department* That department receives one*third of tic 
tolls collected along it. Besides the main and second-class cart- 
roads, many miles of bridle-paths are maintained by the District 
Board in every direction about the hills. 

Avenues exist along only eighteen miles of the roads, it beiug 
held that they are not required in this temperate climate and tliat 
the constant drip from them is very injurious to the road*surfaoc. 
Particulars of the travellers' bungalows in the district, with 
the accommodation available in each, will be found in the separate 
Appendix. 

Seventeen chattrams^ as shown in the margin, are maintained 
Ootacamund taiui . Coonoor taluk. ^7 ^^^ District Board. Except 

those at Tippakddu and Hasini* 
gudi, these receive an annual 
contribution of Rs. 30 each 
(Nddgini, Es. 70) from Govern- 
ment towards the cost of their 
oHtablishment. The Giidal6r 
and Dtfvdla chattrams were 



Uaiiiiltou*s. 

AlMinigndi. 

NftdavatUun. 

Nanjssid. 

Oncht^rlony*!. 

Paik&ra. 

Tiprak&da. 

Sandy Knllali. 

Sigur. 



AraTankid. 
Barliyar. 
Craifi^more. 
Kdtagiri. 

Yellauhalli. 

O/tdalitr taluJc, 

D^rila. 
GAdaltLr, 
Nidgini. 



MEANS OV COMMUNICATION. 



23T 



oonsiraoted from local funds in 1879 ; that at Nddg^ni^was trans- 
ferred bom Malabar district in 1S73 ; and the rest were 
taken over from GoTemruent in 1871. None of the ehattrams 
provide food ; they are merely ititendec! as shelters. 



CHAP. yn. 

Roads. 



The following table of distances along the chief routes ^ may Table of 



be of use : — 




From 


To 


OotacamuDd 


Coonoor 


Coonoor 


Kall&r 


Kallar 


M^ttup&Iaijam 


Ootaoamand 


KalhatU ... 


KalhftttI 


Masinigndi ... 


Masinigadi 


Tippak4dn ... 


Tippakidu 


Mysore City 


Ootacamnnd 


Paikara 


Paik&ra 


Nadnyattam 


Nadnyattam 


Gddaldr 


Oddal6r 


Nadgtlni ... 


Nidgini 


D^Tila 


D4T61a 


Ch^rambidi 


Gh^rambadi 


Ch^ladi bridge 


Oddal^ 


Nellakdttai ... 


Nellako'ttai 


Oiitriot frontier 


Q6daldr 


Tippakadn ... 


t) 


Calicut (by 




Karkdrghat) 


Ootaoamund 


Paikftra falls 


»» 


Avalanche ... 


II 


K6tagiri ... 


1) 


D^vashdla ... 


X)6\ath($Ja 


M«l6r 


MHr 


Knlakambai 


Ootacammid 


Yellanhalli ... 


Yellanham 


K&t6ri 


Kit^ri 


Knlakambai 


CoonooT 


KMri toll-bar 


»i 


Dolphin's Nose 


»» 


Kdtagiri ... 


KiStagirt 


K6danad ... 


f» 


M6ttup&laiyain 





distances. 

• 


liles 


Furlongs. 


11 





16 





6 





6 


1 


10 


2 


7 


4 


45 


4 


12 





8 


4 


9 


4 


9 


6 


3 


4 


11 


3 


2 . 


6 


12 


X 


5 





11 





69 





17 


3 


16 





18 





10 


3 


2 


4 


8 





6 





6 


6 


5 


4 


6 





6 





12 





10 





20 


7 



The only railway in the district is that which runs from the Bailwats. 
t^rminas of the Madras Railway at M^ttupdlaijam np the ghdt The Nilgin 
to Coonoor. It is 16*90 miles in length between these points ^'^^'^^y- 
and is on the metre gauge ; and the ghat portion, which begins at 
KalUri five miles from Mettap&laiyam, is on a raling gradient of 1 
in 12J and worked on the Abt system, an improved modification 
of the Rigi rack-rail principle. It is now being extended to 
Ootacamnnd^ and the qnestion is under consideration whether the 

' Kindly furnished by the District Board Engineer. 



238 



THE NILOIRli. 



CHAP/ VII. 

lUlLWATt. 

Sketch hit. 
torjo it. 



whole line migLt not be worked hy electric power genemfed b? 
the Goonoor or Kdteri rivei*s. 

^Schemes for a railway up the Goonoor gh^t date from 1854, 
before the present gh&t road was baiU, when it was proposed to 
lay out a series of doable-railed inclined planes np the spars and 
. pull loaded wagons ap them by the weight of tank-wagons filled 
with water and connected with the loads by a rope running' 
round a wheel at the top of the incline. 

The matter was first seriously considered in 1874, when6tati>- 
tics of trafiic were collected and preliminary discassions on ib- 
various possible systems were initiated. Even as early as this it 
was proposed to lessen the working expenses by using electr> 
power. 

In 1876 the Swiss Engineer M. Riggenbaoh, the inveotor of 
the Bigi system of mountain railways, offered to constmct tii»* 
railway on the Bigi method and on the standard gauge, on \h' 
conditions (among others) that Government gave the land free, 
promised a guarantee of 4 per cent, for ten years on the estimatd 
cost of £400,000 and granted exemption from taxes for tbe 
same peiiod. G-ovemment^ however, declined to agree to these 
terms and the offer fell through. 

In 1877 the Duke of Buckingham had estimates prepared for 
an alternative scheme providing for a railway from Mettupflaijam 
to a point two miles north of Kalldr, and an inclined ropeway 
thence to Lady Canning's Seat. This latter was to be two mile* 
long and in places as steep as 1^ to 1 ; and the head of it was t<> 
be connected by rail with Goonoor, about six miles away. TLi? 
scheme was found to cost almost as much as M. Biggenbach^v, 
and moreover none of the Government's advisers cared t<> 
recommend such a hazardous undertaking as the hauling cf 
passengers up an incline of IJ to 1. So this project likewise f« 1 
through. 

In 187^ a memorial from landowners and residents on the huU 
suggested that money for the guarantee for M. Biggenbach's 
scheme should be raised by doubling the tolls, increasing the land 
assessment on the hUls by 25 per cent., granting a block of 20,0(*0 
acres on the Kundahs to be exploited to the best advantage, an*! 
in certain other similar ways ; but none of these proposals found 
favour in the eyes of Government. 

In 1880 M. Biggenbach came out to the Nilgiris and with the 
assistance of Major Morant, B.E., District Engineer (who took ao 
enthVisiastic interest in the scheme) worked out detailed estimate? 



MXAKS OF COMMUKIOATION. 239 

for a rack railway which came to only £132,000. A local CHAP.. VII. 

company (the Nilgiri Eigi Railway Co., Ltd.) was formed to Hailway*. 

construct the line and Government gave it encouragement and 

certain concessions, agxeeing to a)low it to acquire the necessary 

land under the Land Acquisition Act and to lay rails along the 

road from M^ttupdlaijam to KalMr. The company, however, pre-' 

sently came forward with a request for a Government guarantee 

of 4 per cent, on £150,000 for 15 or £0 years ; and Government 

were naturally not prepared to grant this without demanding 

reciprocal conditions. What with the necessity <jf obtaining the 

consent of the Government of India, fresh demands by the company, 

and the need of safeguarding State interests, it was late in 1882 

before the terms were finally settled and a limited guarantee 

promised. 

• 

The English public, however, was not satisfied with the nature 
of the guarantee or the sufficiency of the estimates, and capital 
for the proposed company was not forthcoming. The local 
company found it necessary to ask Government to modify its terras, 
and to import an English engineer to scrutinize the estimates ; and 
as they oould not find the money necessary for this latter need 
Mr. Richard Woolley of Coonoor agreed to advance it on condition 
that he was given the contract for the construction of the line. 
His offer was accepted and thence began his connection with the 
railway, of which he was eventually Agent. and Manager. 

A new company, called the Nilgiri Eailway Co., was formed in 
1885 with a capital of 25 lakhs and the proposal for a rack line 
was dropped for a time in favour of an adhesion line, similar tc 
the Darjeeling Railway, on a gradient of one in thirty. Eventu- 
ally the rack principle came again into favour ; in 1886 a contract 
was entered into between the Secretary of State and the new 
company ; in 1889 the necessary capital was raised in London ; 
and in August 1891 the first sod of the line was at last cut by 
Lord Wenlook, then Governor of Madras. 

The company, however, was not able to complete the line and 
went into liquidation in April 1894. 

A new company was formed in February 1896 to purchase and 
finish the line ; and between this and the Secretary of State an 
agreement was concluded by which all Government land required 
for the line was granted free and a guarantee of 3 per cent, on the 
capital . during construction was accorded. The line was opened 
in June 1899 and was worked at first by the Madras Bailway 
uider an agreement. 



240 THB KILaiRU. 

CHAP. VIT. The line was subseqaently offered by tke company to GoTern* 
BAitwATs. mei^ ; and it was purcliased by tbe latter for 35 lalchs in January 
1903, jip to which time the capital oatlay had been 48 lakhs. It 
is still worked by the Madras Bailway on certain terms, bnt tl.e 
net earnings have never been enongh to pay an interest of morp 
'than fcwo and a fraction per cent, on the purchase money. The 
line has not succeeded in capturing by any means the whole of 
the heavy traflSc up the gh&t, which is still thronged daily mi)\ 
bullock-carts. Slips still continue at certain points along i]\^ 
route and the cost of maintenance and repairs is thus heavy. 

Extension to The extension of the line to Ootacamund is now in progr69<. 

Ootwamund. j^ ^^u ^^ ^^ q^^ ^^^^ (metre) gauge, and Uf miles in length : 
and the estimate is Rs. 24,40,000. The steepest gradient will Uj 
1 in 25 and there will be no rack. It was at one time proposed thfit 
the Ootacamund terminus should be at Charing Cross ; bat in 
1904 it was decided to place it at M^ttuch^ri. • This involved the 
rcnlignment of the latter part of the route and an ugly emKiuk* 
ment.across the Lake near the Willow Bund. Besides Coonoi>r 
and Ootacamund, there will be stations at Wellington, tl.H 
Cordite Factory, K^ti and Lovedale. The greater part of thv 
earthwork has been carried out on contract by the 61 st and C4tL 
Pioneers, who established camps near the Half Way House, at 
Lovedale and in Mettuch^ri itself. The regimenta receive yAy- 
ment for work done at the contract rates and from this an' 
required to meet all extra expenditure incurred in connection 
with their employment, including the cost of transpoit, extra 
clothing, repair and maintenance of tools and wear and t«ar ct' 
tents. 

An estimate for Es. 31,29,000 for the electrification of thv 

% whole line from Mettup^laiyam to Ootacamund is before th<^ 

Bailway Board ; but as this, if sanctioned, will take some time to 

carry into effect, steam working will be adopted on the extensi'^a 

to begin with. 

Pfojectod Several otiier railways in and about the district have betu 

rallwayi. projected at different times. In 1850, when the gold-boom liu-l 
drawn such attention to the defective communications with t)ie 
Wynaad, it was proposed by the planters and gold companies 
that a lino should be run from Beypore, which it was hoped t<> 
tarn into a good hurbour, to Gh6dal6r and on to Afysore. A 
company for the purpose was initiated, but as Governmtut 
declined to promise any guarantee it was never really forme<l. 
An alternative proposal to continue the Mysore Bailway from 
Mysore was similarly suggested and eventually dropped. 



MlANS 09 COlCHimOATION. 841 

Schemes wliicli will render the hills more aooessible from CHAP. Til. 
other parts of South India are those to continue the Southam IIailwats. 
Mahratta Railwa7 from Nanjang6d to M^ttapdlaiyam via the 
Gazalhatti pass and Satyamangalam, which would shorten the 
distanoe from Bangalore and Mysore ; and to link Dindigul with 
P^dantLr via Pollachi^ which would save travellers from Madura, 
Tinnevelly and Travancore the present long detour through 
Trichinopoly and Erode. The former line has been surveyed but 
deferred in &vour of others with more pressing claims ; while 
the latter has been included in the three years' prog^mme of 
construction which begins in 1900-1907. 



n 



242 



THE MILaiB18, 



CHAPTER VIII. 
RAINFALL AND SEASONS. 



Raintall — Inflaenoe of the toiith-west monsoon —And of the iiorih<-flMt i 

—The highest and lowest falls— The figures for OtitacMnnnd— IUil*etar«t 

Bad Seasons. Floods and Storms —In 1866— In 1881--In 1891— In IflOX- 

In 1905. 

t » 

CHAP. Vin. Thb official statistics of the rainfall at the vnrioos recording 

ftAivFALL. stations in the district are as onder :^ 



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lUINFALL AMD SEASONS. 243 

From these a nainber of facts are obvious at a glance : Tlie CHAP. YTIT. 
greater part of the total annual rainfall (3475 inches out of 6^*92 Bainfali. 
inches) is brought by the south-west monsoon, which blows frftm infl^enoe 
Jane to September, and the heaviest falls occur in the stations of the 
which arc furthest west and thus are the first to receive this ^Migoon^ 
monsoon. As it travels eastwards, the current rapidly deposits . 
the moisture with which it is laden, and ever^ succeeding station i 
to the east gets less and less rain from it. Thus at D^v^la, 
whioh is just at the top of the Western G-hdts and receives the 
foil force of the monsoon straight from the sea, the total annual 
{all is nearly 162 inches against the district average of 67 inches 
and the fall during the south-west monsoon is 182^ inches 
against the district average for that period of 34f inches. 
G&dal^ is much sheltered from the south-west by the spurs on 
the northern boundary of the Ouchterlony Yjalley, and there the 
annual fall drops to 90 inches of which nearly 70 are received 
daring the south-west monsoon. But at Naduvattam, whioh is 
above these spurs and on the very crest of the plateau and so just 
at the spot where the monsoon receives a sudden check in its 
progress, the total rainfall rises again to ;nearly 102 inches of 
whioh 79 come with the south-west current. As the monsoon 
travels eastwards across the plateau it gives less and less rain. 
The tsM during its course at Paikdra (only four miles east of 
Naduvattam as the crow flies) drops to 61'70 inches ; at Oota- 
camund (eight miles again east) to 22*45 inches ; and at Goonoor, 
whioh is sheltered by the big spurs of the Dodabetta range, 
to only 15*61 inches. 

This Dodabetta range checks the current and causes it to Aadoftjse 
•leposit the greater part of the moisture which it has left ; and all ^^^^-^^^ 
the recording stations to the east of it (Goonoor, Wellington, 
K6tagiri and K6dan4d) receive less rain from it than they do 
from the north-east monsoon whioh blows in the directly opposite 
direction from October to December. During this latter current, 
indeed, the above conditions are aU reversed and the stations on 
the east of the district fare better than those on the west for the 
same reason as before, namely that this monsoon reaches them 
first, before it has deposited much of its moisture. AtCoonoor, 
whioh stands at the head of a ravine the mouth of which 
faces east and so collects the damp winds like a funnel, the fall 
between October and December is as high as 30*56 inches; 
Wellington, whioh lies further vdthin the plateau and is somewhat 
sheltered by the hills to the east of it, receives only 21*38 
inohes ; Kotagiri and K6danad, which are on the eastern orest 
of the plateau, get 27*86 and 24*27 respectively ; and Kilknndah, 



244 



TtfM «tAI^. 



OKAF. ¥IU. 

HAJMWJ^JsU 



The highest 
and Icnrett 
felk. 



Tbeflipiree 
fovOotaoa- 
mmnd. 



wlfeere tke lain driviag up tlie BhaT&ni riiUey is clieckad, rtoeiref 
22*35 inches. But at Ootaoamund, which lies li^hi under the 
prcftecting mass ei Dodabetta, tiie fall during this moBSoon is 
Gulf 14*68 inches ; at Naduvattam, further west, only 12*69 ; and 
at Gfidal6r, down under the lee of the ptatean, onl^ 10*62 iochae. 

Bet«reen January and March, the driest season of the jeer. 
Ooonoor, the other stations on the east of the distriei, and 
EBkandah aU reoeive some benefit from the last showers of tlii* 
north-east monsoon ; but nowhere ^e is the fskll in these three 
months as much as two inches. In April and M a^ dievers 
appear impartially all ^var the country and every station fsU 
from 7} to 10^ inodhes. 

I%i8 unequal distribution of the rain&ll, as is pointed oot 
elsewhtt:« in this book, is of the greatest importance from sn 
agricultural point o( view-^ plants and trees which will do well 
on the moister west side refusing to flounsh on the drier SMtera 
slopes*— and also provides the resident in the district with a vide 
choice of climates. Its greatest extremes do not appear io the 
official statistics, for there are no recording-stations in either 
the wettest or the driest parts of the district. Probably tk^ 
annual rainfall on parts of the Kundi^s is as much as 200 inehei. 
and that on the south-eastern slopes above the Goimbstore 
district as little as 40 inches. 

The average annual fall in the district as a whole is raised br 
the heavy rain in its western stations and is thus larger than tn 
any other OoUeotorate except the two on the West Coast proper 
— Malabar and South Canara. 

The highest recorded average for the whole district was ih<* 
d4 inches of 1902 and the lowest the 38 inches of 1876, the yesr 
of the Great Famine ; but the total supply was over 80 inches in 
1882, 1893, 1896 and the four years 1900—1908, and wss under 
56 inches in 1870, 1874-76, 1878-79,1881 and 1899. 

In Uotacamiind itself the total fall is only 48*35 inches, which 
is less than that of Madras (49'02) and very little more thsn 
the Bgures for the littoral districts (Chingleput, 46*38 ; South 
Arcot, 43-67; and Tanjore 44* 76) which lie next south of the 
Presidency town. Yet Ootacamund is popularly classed as a rainv 
spot. The chief reason for this is the fact that nearly two-fifths 
of its total fall is received during the three months (May — Jolr' 
during which it is full of visitors and that this arrives in lighter 
showers than anywhere else in the district and is spread, on an 
average, over 38 of the 92 days in those three months. A visitor 
who 'finds that more or less rain has fallen on 40 per cent, of thif* 



BAIKFALL AND BEAfiOKS. 



246 



dajs he spent in the station not unnaturally classes the place as a .GUAP. VIIJ. 
damp locality. The highest recorded fall in the town ^as the Kainfall. 
7o'85 inches of 1903, when 25 inches fell in Jnly alone ; and*the 
lowest the 25*16 inches of 1876. Other years of heavy falls were 
1882 (74-;j7 inches), 1902 (66-05) and 1901 (60-18); and of 
diooghts, 1888 (38-70), 1878 (;i9-01) and 1879 (39-47), 

No snow ever falls on the Nilgiris (there is a vagne unverified UaiUtoiKB. 
tradition that some fell on the Kondahs on one occasion) bnt 
fierce hail-storms are by no means uncommon. The hail-stones 
are generally much flattened and are often as large as a rupee. 
Old residents have known them drift into hollows to the depth 
of a foot and remain on -the ground, in shady spots, for two 
whole days. They have sometimes (as in April 1891) done 
immense damage to the coSee blossom. One of the worst hail- 
storms on record was that which devasti^d the Government 
Cinchona plantation called Hooker in 1879. A report of the 
time said that much of it had been ' practically destroyed. A 
few scattered trees survive, which serve to show, by the injury to 
their bark and the broken branches, the severity of the blows 
they received.' 

Actual famine has never been known on the Nilgiris proper i^ad Seasons. 
or in the Wynaad ; but the tract round Masinigudi appears to 
have suffered somewhat severely in the Great Famine of 1876 — 78. 
Elsewhere in the district higli prices caused by scarcity in other 
parts of the Presidency have several times pressed hardly upon 
the poorer classes, especially since so much of the food-supply of 
the district is imported ; but regular relief-works have never 
been necessary. In 1885 the collection of half the land revenue 
was postponed owing to adverse season*^, in 1899-1900 payment 
of onc'third of the kists was similarly allowed to be deferred, 
while to provide employment for the very poor the District Board 
started special work on some of the roads near the villages worsi 
affected; and in 1906 the realization of certain outstanding 
arrears in a few villages on the northern slopes was postponed 
and the Board again gave assistance by opening local fund works 
near the villages which were most distressed. 

The rivers of the plateau all flow in deep channels cut by 
themselves in past ages, and floods on the great scale so comfnon 
in the low country, accompanied by widespread loss of life and 
property, are altogether tmknown. The chief damage occasioned 
by unusual rain is to bridges over the streams and to the roads. 

One of the worst storms on record occurred round Ootaca- 
mund and Ooonoor on 23rd October 1865. The right approach 
of the masonry bridge whioh crosses the Ooonoor stream at the 



Floods and 
Stokms, 



In IS66. 



346 Tbis NtLGrsit. 

OHAP. vm. edge of the ghit near the present Goonoor railway-iilatioB wis 

Floods and covered with a torrent fonr or five feet deep and at Ootaoamimd 
Stohms. the Lake rose to the top of the Willow Bund and threatened tt 
one tiibe to breach it. 

In 1881. A storm in November 1881 did great damage to the new 

*E6tagiri-M6ttap£lai7am ghdt road and ocoasioned maojlaad* 
slips on the Goonoor ghit. 

In 1891. Between the 11th and 14th October 1891, 29 inokes of nin 

fell in K6tagiri and did snch damage to the E6tagiri gh^t road 
that it was blocked to all traffic for some days and to wheeled 
traffic for nearly three wfieks. The same storm also swept swaj 
the Barlij^r and Eall^r bridges on*^ the Coonoor ghit and 
consequently the plateau was cat oft for days from all oommnni* 
cation with the plains, to the grievous inconvenience of ita 
inhabitants. Wheeled traffic was not restored on the Goonoor 
gh^t until December. The rainfall at Goonoor in October thst 
year was do less than 61 inches, or five-sixths of the whole soi^lj 
received in an average year. 

In leos. In December 1902 much the same combination of misfortimes 

occurred again. Twenty-one inches of rain (three times the 
average amount) fell in that month in Goonoor, and at Kdtagiri 
24 inches (six times the average amount) was received, of whidi 
8 45 inches fell in a single night. The Coonoor railway wu 
blocked for a month; the old and new Coonoor ghit roads (or 
nearly as long ; and all the traffic of the eastern side of the 
plateau was thrown upon the E6tagiri ghit, whioh was itself in § 
parlous condition — slips having occurred throughout it and being 
serious in six of its twenty-one miles. 

in 1906. On the night of the 4th October 1906, 6*8 inches of rain fell 

at Goonoor in three hours and the Coonoor river and its aflhiBnt« 
came down in heavy and sudden flood, the former sweeping right 
over the parapet of the bridge near the railway-station. The 
families of the station staff had to be rescued by breaking open 
the back windows of their quarters with crowbars ; 8,000 sleepew 
for the extension of the line to Ootacamund were swept away; 
f oar or five children were drowned in Coonoor ; and much daasage 
was done to many of the roads elsewhere. 



FVBUO HBALTH. 247 



CHAPTER IX, 
PUBLIC HEALTH. 



CtiMATB — On the plateau — ^The obtenratory on Oodabotta— Effects of the 
climate — Olimate of the Wynaad. Diss asm — Cholera— Small-poz — Pla^e. 
MxDiOAL iNeTirDTioNS^GMdaldr hoipital — Goonoor hospital — St. Bartho- 
lomew*! Hoepita], Ootaeamnnd. ' * 

Of the many surprises and delights which greeted the first OHAP. IX. 
Earopeans who reached the Nilgiris, the most wonderful and Glimati. 
engrossing was its temperate and equable climate ; and descrip- q^ ^^ 
tions of this occupied a most prominent position in their accounts plateau. 
of the plateau. Later on, the obstinate incredulity regarding 
the coolness and salubrity of these hills which prevailed in 
other parts of India led to evidence of both matters being 
reiterated with earnest emphasis by those who had personally 
experienced them. And fioally, when Government began to 
consider the desirability of establishing an official sanitarium 
at Ootacamund, the nature of the climate there became of such 
paramount importance that report after report was called for 
from the medical authorities and reain upon ream was written 
in reply. 

The early literature upon the subject is thus most extensive. 
The views which were formed in those days are sufficiently 
epitomized in Baikie's Xeilgherries, Surgeon De Burgh Birch's 
paper published in the Madras Jowmal of Literature and Science 
in 18«{8, and a report compiled from the records of the Medical 
Board's office which was published by Government in 1844; 
and nowadays the general characteristics of the climate of the 
Nilgiri plateau, its charm and its virtues, are so well known that 
the point need not be laboured. 

The most eloquent testimony regarding the temperature 
there is provided by the following statistics (which are expressed 
in degrees Fahrenheit) of the height of the thermometer 
throughout the year in Ootaeamnnd and Wellington : — 






THB MILOtBtf. 



CHA.P. IX. 














Climate 


* Month. 

• 


Ootaoamnnd 


l.» 


Wemngten. 




Average 


Average 


Average 


Average 








maxi- 


oini- 


Mean. 


man* 


mini* 


Meaa. 






mom. 


mnra. 




mifin. 


mom. 




* 


January 


64*5 


43*5 


53-2 


67*6 


45-2 


t 




February 


66-9 


44*9 


55*3 


70-8 


471 


58^ 




March 


69-7 


48*3 


68-7 


74-1 


52-2 


SM 




April 


71-3 


52*0 


61*4 


75-9 


55-9 


es-pi 




May 


70-0 


581 


61-0 


761 


68^ 


67*1 




Jane ... -... 


ss 


58*4 


57*2 


72*2 


68H> 


65*1 




July *... 


62*2 


56-2 


7M 


67^ 


64S 




Angast 


68-4 


62*0 


56*9 


71*4 


57-1 


6^S 




September 


68-8 


51*4 


66*8 


71*8 


85-8 


9^ 




October 


64*1 


60*6 


56-6 


69-1 


64-8 


62D 




November 


63*5 


47-9 


54*7 


67-3 


52-0 


Wl 




December 

The year ... 


64-0 

o 


• 45-2 


68*5 


66-2 


48*1 


57*« 




66-6 


49*5 


66*9 


71-1 


58-5 


62*3 



* For the five yearo— July 1901 to Jane 1906. 

These show that the mean annual temperature at theie pl8oe« 
is respectively SO^'-O and 62'''3 Fahrenheit, against the 83" d 
Madras. They also exhibit in a marked manner the mmfOAl 
equability of the climate : at Ootacamund, for example, the 
average minimum temperature of the warmest month of all U>e 
twelve (April) is less than nine degrees higher than thai of the 
coolest (January) ; the average maximum of the former is kss 
than seven degrees above that of the latter ; and the average 
range of the thermometer during the year between the aversge 
maximum and the average minimum for each month is only 
16*2 degrees, the maximum difEerenoe between these two figuree 
being 22 de^ees in February and the minimum only 9'3 degrees 
in July. These statistics surely point to the Nilgiris possessia^ 
one of the roost temperate and equable climates On the face of th< 
globe. The rainfall there has been referred to in the last 
chapter, where it was seen that though, owing to the influence of 
the hills on the monsoon currents, it yaries groady at the several 
periods of the year in different localities, the annual average 
fall at Ootacamund is only 48*35 inches, or not quite so much as 
that at Madras. 

Dr. Baikie justly summarized the climate of the Nilgiri year 
when he said that ' the cold weather or winter is like the spring 
of the north of Persia or the autumn of the south of France, and 
the monsoon is rery nearly a mild autumn in the sooth of 
England. Theae two divisions include our whole year/ To be 



FDBLIC HSALTH. 



249 



somewhat more precise, it may be explained that the usual coarse 
of the seasons is as under : The first three months of the year 
are almost rainless and are a procession of bright, clear days 
during which a dry wind blows from the north-east through 
January and February and veers round to the south-east in 
March. This is perhaps the least pleasant and healthy of the 
seasons ; the hoar-frosts which are common at night between 
December and February have turned the grass on the Downs 
an unlovely brown, and the absence of rain and the dry wind 
check vegetation. In April and May good showers appear and 
the grass, the flowers and the trees start jnto life %gain ; but the 
temperature rises to its highest point and the climate is less 
braoing than at its best. From June to the middle of August 
the south-west monsoon is blowing— bleak and bitter on the 
extreme west of the pluteau, but tempered by the time it reaches 
OotacamuDd to storms of heavy rain alternating with dkjQ of 
soft Scotch mist i/hich are the healthiest and most invigorating 
period of the year and during which every description of vegeta- 
tion grows at tropical speed. By the end of August the monsoon 
has slackened or disappeared; and September is perhaps the 
pleasantest month of the twelve, the days being fine but cool 
and all Nature green and flourishing. In October follows ^the 
shorter north-east monsoon until the end of November, when the 
bright, clear days and frosty nights reappear. A table showing 

the mean temperature, 
average rainfall BJii 
average direction and 
daily velocity of the 
wind at Ootacamnnd 
in each month during 
the five years from 
July 1901 to June 
1906 is given in the 
margin, and this sum- 
^ marizes, statistically, 
the climate of that 
town. 

Even in April alid 
May, the warmest 
months, the sun is 
never too hot for comfort ; and in thft coldest season all sign of 
t he hoar-frosts disappears (except in deep shade) by nine in the 
morning. The sun however, mild as it is, tans far more i-ap^idly 
(probably. owing to the dryness of the skin) than the fiercer heat 
83 



CHAP. IX. 
Climate. 



1 


i 


i 


Aver- 


1 


Daily 1 


1 


B 


Ss^ 


age 


Direc- 


velo- 1 


Month. 


S 


"* S iS 


rain- 


tion of 


city ' 




1 


faUln 


wind. 


in ; 




IS'SS 


inobee. 

! 




miles. ' 

! 


JanuAiy ... 




63-2 


038 


o 

N 88£ 


! 

89 . 


' Febrnftry... 




56*8 


0'43 


ir86E 


91 


Marck ... 




58-7 


IOC 


S76B 


87 


■April 




61-4 


3*34 


N 84£ 


102 


May .... 




610 


6-22 


N54B 


86 


June * ... 




57-2 


6-17 


S7nw 


127 


, J^y 




56-2 


i 6-67 


S83 W 


162 


AugiMt ... 




56-9 


1 4-71 


N86W 


128 


September. 




56*8 


1.4-90 


N61 W 


107 ; 


October ... 




666 


' 8-17 


N47B 


82 


Norember. 




54f7 


, 4-49 


N76E 


71 


December. 




53-5 


• 1-97 

i 


N72E 


94 



260 



THE IflLaiBlS. 



OUAF. IX. of the plains. Sir Thomas Maaro^ who bad a long aud intunat^ 
Climatb. acquaintance with Jiot weathers, declared that he was more «uc- 
burnt after a three hours' walk at Ootacamund than he had ev^^r 
been before in India; and Captain Ward, in his survey report ••- 
18229 says in hisi quaint diction that the keen air and suu hi?«> * 
tendency to make the face and lips very sore ; the pain amijj 
from it does in some iiidiTiduals create fever ' — ^though the ktXe: 
part of this assertion is seldom borne out by pve8«it-<iAT 
experience. 

The sharp, frosty mornings of the cold weather are to rnan; 
the most enJ9yable n\pments of the whole year ; and, thoa.*: 
they nip the more delicate of the garden plants, they piovidf .> 
' wintering ' much needed by certain shrubs and froit-trees ah*: 
by no means stop the blossoming of the hardier ftowetSy whicL 
(a rare thing in any quarter of the globe) goes on wxth't:: 
intermission throug&ont the whole year. 

Unkind things are often said about the rain and mists o! th 
south-west monsoon ; but it is generally admitted ihst tb^ 
usher in the most invigorating period of all the year. The win . 
at that season comes straight in from the sea, only sixty miie* 
away as the crow flies, and analyses haye shown that the rtis :^ 
brings is almost absolntely free of all taint, whereas thst wbi." 
oomes across the plains vrith the north-east monsoon is obarf"*. 
with organic impurity. 

Ootacamund has thus points of climatic superiority over vl\ 
hill-station in India. The following figures sufficiently iHoftnii' 
the relative lightness of its rainfall and mildness and eqnabi!.^ 
of its temperature compared with those of a few represesutiv 
sanitaria in other provinces. The advantage it possesses iv 
being situated, not on a steep and cramped hill-side, hot on a 
broad plateau where cross-country riding, driving, hunting ar • 
golf are possible, also make for the health of its Eoropm* 
inhabitants. 



station. 



Ootaoamnnd 
Simla 
Darjeolint^ 
Marree 
Mount Aba .. 
Paoh-narhi . 



BVation 


Annual 

rainf.«n in 

inches. 

48-85 
63-59 
724-8« 
55 85 
01-73 
76-21 


Tempentore in degree* 
Fahrenheit. 


1 feet. 


Avenge 

annaal 

mean. 


tiiffheet Lo^nr 

mesa of , mean • ! 

any month* any mr" 


7,8fl8 
7,224 
7,376 
6.338 
3,945 
3,528 


56-9 
56*4 
58-0 
58-3 

r.9-1 

70-4 


61-4 581 

67-7 ' "li*^ 

1 01-9 ' -W'"* 

1 73-1 41 ^ 

1 7l>-7 > ^ 

86-1 5**' 



PUBLIC HEALTH. 251 

Sieteorologioal obser^atdons were first soientifloally^ oon^aoted CHAP. IX. 
it Ootaoamand as far back as Jannarj 1847 in a building OiiiitATt. 
sitoated on tbe top of Dodabetta which, in accordance with the i^^ ^ 
wish of the Directors, had been erected for the purpose under obBoryatory 
the superintendence of Mr. T. G. Taylor, F.R.S., who had been o^^^^^^**- 
the Company's Astronomer since 1830. The observations 
( which from September 1849 were made hourly) were continued 
until May 1859, when on the advice of the then G-ovemment 
Astronomer, who considered that sufficient scientific material 
iiad been collected, the instruments (barometer, thermometers, 
rain-gaage and anemometer) were removed to Coonoor and 
•bservations begun there by the Assistant Surgeon.^ 

In accordance with orders passed by Government in August 
I "^fii), an observatory was next opened at Wellington under the 
•are of the Cantonment Surgeon, observations* begfinning in 1870, 
This remained for many years the only institution of the kind 
)a the hills. 

The climate of Wellington, however, differs considerably 
from that of Ootacamund, and in 1896 Government adopted the 
. lew of the Meteorological Reporter to the Government of India 
'nat observatories both at the latter place and on the top of Doda- 
betta would disclose results of much valne, more especially with 
-eferonce to the south-west monsoou ; but financial stringency 
[prevented further action until 1900-1901. In that year estimates 
for the observatory on Dodabetta (Rs. 5,950) and for an open 
hed for the instraments at Ootacamnnd were sanctioned; 
^nd observations began at the latter place in June 1901 and 
.t the former in June 1902. The instruments on Dodabetta are 
-nli- recording, and the observing clerk goes up daily to note 
:*e^alts and change the registering sheets. .In 1906 it was held 
> be unnecessary to maintain, in addition to these two, an 
i)^ervatory at Wellington, and this last was closed. 

Healthy as is the climate of the Nilgiri plateau, not every sffeotiof 
frmot illness is benefited by a change thither. Affections of the climate. 
':e heart and langs are prejudicially influenced by tke altitudoi 
'•^Inch throws double work upon these organs and thus sometimes 
''duces headaches and sleeplessness among new arrivals. Dysan- 
• ry, especially when complicated with affections of the liver, is 
Ft pn actually aggravated by a change to the hills; and, since 

^ Further details wUl be fonnd in Bir F. Price's book. The observations 

*ikde at. Dodabetta between 1S47 and 1855 were pablished by the GoTernDient 

^ttrooomor and m difloassion of the results appears in a paper by Col. Sykes, 

r K.3., in the PhUoaophical Transactions of the Boyai Society, Part II, 1860. The 

V car .icy of the observations was apparently not of a high order. 



352 



THB mLOI&Ig. 



OHAP. IX. 

CUIIATS. 



Olimate of 
the Wjnaad. 



the action of the skin is almost totally checked by the ooolnefr* 
of , the air, affections of the liver and kidneys are not benefit^i. 
For some reason, again, diseases of the eye nsnallj do belter in 
the warm, moist air of the coast stations than on the Nfl|^i< 
restful as the perennial green of the latter might be supposed U- 
prove. 

Visitors often derive less benefit than^they might from % 
short visit to Ootacamund by the rashness of their first proctrt-j. 
ines there. It is difficalt for them to realise as they swelter 
under the punkahs at M^ttup^laiyam that in three hours t^^ 
train and tonga will convey them to a clime where the wannv^t 
clothing is a necessifcy ;* and want of proper preparations to m^t 
the contrast (the best plan is to change into warm clothes it 
Coonoor) results in chills on the liver. Or, despising the sr.i. 
which feels little stronger than that of England, they are '.r ^- 
careful about wearing a topi than on the plainSj and pa? tb^^ 
penalty for confusing the results of elevation with those of 
kktitnde. Or, again, tempted by the exhilaration of the hili a\t 
they take unwontedly active exercise, develope an nniiftna 
appetite, appease it with an undue supply of the excellent Iat\ 
which the hills produce, and — reap the consequences. For ti.t 
first ten days, until they get acclimatized to the sudden chanir**, 
both humans and horses require the warmest clothing, li-:.t 
exercise and light fare ; and those of both species who are ie^:» 
than robust do well to break the journey at the lower stati* n» 
of Coonoor, Wellington or K6tagiri, so that the change •? 
altitude and temperature may be less sudden. 

The Nilgiris, indeed, possesses a great advantage in hsvin-: 
three stations which represent three stages of climate — Coontwr. 
the lowest, with its warmer and moister air ; Kotagiri, somevha* 
higher, cooler and drier ; and Ootacamund itself, the higfce?* 
coldest and least damp of the three. Delicate persons who cann.^ 
stand the high elevation and low temperature of Ootacamond no* 
infrequently find that the two lower and warmer stationj sui' 
them admirably ; and by changes from one to another of the<- 
three places the rain of the two monsoons can be largely avoids i 
since Ootacamund is partly protected from the north-east, ftni 
the other t^o from the south-west, current. 

The climate of the Wynaad is totally different froro| ani 
altogether inferior to, that of the plateau. It has already heer 
seen that the rainfall at D^vAla is between three and four tirao- 
as heavy as that of Ootacamund; though temperature i^ 
nowhere oifioially recorded in the Wynaad, the heat maj H^ 



PITBLIO HXALTH. 268 

declaied to be severe in sammer ; and the whole of the countiy CHAP. IX. 
is a prej to malaria of a bad tjpe. This disease is worst in the Climatk. 
hot months ; and is partly aggravated hy the sadden changes in 
temperatore which occur then towards evening. It is a 
common thing, at the end of a sweltering dsj, to see heavy 
black clouds appear on the crest of the platean above, and snd- * 
denlj to feel a dull, moist wind blow down from the heights 
which lowers the temperature as much as ten or twelve degrees 
in a few minutes. Among the thinly-clad coolies from the plains 
this naturally induces chills and internal congestions. 

The tendency to malaria diminishes after the south-west 

monsoon hi^s broken, and the cooler months of the year are free 

from the disease except in certain particularly pestilential spots, 

such as Tippak&du. 

* 
Except this Wynaad malaria, no disease can be said to be Diieams. 

particularly prevalent in any part of the district. 

When Europeans were first settling on the plateau it was cholera, 
proclaimed as one of the great advantages of the new Paradise that 
cholera — which in those days was far more of a scourge than now 
and in 1827 had killed the Governor, Sir Thomas Munro, himself — 
was unknown there. The disease was speedily imported from the 
plains, however, and not a quinquennium now passes without a 
certain number of deaths from it. But it is less destructive than 
on the plains. In 1877, the year of the Ghreat Famine, as many as 
476 persons, it is true, died of cholera ; but in no other year since 
then have the casualties reached 80, while in many years they have 
been ntL 

8mall-pox has always been known on the plateau and in Small-poz, 
spite of vaccination (which is compulsoiy in Ootacamund and 
Coonoor and is actively performed outside them) its victims 
number far moro than those of cholera. The heaviest mortality 
on record (327 deaths) again occurred in the disastrous year 1877. 

Plague did not reach the district until 1903, in February of pisgue. 
which year it was imported from Mysore to G6dal6r and caused 
twenty deaths by the eud of March. It advanced thence to 
Ootacamund and Naduvattam ; and K6tagiri, E&t^ri and other 
places were also infected from M^ttup&laiyam* The disease then 
:«pread rapidly among the planters' cooUes, estate after estate 
reporting cases. With the close of the working season on the 
plantations at the end of March, when many of the cooUes returned 
to their villages on the plainer, the- number of seissures declined ; 
but the outbreak resulted in 191 deaths in all. 



264 



THc mLaimoL 



CHAP. IX. 

DIBBABB8. 



Medical 
institution! 



hospital. 



CooQOpr 
hotpital 



In 1904, and again in 1905-1906, the disease reappeared ; bot 
the deaths from it nnmbered onl7 29 and 49 respectirelf . TV 
expenditure on preventive measures was heavy, speckl staflt 
being engaged and substantial camps being erected, tnd the 
threatened attacl^ at least conferred the benefit that ih^j 
' awakened interest in sanitary improvement in the towns and larger 
villages. 

The civil medical institutions in the district (exdading the 
hospital at the Lawrence Asylum, which is intended only f.vr 
the inmates of that institution, and the new Pastenr Institnl^ nt 
Coonoor referred to in tlfe account of that place below) compr:- 
four hospitals at K6tagiri, G^dal6r, Coonoor and Ootacamiui: 
and a dispensary at Paik&ra. At Wellington is a large milithr 
hospital. A hospital was built at B^v&la by the planting ^ c 
munity in 1876 ; was transferred to the care of the District R>4-i 
in 1887, after planting and mining in the Wynaad had faller. .n 
evil days ; and was abolished in April 1893. 

The Paik&ra dispensory, which is kept up from local tnci* 
was opened only in 1903. At K6tagiri a dispensary whb sihf^ 
by Government so far back as 183^. It was transferrcii i 
the charge of the District Board in 1885 and the old bml*!.:^ 
was then demolished and the existing one erected at a co«* 
Es. 6,000. The apothecary's quarters and dead-house we' 
added subsequently. 

The other three institutions contain separate accommotli' ' 
for Europeans. The G6dal6r hospital was originally a q - 
private institution, the planters supporting it by sabECTi]t. 
and Government supplying the apothecary. The existing bui. . 
was put up in 1866 at a cost of Hs, 5,800, of which Govern:. . | 
gave Hs. 8,400 and the rest was met from private subscriptions i*- | 
1872 the 1 district Board took over the;institution. In 1900-U'> : : | 
European ward was added at a cost of Bs. 1,500 and a se\A 
hospital for the police was opened on the first day of 1904. 

The Coonoor hospital was opened in 1855 and was origi: 
a Government affair. When the municipal council cau^e i* 
being, it contributed to the upkeep of the institution, lut * 
latter's finances, in spite of local contributions, were not equa 
ohe growing demands upon them, and in 1883 Govern i. 
consented to make it an annual grant. lu 1889 the raana^'ea 1 
was transferred to the municipal council, Government nnderta^ 
to contribute Bs.1,300 per annum. In 1896 the institution con* 
ed of two main blocks, one for Eurofieans and the other for nat 
and possessed a maternity and a caste ward, besides an isol^ 



I 

j 



PUBLIC hbaltx. 35& 

shed. A new oat-patients^ room and a new iBaternit7 ward were oHAP. IX. 
added in 1 899 and 1 900 and an infections diseases ward two ubdical 
years later. * iNSTiTimoNi. 

In 1899 a committee of European ladies was organized to 
sapervise the general working of the hospital and see to the 
comfort of the patients, and they have since done a great deal * 
for both^ raising considerable sums and spending them in most 
judicious ways — among others by famishing the new maternity 
ward and bailding » new operation theatre. 

St. Bartholomew's Hospital at Ootacamund is the largest St, Bar- 
institution of the kind in the district, ^ts history, and that of hoJ^JJ^^* 
its predecessors, are given in detail in Sir Frederick Price's book. Ootaoamund. 
It was completed in 1867 at a cost of Bs. 31,556, of which 
Bs. 12,000 were granted by Government (who held that medical 
needs in Ootacamund should be chiefly provided, as elsewhere, 
from local and municipal funds) and most of the balance was 
raised by private contributions. Gk)vernment gave the institu- 
tion the services of a hospital assistant, the municipal council 
'■'- granted it Bs. 500 per annum, and the remainder of the funds 
' necessary to its upkeep was raised by private contributions and 
the proceeds of periodical charitable entertainments got up for 
' the purpose. It was managed (as it still is) by a committee of 
^ which the Civil Surgeon of Ootacamund was executive officer and 
^ secretary. 

In 1875 Government agreed to contribute annually one half of 
^ the sum which the committee might raise by voluntary contribu- 
'^' tions and suggested that the municipality should increase its grant 
^J - to Bs. 750 per cuinum. At this time jthe hospital consisted of 
^' male and female European wards with four and two beds, respeot- 
- ' vely, a ward for ten native males, another for six native females, 
•- m apology for a maternity ward and tvfo special wards which 
h' fere little used. Sundry out-buildings and a proper water-supply 
(J »' rere added in 1875, partly at the cost of Government. In M.ay 
<^ ^ I that year the sub-committee of ladies whioh still does such 
il ^^^ aloable work was first formed, their duties being similar to those 
nci t the corresponding body at (Joonoor. In 1876 new wards for 
tut:^ jniopeans and Eurasians who were willing to pay foraccommo- 
pre^' lotion were put up from the proceeds of certain fancy basaars and 
'i] ^^ Ktertainments, and a casual (now the septic) ward was erected ; 
iie ic^ i 1877 and 1881 other wards were built ; in 1884-85 the matei^ 
i]ti> ify ward given by Bao Bahddnr Tiruv^nkatasv&mi Mudaliy&r, a 
ituti- salthy abkdri contractor, was finished; and in 1889, 1891 and 1895 
iierf ' jther additions to the accommodation were made. In 1888 an 



266 THB NILaUUS. 

CUAF. IX. apothecary waa sabstitated for the hospital assistant; and in Wj> 
Mkdical an Assistant Si&geon for ^he apotheoarj. The District Board 
IMT1T0TION8. ^^^ contributing to the institution in 1890 and since l**94h« 
paid if Rs. 750 jearly . The existing matemitj ward was preeent- 
ed.in 1900 hj Kh&n Bah4dur A. B. H4ji Fakir Muhammad Sait 
•of Ootaoamund, Government assisting ; and in 1903 was completed 
the MacGartie ward, erected from subscriptions (aided by a GoTem- 
ment donation) to the memory of Mr. (J. F. MacOartie, c.i.b., wh^ 
had been Collector of the district from 1889 to 1891 and after- 
wards Private Secretary to the Qovernor, and was killed in action 
in the Boer War in 190P, after he had retired. 

Numerous othe^ additions and gifts ^of which Sir F. Phiv 
gives details) have since been made by native Princes and nota* 
bilities ; the funds of the institution .are anaually rapleniaiied 
from the proceeds of elaborate entertainments and fancy bin 
organized by the committee ; and the hospital is now one of the 
best equipped in Madras outside the Preeidenoy town and cac 
boast a career of oonstantiy increasing usefulness. 



SDUOATION. 



257 



CHAPTER X. 
EDUCATION. 



CtN-rat Statistics — ^Bdacation bj religiona and tadaks. EduSational Institu- 
Tiovs— Lower aeoondary sohools for boya — Breeks* Memorial Sohool — Lower 
Becondary tchoolB for girls— The Hobart Sohool— Upper secondary schools 
for boys— Si. Joseph's School, Coonoor— The Stanes School— The Lawrence 
^ksylmn— Upper seoondary schools for girls— Schools for indigenous castes. 
Kewspapxbs. • 

AaoBDiKG to the statistics of the census pf 1901, the people of 
the Nilgiris are better educated than those of anj other district 
in the Presidency except Madras town, as many as seventeen 
per cent, of the males, and five per cent, of the females, within it 
being able to read and write, against an average in the Province 
as a whole of twelve and one per cent, respectively. 

This result is due partly to the fact that Christians, who are 
nearly always better educated than either Musalmans or Hindus, 
are especially numerous in the district; and partly to the 
Masalinana of the Nilgiris being a particularly go-ahead class. 

The marginal table, which shows 
the number per cent, of each 
sex of the followers of each of 
the three religions who oould 
read and write in 1901^ illus- 
trates this clearly. Coonoor and 
Ootacamund taluks take about 
equal rank in the matter ; but 
G6dal6r is far behind either 
and brings down very greatly 
the relative position of the dis- 
tinct as a whole. Instruction is usually in Tamil, which is the 
anguage of the public courts and offices, and next in frequency 
in English. 

Of the educational institutions above the primary grade 

existing in the district at present, lower secondary schools for 

hoys number twelve, e Of these, five are maintained f or^Musalmans 

and the other seven are ' public ^ schools in which English is the 

88 







■ 






o 


Religion. 


1 


'3 




S 


£ 


Christ iaiis 


51 


29 


Masalmanii 


36 


4 


Hindus 


10 


1 


District Total ... 


17 


5 



CHAP. X. 

Census 

Statisticb. 



Edncation 
by religions 
and taluks. 



EorCATIONAL 

Institutions. 

Lower 
seoondary 
flohoolt for 
hoys. 



258 THE NILOIKIS. 

CHAP. X. mediam of toition^ and include the St. JoaepVs and St. A^*-* 

Bducatiowal schools at Ootacamond, and St. Antony's at Goonoor, maintained 

InrnTDTioNs. ^y ^^^ Roman CathoKo Mission, the Church Missionaiy 8ocwtv*< 

school in M^ttuch^ri, the Basel Mission's schools at K^ti an J 

. Edtagiri and the Breeks' Memorial School. 

St. Joseph's school for native boys was started half a oentan 
ago and in 1870 was moved into a building in M^ttuch^ri whi^h 
had been the mission^s chapel before the present Church of St. 
Mary was erected. It -was managed by the parish priest aDtL 
the beginning* of 1900, when three European Brothers of St. 
Gabriel took over the charge of it. There are now some 2u0 
boys in it. 

The St. Agnes' school is intended for the children of poor 
Eurasian parents. It is situated in the compound of tke Con* 
vent, is managed by the Mother Superior and has an attendaacc 
of about 60. 

The Basel Mission school at E6tagiri is chiefly attended h\ 
Native Christians but includes also some caste Hinda ani 
^ Panchama ' pupils. Its strength is about 90. 
.Breeks^ The Breeks' Memorial School has had a more cheqnert*: 

Sohool?^ history than any of the above. It was founded in memory o^ 

Mr. J. W. Breeks, C'.S., the first Commissioner of the Nilgin^, 
who died at Ootacamund in 1872. The year previous to this tb*- 
boarding school for European boys which had been kept suof 
1 858 (until 1 859 at Stonehouse, then at Lushington Hall and 
Upper Norwood, and from 1862 at Snowdon) by the Be?. Dr. 
G. U. Pope, the welUknown Tamil scholar, had been clo^eii 
owing to Doctor Pope having been appointed Warden of Bisbop 
Cotton's school at Bangalore. ^ In those days communication 
with England was far more difficult than now ; Dr. Pope's school 
had been patronized by many of the Europeans at Ootaoamond ; 
and its closure was held to bo a great public loss. The committef 
appointed to decide upon the form which the memorial to Mr. 
Breeks should take thus determined to start a day school for tbi* 
poorer Europeans and Eurasians, to which, as several native^ 
had contributed to the memorial fund, natives of the bettf r 
classes should also be admitted. 

The subscriptions raised amounted to some Bs. 4,000, aoJ 
Government and the municipal council gave gnaiis. Thu 

1 Farther pariicuUrt inll be found in Sir Frederick Prioe't book, wtn-h 
ulsnpgiyet information reg^arding oUier school* established at OotaouBond is 
former times for European and SurMi^n olviidren. 



iSDOCATION. 259 

foundation stone of the building for the school, which is now the CHAP X. 
clerks' room of the Civil Court, was laid on 16th May 1873 by Educational 
the Hon. Mr. J. D. Sim, c.S.i., Member of Council; and. the Institutions. 
work was completed at a cost of Bs. ^,487, and the school 
opened, in June 1874. Government promised a grant of Rs. 150 
a month for three years, an English headmaster was appointed, 
and the school was vested in four trustees — the Commissioner, ' 
the Chaplain, the Senior Civil Surgeon and the Vice-President of 
the municipality. 

In the first year of its existence the progress of the institution 
was so satisfactory that it was decided t^ enlarge the building. 
Another Ms. 4,000 were collected by public subscription. Govern- 
ment and the municipality gave further grants, and Bs. 8,000 
were raised by debentures. With this money a good building, 
with a tall tower carrying a clock (purchased from money 
collected for the reception at Ootacamund of the then Prince of 
Wales, who, owing to the prevalence of cholera, never came 
after aU), was completed in 1878 by Colonel Morant at a cost of 
Rs. 16,000. This contained accommodation for 100 boys and 
the onginal building held 50. 

The school, however, soon failed to realize its early promise. 
Early in 1878 the headmaster, Mr. Croley, left it and set up a 
school of his own in Bombay House and Government withdrew 
their monthly grant of Bs. 150. In 1879 the Commissioner 
reported that * the numbers on the rolls had fallen to nearly 
nothing ' and submitted proposals, which were not accepted by 
Government, for ' the resuscitation of the school.' 

In 1886 Government were anxioc^ to acquire the school 
buildings for the use of the Civil Court, and the trustees agreed 
to hand them over on condition that Government constructed 
others in their place and paid off the Bs. 6,000 of debentures 
which had been raised to help iu building them. Government did 
both ; and put up the building by the side of the Wenlock Boad 
below the Army Head-quarters Offices which is the present habita- 
tion of the school. The institution flourished no better in its 
new quarters than it had in the old ones, and in 1888 was in such 
low water that the trustees induced the municipality to take it over, 
arguing that the trust deed had always intended that this should 
eventually be done. This arrangement went on until August 
1900, when, under the sanction of Government, the trustees re- 
assumed oontrol and the council, which was by now heartily tired 
of the school's lack of success, restricted its assistance, which 



260 



THE NILOIBI8. 



Institutions. 



CHAP, X. had averaged about Rs. 1,000 in the preceding ten yean, to Rs. 
Educational 600 per annum. At the same time the school, which in 1882 
"" had'been raised to the upper secondary grade, was rednced agaiu 
In 1898, in the hope of increasing the institution's popokritj. 
a boarding-house under the headmaster's charge had been 
opened in connection with it, but very few boys entered this slo 
it was a gloomy failure. 

The re- transfer of the school to the trustees in 1900 was n^t 
followed by any improvement. The condition in the tmsl deed 
requiriag nativ^es to be admitted to the institution operated to 
prevent European and Eurasian parents sending their sons there, 
while at the same time the fees were too high to enable msnj 
natives to avail themselves of the concession* In July 1904 the 
trustees at length closed the school for want of funds to eostinne 
it ; and from Ist July 1905 Government vested the instiiutioii in 
the Treasurer of Charitable Endowments as a school for the 
children of Europeans and Eaftt Indians, and decided to Bmn^*- 
for the education of the native children contemplated iu thetnut 
deed iu some other schools in Ootacamund. A new Bn^inh 
headmaster was appointed in the same year and a boarding-hoose 
opened, and the hope is entertained that the school may come to 
be patronized by people residing on the plains and in other psrtx 
of India and not have to depend upon the supply of boys avsi!- 
able in Ootacamund alone. It is too soon yet to tell how far 
tliese hopes will be realized and whether the school will proceed 
at length to justify its existence. 

Lower secondary schools for girls in the district are four io 
number; namely, the LSwrenoe Asylum referred to below, the 
Church of England Zenana Mission's l^oarding Institution, the 
Hobart School managed by the same body and the St. Stephen *5 
school under the care of the Government Chaplain. 

The Hobart School, a neat building in a fenced enclosure in 
the main bazaar, is named after Lady Hobart, who origiBallj 
promoted it and contributed Rs. 500 out of the Rs. 2,500 which it 
originally cost. The remainder was raised by subscription ani 
the institution is vested in the Bishop and Archdeacon in tro^t. 
The attendance at the school is about 150. 

Upper tecon- Upper secondary schools for boys are three in number ; namely, 
forbwi!*^^ St. Joseph's school maintained by the Roman Catholic Kission st 

Coonoor, the Stanes School in tbe same .town, and the Lawrence 

Asylum. 



Lower seoon 
dary bcIiooIb 
for c^ls. 



The Hobart 
School. 



ISDtTCATlOK. 261 

St. Joseph's School is for European boys and has about one GHAI'. X. 
hundred children (of whom 70 aro boarders) on its rolls. It was Edocational 
opened at Wellington in May 1889 and transferred to Coonoor I^^'8'r[^'«««- 
in 1892, when it was raised to its present grade. The Brothers St. Joseph's 
of St. Patrick, a religions order of Irish monks, took charge of Coonoor. 
the institution in November 1892. • 

The Stanes School at Coonoor was established by Mr. T. Th® Stanes 
Stanes in 1875 for European and Eurasian children. It was 
originally intended to be primarily a girls' school, but in 1894, 
the boys in it out-numbering the girls, it was made a boys' 
school. The strength is now about 50. * • 

The Lawrence Asylum is named after Sir Henry Lawrence, The Law- 
K.C.M., who early in 1856 oflEered Rs. 5,000 down and i{s. 1,000 renoe 
per annum if action were taken within three months to found at ^ 
some Madras hill-station an Asylum similar to those already 
established at SanAwar (near Kasauli) and Mount Abu.^ In 
Febroary of that year a meeting held in Ootacamuud decided to 
make every effort to carry out the project, and issued an address 
and invited subscriptions. From the first, difficulty arose as to 
the religious principles to be inculcated at the institution ; but at 
length a prospectus for ^ the Ootacamund Asylum for the Orphans 
and other children of Europ^n soldiers in India/ on a strictly 
Protestant basis, was issued. A committee was formed with 
Bishop Dealtry as its President, and by June 1856 Es. 3^705 in 
donations and Rs. 335 in yearly subscriptions had been promised 
or collected. 

The committee sought the aid of Government, but the latter 
said that their action would depend uppn the support received 
from the army (the Commander-in-Chief objected to the restric- 
tion of the institution to Protestants) and the adoption of the 
rales of the San^war Asylum, from which the committee had 
proposed to deviate. 

These difficulties and the outbreak of the Mutiny led to the 
abandonment of the project for a time ; but in his will Sir Henry 
Lawrence had commended the scheme to the fostering care of 
the East India Company and this led to its being revived in 
1858. At a meeting held at Ootacamund in August of that year 
it was resolved to adopt the Mount Abu rules and to invite sub- 
scriptions on that basis; a new committee, of which Bishop 
Uealtry was again patron, was formed ; and early in 1859 
Sionehonse was purchased for Bs. 22,600 for the institution ; 

1 The early history of the Asylum has Iteon taken from Mr. Grig^^'s 



262 THE NILGIBU. 

CHAP. X. 40 boys and two girls were established there ; and children of 

Educational military parents in Ootacnmond were admitted as day-scholan. 

IN8TITUTI0NII. The donatioHs received amounted 1o Bs. 87,727, annnal Mibscnp- 

tions -to Bs. 6,100, and monthly to Rs. 396, and the oommitUe 

expected to receive Bs. 20,000 from the ' London l^wrence 

Memorial Pond ' and Bs. 6,500 from other sources. 

Meanwhile correspondence had taken place between thr> 
committee, the aathorities, and the Secretary of State regarding 
the transfer of the institution to the care of Q-ovemment. 
Oovemment insisted that the religious principles adopted at 
San^war must )>e followed and in January 1860 the committee at 
length agreed to this. 

Subsequently a long discussion occurred as to the desirabihtj 
of amalgamating with the Lawrence Asylum the Military Male 
Orphan Asylum at Madras ; and eventually, in July 1860, tlie 
Gbvemment of India* recommended the scheme to the Secretary 
of State, and the Madras Public Works department waa called 
upon to prepare plans and estimates for a building to hold tlu* 
children of both the Asylums. 

The Secretary of State made no reply until 1862, and this 
delay was prejudicial to the institution, since the knowledge that 
Government had agreed to take it over resulted in a decline id 
public subscriptions and in the* energy of the managini; 
committee. His reply at length arrived and expressed doabt 
whether the boys in the Madras Asylum, most of whom were of 
mixed blood| would benefit in health by a change to the 
Ootacamund climate, but considered that the extension of the 
male and female branches of the Ootacamund Asylum deaarred 
every support. In July •1863, however, the Secretary of Sta^ 
on receipt of further representations, waived his objections to the 
amalgamation ; in the April following the present site at Love- 
dale was selected for the buildings for the combined institutioD ; 
and early in 1865 plans and estimates amounting to some eleven 
lakhs were prepared for erecting them. 

In 1869 the buildings were sufliciently advanced to allow of 
the removal of the children (120 boys and 63 girls) to them from 
Stonehouse and Norwood ; in 1871 the main block was completed ; 
and in September of that year the amalgamation with the Madras 
Asylum was effected, 220 children being sent to Lovedale from 
the latter. The proceeds of the funded property of the Madras 
Asylum, amounting to Bs. 4,89,000, were devot'cd to the needf 
of the new joint institution, as were also the profits of the Law* 
rence Asylum Press in Madras. The income hoxa theee two 
aourbea is now about half a lakh a year. 



BDUOATION. 263 

Mr. Chisliolm was the architect of the new buildings. The CHAP. X. 
boys' part is designed in the Italian Gothic style, and is a |wo- Eovcatjonal 
fitoreyed construction forming three sides of a quadrangle Institutions. 
a feature of which is the campanile, 130 feet in height. The 
girls were at first placed in the building intended for the 
hospital. * 

Much of the building work was done by Chinese convicts 
sent to the Madras jails frcmi the Straits Settlements (where 
there was no sufficient prison accommodation) and more 
than once these people escaped from the temporary buildings ^ 
in which they were confined at Lovedale. In 1 867 seven of them 
f^ot away and it was several days before they were apprehended 
by the Tahsildar, aided by Badagas sent out in all directions to 
search. On the 28th July in the following year twelve others 
broke out during a very stormy night and j^arties of armed police 
were sent out to scour the hills for them. They were at last 
arrested in Malabar a fortnight later. Some poHoe weapons were 
found in their possession, and one of the parties of police had 
disappeared — an ominous coincidence. Search was made all over 
the country for the party, and at length, on the 15th September, 
their four bodies were found lying in the jungle at Walaghdt, 
half way down the Sisp^ra'gh^t path, neatly laid out in a row 
with their severed heads carefully placed on their shoulders. 
It turned out that the wily Chinamen, on being overtaken, had 
at first pretended to surrender and had then suddenly attacked 
the police and killed them with their own weapons. 

In 1884 the benefits of the Lawrence Asylum were eztended^ 
by the admission to it of the orphan children of Volunteers who 
had served in the Presidency for seven years and upwards, it 
being however expressly provided that children of British soldiers 
were not to be superseded or excluded by this concession. 

In 1 899 the standard of instruction in the Asylum was raised 
to the upper secondary grade. In 1901 the rules of the institu- 
tion, which had been twice altered since 1864 to meet the 
changes which had occurred, were again revised and considerably 
modified. They are printed in full in the annual reports. 

In 1903, owing to the South Indian Bailway requiring for 
its new terminus at Egmore the buildings then occupied by the 
Civil Orphan Asylums of Madras, Government suggested that 
these should be moved to the premises on the Poonamallee Eoad 
in which the Military Female Orphan Asylum was established 
and that the girls in the latter, who numbered about 100, should 
be transferred' to the Li^wrdnce Asylum. The transfer wa9 



264 THB SILaiBIS. 

CHAP. X. effected in October 1904, new bnildings ooeting Be. 72,000 bong 
Educational pat up at LoTedale to provide the increased accominodalioa 
rNwxTUTioN.. j^q^ir^ and the income of the MiUtary Female Asylum being 
applieil to the uses of the combined institution. 

The Asjlum is now managed hj a oommittee consisting of 
*the Colonel on the Staff commanding the Sonthem Biigmde 
(Chairman) y the Collector, the Senior Medical Officer at Welling- 
ton, the Superintendent of the Cordite factory, the Gbm- 
mandant of the Wellington D^p6t, the Ciyil Surgeon of Ooiacs- 
mund, and two other officials and three non-c^Bcials resident 
at Ootacamuna appointed by Government. The SeoreUrr to 
this committee is the Principal of the Asylum, who has nsuali; 
been a Clergyman of the Church of England. The expendiUue 
on the male branch is about Bs. 1,10,000 per annum, of 
which Bs. 28,000 is derived from the Government grant-in-aid, 
Rs. 39,000 comes from funded property and Bs. 27,000 from the 
Lawrence Asylum Presses at Madras and Ootacamund; and 
that on the female branch is about Rs. 50,000, of whicb th^ 
Government grant provides Rs. 19,200. 

One of the express objects of the Asylum is to proTide tLe 
« children in it with a training which •will enable them to esm a 

livelihood. Prominent parts of its course of instruction, there- 
fore, are the technical classes, nhioh are the only ones held m 
the district. Telegraphy, tailoring, ^rpentry, shorthand, Xj}^ 
writing, music and dra^^ng have all been taught at differt&t 
times. Efforts are also made to keep touch with the pupils stut 
they have left the Asylum and thus assist them in earning their 
livings. The boys furnis^i a detachment, two companies stroncT. 
to the Nilgiri Volunteer Rifles. 

^PP*** J^"' The upper secondary schools for girls in the district are*^ 
forgirlt. ^ for Europeans and Eurasians and include St. Joseph's toavr::* 
School at Coonoor, and, at Ootscamund, the Xaiareth Coa\c:i'. 
School and the 6t. Stephen's CoUegiate High School afii 
Skedden House ^chool, both of which latter are managed \} x': r 
Sisters of the Church from the Kilbum Sisterhood. 

SL Joseph's at Coonoor was started in 1900 aad is as-.r.- 
the management of six Sisters of St. Joseph de Tarl>-*<. I' 
includes a boarding- bouse and has about 40 popiLs. 

Tlio Convent School at Ootacamund is manai^vd bv *.- 
Kuropean nuns there and contains about 50 boarder? and d* 
^holars. many of whom belong to the upper classes of ww^- 



BDUCATION. 



265 



St. Stephen's OoUegiate Soliool, near St. Stephen's Ghnroh^ CHAP. X. 
has some 60 children on its rolls. The teaching is done by two Boucational 
Sisters of the- Ohorch and three assistants, and the Sisters also ^^""^"o'f*- 
manage a connected boarding-establishment at * Bramlej Hjrst/ 
near hy, and an orphanage and school nnder the control of the 
Chaplain, in which some 40 children are educated, clothed and 
fed free, chiefly from volnntarjr subscriptions. 

Shedden House School is intended for children of the better 
classes and contains about 50 pupils. The teaching staff 
consists of two Sisters, three resident governesses and other 
assistants. The school is not inspected by Government officials 
but is under the general control of the Bishop of the diocese. 

The Badagas, K6tas and T6das of the hills are classed by the SchooU for 
educational authorities among those ' backward classes ^ for whose 
benefit special e<iucational effort is required ; and at present some 
40 schools are specially maintained for them, in which about 
1,270 pupils are under instruction.^ The Todas have never 
displayed any more enthusiasm for learning than they have for 
other ways of improving their material condition, and a special 
school started for them by the Church of England Zenana 
Mission Society had to be closed in 1904 owing to the lack of 
interest they took in it. G-ovemment have recently sanctioned 
the opening of a new school for them at Paik&ra and the insti- 
tution of several scholarships to encourage them to educate their 
children. 

Ootacamund has had its full share of newspapers. A list of Nkwspapebb. 
them, with the approximate dates of their births and deaths, is 
appended : — • 



indigenona 

OMtofl. 



Kame. 


From 


To 


Edeotfo and Keflgherry Chroniole 

Hei]gherz7 Star 

NrOihAiry Excelsior 

South of India Obaerrer and Agricultural Times 

Booth of India Obseryer 

Bathiabothini, a TamU monthlj periodical 

Keilgherry Coarier 

Ooty Times 

NilgiriKxpress 

NilgiriNews 

Soarh of India Observer ... 


1860 
1862 
1868 
1867 
1878 
1872 
1873 
1884 
1886 
1893 
1902 


1861 
1863 
1871 
1878 
1884 
1874 
1876 
1886 
1689 
1902 
••• 



Except the Ooty Times, which during its short life aspired 
to a daily edition, all of them have been published either weekly, 

^ The ooriooB wlU find a sketch history of early efforts in this direction, 
which began as far bach as 1889» in Mr. Qrigg's Manual, 423-^. 

84 



266 THE HILOnOS. 

OHAP. X. twioe a week or three times a week. The HMgh&rry Exmlmat 
ViWifAPtM. was incorporated at the end of 1871 with its rival the SmiM ^ 
\~ India Observer and AgricuUwal Time%. The second part of the 
title of this latter was dae to its devoting much space to the inter- 
ests of the planting communitjr, who for some time poored forth 
their grievances regnlarlj in its colnmns. It did nsefol woik 
in promoting the protection of the gameb irds and animals on 
the hills and in its colnmns appeared the wfJl-known series of 
letters on that snbjeothy General Richard Hamilton (' Hawkeje') 
which are referred to on p. 33 above. , In 1873 its title was 
curtailed to South of Indh Observer^ but it continued to devote 
special colnmns to matters connected with tea, coffee and cinchona 
and published a weekl; ' Planters' sheet ' in which articles from 
other sources on these subjects were reprinted. In 1894 it was 
incorporated with the Nilgiri News, which also set itself to cater 
speciallj for the planters, Tlus paper changed hands in 1902 and 
its title was altered to South of India Observer. It is still in 
existence and now appears weekly. 



LAVD BIYBNUS ADiCimSTBATtOK. 



se? 



0H4LPTBR XI. 
LAND BEVENUE ADMINISTRATION. 



Eetbnue Hutobt. On the PLATEAU^Settlements with the oaltdvating hill 
oMtea— The 'bhnrty' ByBtem— 'Ayan * grass and 'grazing pattas' — 
Nominal abolition of the bhnrtj system, 1868 — ^Abolition of plough and koe 
taxes — Settlements with the T<$das — And with European and other immi- 
grants — ^The Waste Land 'Boles of 1863 — Masinigudi an exceptional traot*— 
The survey of 1870-80. The Existing SETfLSMENT of 1881-84— Methods 
adopted thereat— Village establishments revised — Features of the settlement 
— Settlement of Masinigadi. Bbvenue History of the Wtkaad— The 
former revenue system — ^The first survey — The escheat enquiry. The 
Existing Settlement — ^Its principles — Its results — Settlement of the Ouch- 
terlony Valley. Existing Adminibtbative ^rkanobments. Appendix, 
Commissioners and CoUeotort of the Nilgiris. 

Thb history of the administration of the land revenue on the 
phitean differs altogether from that in the Wynaad and tho' 
Onchterlony Valley^ and the two mast be separately considered. 

On the plateau, the subject divides itself naturally under two 
heads ; namely, revenue settlements with the hill castes and those 
with [Europeans. These must also be treated separately. 

Settlements with the hill castes were again of two classes ; 
namely, those with the T6da graziers and those with the rest of 
the population, who are cultivators ; and the latter may first be 
disposed of. 

When the plateau was first ceded to the British in 1799 by 
the treaty of Seringapatam already (p. *102) referred to, it formed 
part of the Dann£yakank6ttai taluk of the Coimbatore district. 
Hiddar Ali and his son Tipo Saltan had collected revenue in it; 
but except that their officers acted most mercilessly to tbe hill 
people, sometimes despoiling them of the whole of their harvest 
and forcing them to carry their own plundered property down to 
Dann£yakank6ttai, little is known of the system (if system there 
were) on which they levied their assessments. They seem to 
have charged fixed money rates on all land held by a ryot^ 
whether it was cultivated each year or not, and when the district 
oame into British hands the hill people had become terribly im- 
poverished and were usually heavily in arrear with their payments. 

The first settlement after the transfer of the country was 
begun in December 1799 by Major McLeod, Collector of Coimba* 
tore, and was based upon the kamams' accounts. Convinced that 



CHAP. XI. 

BXVENUS 

History, 
On th|5 ;, 

PLATEAt. 



Settlement s 
with the 
onltivating 
hill castes. 



266 TUK NlI^IHIfl. 

OHAP. XI. tlieae doousients were nsnallj inaocaraie or faiae, Major MoLeod 
BsTBNUB obtained sanction to Bnrvejr the hills, and the work waa sappoaed 
HiOToET. ^jyj^g ^Qj^ ^„jed ont in 1800-01. In 1819 Mr. Sullivan 
however reported that this snrvey was a farce ; * the extreme 
inclemency of the climate frightened the snrvejora and prevented 
«them from doing more than making an estimate of the qnantity 
and qnality of the land and fixing the old rates of teerwa opon 
it/ He obtained sanction to a fresh survey, bat apparently this 
was never completed. The average revenue up to 1813 was 
Bs. 14,762, but during the next fourteen years it fell to Bs. 6,i99. 
At one time the«right of collection was leased to a renter. 

The rates of assessment were undoubtedly low (they appear to 
have ranged from 14 annas 9 pies per acce to 3 annas 8 pies and 
to have varied with the appearance of the crop at harvest-time, 
when an estimate of the probable outturn was made by the taluk 
gumastahs and kamams) ' and the ryots benefited much by certain 
curious concessions which of old formed part of the revenue 
system of Coimbatore ; namely, the ' bhurty/ or shifting, 
system^ the ' ayan * grass allowance and the * grazing pattas.* 
The *bbwt7 ' Under the bhurty system, a ryot was allowed to hold tracts 
•jitem. ^ much as five (or even ten) times greater than the extent shown 

in his patta and for which he paid alssessment ; to pay only for 
that portion of them which he actually cultivated each year ; and 
to retain without payment a preferential lien on plots formeriy 
tilled by him, which he could return to and cultivate in rotalion. 
These plots might be miles apart and even in different nids ; but 
if 20 acres only were entered in the patta the ryot only paid for 
20| and yet claimed rigl4» of occupation^ to the exclusion of 
all other applicants, in perhaps 200 acres made up of scattered 
fields in which he selected each year the 20 acres, in one or many 
pieces, which he meant to cultivate and pay for, leaving the rest 
fallow. 

The system would not have been quite so pernicious had the 
extents in which these occupancy rights were claimed been 
properly limited ; but in the absence of any demarcation or proper 
survey they were neither defined nor even identified ; and claims 
to them usually depended merely upon the assertions of the nid 
headmen and the connivance of the subordinate revenue oflBcials. 
If these people did not wish an applicant for land to be suocesaf ol, 
they could easily set up some one to declare that the area selected 
was his bhurty land and there was no one to gainsay them. 

• > Oiichtwlony '• unrxoy report, 86, 3d. 



LAKD BBVEKrE APlimlSTBATIOK. 

The * ayan' grass allowance was a conoessioii whereby a ryoi CHAP. xt. 
. btained possession, under this name, of a certain portion, not Bbtskur 
eioeedinp^ one-fifth, of his holding as fellow at one-fourth of the H istob y. 
proper assessment. This enabled him to defeat any applicanl for ' Ayan ' grass 
a portion of his nominal holding by declaring that that portion was pattae!**'^^ 
his ayan grass land. ' Grazing pattcks ' were granted at one-fourth . 
the naual assessment for inferior land and permitted a ryot to hold 
the land covered by them until it was required for cultivation by , 
limself or another. But the ryot had a preferential right to such 
.And ; and this again enabled him to defeat any one who wished to 
•blain possession of it. * ^ • 

These three concessions rendered it most difficult for Euro- 
{>eans wishing to start coffee or other estates to obtain any land. 
Indeed it might ^ safely be said that, with the exception of the 
home-farm lands of each hamlet, the rest of -the area, cultivable 
or uncultivable, forest or swamp, included within the bounds of 
the seireral n&ds or rural divisions was practically at the disposal 
uf the village elders and subordinate revenue officials.' 

In 1862 the opposition of these economically unsound systems Nominal % 
to the development of the district was brought prominently to ?^^^??/'^ 
notice; and after much correspondence between the Collector, system, 18G3 
the Board, the Government and the Secretary of State it was 
decided in 1863 that the bharty system should be abolished ; 
that, as in other districts, a ryot should have no claim to land not 
mentioned in his patta and for which he paid no assessment ; 
and that as compensation for the withdrawal of a long-standing 
concession the rates of assessment should be reduced. Assess- 
ments above As. 13 per acre were lowered to As. 10 ; those be- 
tween As. 13 and As. 9 to As. 8 ; between As. 9 and As. 6 to As. 6 ; 
between As. 6 and As. 4 to As. 4 ; and those below As. 4 to As. 2. 
These reductions amounted on the average to about 25 per cent. 

In May 1864 the Collector (Mr. Grant), who had been 
directed to carry these orders into effect, said of the bhurty 
system : ' It has ceased, and the people now regard it as a by* 
gone system ; it is never alluded to.' But as a matter of fact it 
had by no means ceased. There was no proper survey to check 
the Badagas' holdings, and though they doubtless avoided jail 
allusion to the bhurty system they prsK^tised it as freely as ever ; 
they were in the comfortable position of having lost none of their 
former privileges while they had at the same time gained a large 
reduction in their assessments. , 

Mr. Grant also introduced the new rates into the KundahS| AMUionof 
which in 1860 had been transferred from the Malabar distnct. plwj^^o^ 

boo \ 



sto 



THX KILSIRII. 



CjSAP XI. 

BB71SN.UE 
tItSTOllf. 



8ettl«menti 
with the 
T<$da8. 



Up to then the xeventie system in force there had coBsified in 
leTjing a tax of Be. 1 or Be. 1-8 for the right to driTe a j^oag^l' 
(^r) and of 4 annas to 8 annas for permission to use a hoe {kaifu ; . 
and.was conseqaentlj- called Srkddu kottukddu. Under tUs^ the so- 
called patta issued to the ryot was really no more than a licejiF« 
to use one or more ploughs or hoes as the case might l>e ; it 
specified the amount to be paid, but in no case defined the extent 
or position of the land which might be cultivated ; and the ryot 
used his implements when and where he pleased. No restric- 
tions, even on the felling of forests, were imposed ; and hill-side^^ 
and valleys w^re cleared promiscuously. 

Mr. Grant was again confident of the value of his action. 
' The door to much fraud has been dosed/ he declared, * and th*.' 
sources of endless disputes and false claims to lands have been 
swept away;' whilst the Burghers (Badagas) and Oovemmenc 
have both immediately benefited, the former by the reduction of 
assessment and the latter by an increased revenue.' But an a 
matter of fact the work had been so indifferently perfonuel that 
the particulars of area entered in the new patfas were utterly 
unreliable ; no boundaries were given ; and the only due to the 
land was its indefinite traditional name. ' Souxoes of dispute 
and false claims to lands, so far from being swept away, were 
rather more numerous and fruitful than before,' and twenty 
years later the Settlement Officer found that the plough an<1 
hoe tax system was still actaally in existence in the village of 
Einnakorai. 

We may now turn to the T6das. The earliest Knglish setUen* 
on the plateau, and notably Mr. Sallivan, strongly advocate.*] 
the absolute propriatafy right of these people to the whole o{ 
the plateau, urging that they were the earliest arrivals there ; 
had pastured their buffieJoes on its grass for years without let f^r 
questioD ; and had only permitted the Badagas to cultivate lantl 
on the hills on condition that they paid the T6das the rect in 
g^rain called gthiu which they still annually handed over. A riva^ 
school, led at first by the Governor, Mr. 8. R. Lushington, 
argued that throughout India the proprietary right in the sral 
belonged to the State ; that the T6das had from time immemorial 
paid to the ruling power a (ax on all their female buffaloes as 
well as an assessment on the grazing land in the immediat** 
neighbourhood of their mands ; and that the gudu, which literal] v 
means ' basket of grain,* was paid by the Badagas to oth(*r 
tribes as well as to the T6d9s, was paid to the latter only by 
aonieof the Badagas, and was apparently less a rent for land 



LAKD BITjSVTfX ADMIlllflTBATION. 



3fl 



-xfopied Hmxt a fi^will ofFering to avert the displeasure of the 
i6i»B, wbo urere supposed to possess malignant powers of soroerj 
7 wbich ihej oonld compass the rain of those who did pot 
i^ienfly propitiate them. 

Private individoals at first bonght land at Ootacamond from the 
Tidaa as ihoagh the latter were the possessors oF the freehold 
'>.reof (Mr. Snlliyan purchased the site of Stonehouse in this 
T^r) and Government at first tacitly recognized the titles so 
' Uinad. They first dealt formally with the question in 1828, 
rlpring^ that European settlers should pay the T6das^ for all ardas 
^.apied, * compensation for the usufruct of the land which they 
.are hitherto enjoyed ' at the rate of* sixteen times the annual 
-^^essment poid by the T6das for pasture; but by 1831 (when 
Mr. Sallivan had ceased to be Collector) the claims of the tribe 
"rere forgotten again and Eurasian settlers were granted waste 
^thoat payment of any such compensation. In 1835 Mr. 
Sallivan, who was now in Council, revived the qaestion. His 
news bordered on the romantic, for he urged that the T6das 
^ posaessed a janmam right to the plateau land from a remote 
-antiquity ; but he carried, the Government of the day and the 
Court of Directors with him. Fresh instructions were issued re- 
idling the manner in which the'T6da8 ' supposed rights should be 
respected^ and after much wrangling with these people (who were 
\y no means slow to appreciate the position to which they had 
^'een elevated) an annual sum of Rs. 150 (apparently interest at 
^) per oent. on the total amount) was ordered to be paid them as 
compensation, at the rate prescribed in 1828, for land which had 
Seen taken up in the cantonment of Oetacamund. This smn 
A still annually disbursed to the T6das of Ootacamund and 
Nunjanid, being treated as a set-off against the amounts due 
inder certain pattas of theirs ; and Bs. 165 is also annually 
p^ to the T6da8 (and Badagas) of Jakkatalla for land taken 
jp Bobeequently for the WeUing^n cantonment. 

In 1840 the pendulum swung back again and Mr. C. M. 
uQshington, now Senior Member of Council, vigorously and ably 
fittacked Mr. SuUiyan's position. In 1843 the question was 
vmoe more referred to the Directors and the latter set it finally 
&t reet in their despatch of June of that year, which Held 
tbat the T6da8 possessed nothing more than a prescriptive right 
to pasture their herds, on payment of a small tax, on Government 
lind« The Court desired that they should be secured from inter* 
farenoe b^ settlers in the enjoyment of their mands and the spots 
appropriated to their religious rites, and pattas were accordingly 



CHAP. ii. 

BRtENOB 



273 THE NIIiOIRIS. 

CHAP. XI. issued granting to each mand three ballas (11*46 acres) of land. 
Bbtbnub In 1863 Mr. Grant obtained permission to make an additional 
inoET. ^il^tment of nine ballas (34'3S acres) to each mand on the ozpres^ 
condition that this should be used only for pastorage and that 
neither it nor the forest on it should ever be alienated. The 
• reservations thus made (which in many cases now exceed the 
twelve ballas originall/ granted) are regarded as the inalienable 
common property of the T6da community ; the practice of leaBint? 
them to Badagas and others for cultivation was checked in lf<8J 
by the imposition of penal assessment, on any patches so treated ; 
and^ as has bfcn explalhed above (p. 212), they are nowoontrolleil 
by the Forest department under a set of rules which, while tbey 
ensure to the T6das the enjoyment of their ancient privileges iu 
them, check all encroachments npon them by any others. 

And with The first Euro^an settlers on the hills, as has been seen, 

o^S^i^U^ often bought land from the T6das. For some years no assess- 
ffTMtt. ment was levied from them, but in 1828 they were required to 

take out leases from Government and pay the usnal qait*rent 
charged on such grants, namely 1^ pagodas (Bs. 5-4-0) on ekch 
cawnie (1*32 acre) of land, or Bs. 3-15-0 per acre. Many pro* 
, perties in Ootacamnnd are still held under the old grants then 

made. Bules, which were never enforced, were drawn up at the 
same time restricting the space to be allotted to each dwelling* 
house to two cawnies, or about 2} acres. The above high rat^ 
of assessment was at first held to apply to all land, even that heM 
for agricultural purposes, in the uplands of T6dan&d ; but in 
1836, at Mr. Sullivan's suggestion, the rates on cultivated land 
at a distance from Ootacamnnd were reduced to those paid by the 
Badagas, while those on land cultivated by immigrants within a 
certain definite area round the town, known as * the settlement of 
Ootacamnnd/ were charged special double rates in view of the 
fertility of the soil and the proximity of the market for produce. 

In January 1837, it having been brought to notice that the 
rates of qoit-rent pressed heavily npon house-owners in Ootaca- 
mnnd, Government decided to charge Bs. {^-4-0 only for the fin<f 
cawnie of any building grant and Be. 1-2-4 per cawnie for th^ 
rest of the land in it. In 1842 an elaborate manual of roles for 
the disposal of land was drawn up, but it did not come into fort o 
until tibe completion of Major Ouchterlony's survey in 1847. It 
provided for the grant of thirty years' leases of land for agricnl- 
tnral purposes and ninety-nine years' leases, renewable every 
thirty-three years, for baQding sites. Many conditions now imrely 
obserred were inserted in these leases ; one in particular provided 



LAND BSTSKUB ADMIN IBTBAnON. 278 

tiiat on their expiration the land, with the buildings on it, should CHAP. XI. 
rererfe absolatelj to Gtovemment. Some modifications were intro- Bevenus 
diiced in 1858 and in the following year the redemption of the n^^^* 
quit-rent was allowed to be made at twenty (subsequently raised 
to twenty.fiye) years' purchase. This privilege was withdrawn, 
howerer, in 1899. 

The Government had for some time been desirous of intro- The Waste 
doeing some method of auctioning land, but the abolition of the o^^s^"^^' 
bhorty system already referred to was a necessary preliminary to 
any such plan. So long, as large and indefinite areas could be 
claimed to be some one's bhurty and the^ was no'evidence on the 
point one way or the other except the testimony of the claimant's 
relations and friends, it y^as almost impossible for any outside 
applicants to get land from Government. When the bhurty 
system was at length done away with, the 'Waste Land Bules of 
1863, which had long been under discussion, were introduced 
(waste land being defined c» that in which no rights of private 
proprietorship or exclusive occupancy existed) and an Act was 
passed to facilitate the disposal of claims to areas put up for sale 
under them. They provided that land applied for was to be demar- 
cated and surveyed and then sold to the highest bidder subject 
to an upset price to cover the cost of survey and to an annual 
assessment of Bs. 2 per acre for forest land and Re. 1 for grass. 

The Waste Land Bules once introduced, it was laid down that 
no one, European or native, could thenceforth obtain a grant of 
any land by any other means. In each of the first three years 
after their introduction between 2,000 and 3,000 acres were sold 
under them to European planters, buff they were never popular 
and the sales soon fell off. In no year between 1867 and 1874 
did the area sold exceed 850 acres and in 1868-69 it amounted to 
oaly four acres. The reasons for this were partly that owing to 
the inadequacy of the district staff great delay occurred in the 
survey and sale of any land applied for, and partly that there was 
nothing to prevent an outsider appearing at the sale and outbid- 
ding the applicant for land which he had taken much time and 
trouble to select. Sometimes also the applicant would be run up 
through private enmity ; sometimes by owners of adjoining land 
who did not want him to come competing with them for the 
small available stock of labour and manure ; and sometimes by 
speculators who gambled on the chance of his afterwards agree- 
ing to buy the land from them at an enhanced price rather than 
face all the delay, uncertainty and expense involved in making a 
fresh application. 
86 



274 



THE KILOIBIS. 



CHAP. ZI. 

Bbvinxji 
HtaTO»T. 



MMinigndi 
an exoep- 
tional tract. 



The tartey 
of 1870-80. 



TBR fiXIRTiNO 
6tTTLRMENT 

or 1881-84. 



In 1871 the rate of Be. 1 per acre for grass land was reduced 
to 8 annas and the assessment on forest land was remitted for the 
first Sve years from the date of purchase on the Nilgiris and for 
the first three years in the Wy naad (where coffee oame to maturity 
more quickly) so that buyers should have to pay nothing for Uieir 
•land until it was bearing a crop. In 1874 grass land taken ap 
for tea or firewood plantations was similarly exempted ; in 188^ 
this concession was extended to land acquired for coffee or cin- 
chona also ; and in 19()4 to any special products of economic im« 
portance which might be specified by Government. In 1899 the 
rules were partly revised^ and special conditions now govern the 
acquisition of land within the limits of Ootacamund and Goonoor. 

It should be mentioned that neither the Waste Land Bnles 
nor Mr Grant's simple rates of assessment of 1863 were ever 
introduced into the trhct round Masinigudi between the northern 
foot of the plateau and the Moy&r. This area has always been, 
and still is, administered on the ordinary ryotwari system nsna) 
elsewhere on the plains. 

Up to 1870 isolated blocks of land applied for under the Waste 
Land Rules and properties in the three chief towns had been sur- 
veyed by special staffs, but no general survey had been under- 
taken since Ouchterlony's in 1847. In 1870 this general survey 
was ordered and begun ; but the want of proper village establish- 
ments, the unhealthiness of the district and the interruptions 
caused by the Great Famine of 1876-78 so much delayed matters 
that it was not until 1880 that the work was oompleted. 

One ol the chief disclosures which resulted from it was that 
the bhurty system, which^Mr. Grant had declared to be dead so 
far back as 1863, was in reality almost as full of vitality as ever. 
The Badagas had bought scarcely an acre under the Waste Land 
Bules, and yet their holdings were much larger than those shown 
in the 1863 pattas and they claimed further additional areas on the 
old plea that they had recently cultivated them and so had a pre* 
scriptive right to them. They were treated with liberality, and 
allowed to hold whatever land they had cultivated and also 
adjoining waste blocks. 

hi 1881 the survey was followed by a settlement. This was 
conducted by Mr. (now Sir Kalph) Benson, I.G.S., and to his 
report on its completion in 1884 this chapter is greatly indebtei). 
It was indeed high time that some order and method was iatro* 
duced into the revenue accounts and village establishments. 

* ^ere were no revenue villages, for the old nids (sometiBies oaUed 
villages) more properly corresponded to taluks or divisions. T6daiiid 



LAND BSVBNUt ADMIKIST RATION. 275 

ftloae contains 217,000 acres. There were hardly any village establish* CHAP. XI. 
meniv and sncli as existed were miserably remai\erated. Scarcely a Tbb KzisnNo 
h(«dman in the district conld read, and the land revenae accoimtB of Skttlxmbnt 

all lands, azcept those in the quit-rent and plantation registers, were ^^ _; ' 

supposed to be kept by four karuams paid about Bs. 3 per mensem 
eadi. As a fact, it may be said that no accounts were kept except the 
ehitta (individual ledger) and some imperfect collection accounts . .* 
• The quit-rent and plantation registers, which related mostly to 
tho lands of European planters or to lands in Ooonoor and Ootacamuud, 
were kept in the Oommissioner's office, and, as the bills for assessment 
were also issued from his qffioe, much of his time was spent in matters 
whoeh would properly devolve on the tah^ldars. H often happened, 
too, that, betwera these several registers kept ky the karnam and the 
Commissioner, land escaped registration (and assessment) altogether. 
Each office thought that the land was in the other's register. There 
were no general registers for fixed areas, nor did the registers usually 
state the tenure on which any land was held. Some lands were ordinary 
pntta Iand#. Others were held on restrictpd pattas, of which there were 
titree classes : — those issued to (1) Europeans, (2) T^das, and (3) Irulas. 
Other lands were held under Waste Land Bules, deeds, or under 
|)ernianent pattas or under ninety-nine years' leases, or (in Welling- 
ton) fifty years' leases. There were also quit-rent lands not held on 
lease, and free-holds and firewood allotments, and lands held on special 
deeds or terms. In such a mliltiplicity of titles it is easy to see how 
important it is thit the registers should be dear and well kept.' 

The settlement thus had to deal with a condition of things Methods 
differing widely from the normal ; and consequently its methods ^^*^ 
were quite unlike those of the ordinary settlements on the plains. 
Soils were not classified ; nor were the existing rates of assess- 
ment altered. The work consisted chiefly in the revision of the 
revenae accounts and the proper entry in them of all land in 
occupation and the assessment chargeable thereon. A set of rules 
governing the procedure to be followed was drawn up by the 
Settlement Commissioner and the modus operandi was briefly as 
follows : — 

' (1) Each nid, or division, was sub-divided into villages of con- 
venient size for administrative purposes, natural or weU known 
boundaries being adopted as far as possible, and due regard being 
paid to area, population, revenue and such like matters. The four 
ndds were thus split up into thirty-six villages. 

(8) A map of the village was then obtained from the survey 
department and the fields were numbered consecutively. 

(8) With this map and the survey registers relating to the lands 
in the village, a subordinate was sent to the village, and, with the 
assistance of the revenue officials, he made a preliminary inquiry into 
all matters in dispute connected with the survey or settlement, and 



2?6 THE NiLGlktS. 

CHAP. XI. with the registration of transfers of pattas, applioations for land, 
Thb Bxiitino improper iuolnsion of forests ia priyate holdings, statistios of oulti- 

*(4) On his return to office he reported particolars of each matter 

to the Settlement Officer and received orders on donbtfid cases which 
required no inspection of the land or further inquiry. The matters 
requiring inspection or further inquiry were noted hy the Settlement 
Officer, and then the village was inspected by him in detaiL OrantA 
of land applied for under the Settlement Rules were disposed of, or, i f 
necossaiy, reported to the Collector or Oovemment. Village grafting 
lands were selected and set apart. Be^erves for roads, streamB, 
swamps and forelts, not pAviously made, were selected and recorded. 
Lands available for sale were also selected and recorded. Lists of 
new demarcations required, owing either to omissions or errors in the 
original surveys, were prepared, and the necessary detailed orders 
were sent to the Suryey Officer for execution. Government lands 
claimed without title were inspected and the necessity (or otherwise) 
of resisting the claim was considered. Where valua\>le forests were 
included in private holdings the rights of Government were asserted, 
and where large excess areas were included and there appeared no 
objection to the occupation of lands, a patta was issued on suoh terma 
as to future assessment and payment of arrears or penalty as waa 
considered reasonable, the Collector being consulted in all important 
cases. Inam lands were dealt with in tfcoordanoe with G.O., No. 313, 
dated 11th February 18B4. 

(6) All the above points having been settled, and tiie new 
snrveys having been made, a general register of all the lands in the 
village was framed, showing not only aU private holdings, with the 
area, rate of assessment and total assessment payable thereon and the 
tenure on which held, but also showing all Gbvemment lands ranged 
under their appropriate hea^ as reserved forest, swamp, read, stream, 
grasiog ground, available for sale, etc. The distinction between lands 
registered in the GoUector's office and in the kamam's was aboliahed, 
and all the lands (including many which had previously esoaped 
registration altogether) were entered in the one village register. 

(6) Brief descriptive memoirs of each important estate were 
then prepared in oommunication with the proprietort. 

(7) From the general register the obitta (or individual ledger) 
was prepared, showing for each landowner in the village the several 
land» held by him, and he was furnished with a copy of this, under 
the name of the settlement rqugh patta, and asked to bring to notice 
any errors or omissions within a fixed time. 

(8) After all appeals had been heard, the maps and registers 
were finally revised, abstract statements |irepared, a descriptive 
memoir and register in diglott written up and sent to be )>rint<>d with 
an eye sketch of the village bound up with the register. 



LaKD BSVEifUE ADJitlKUTBATION. 2*17 

(9) The map of the village, numbered to correspond with the CHAP. XI. 
agister, and prepared on the scale 16 inches = 1 mile, was then sent TheEzistino 
to the Survey ofKoe to be lithographed and sold to the public. «The Smtlemknt 
mem<ar and register, on being printed, was also made available for ^^ ' 

Idle to the public and was supplied, with a copj of the map, to all the 
paUic offiises of the district.' 

To provide for the proper future maintenance of the accounts Village estab- 
and reg^ters thu3 drawn up it was absolutely necessary to j^^^***" 
ftrengtlieii the village establishments, which were small and 
madeqaately paid by assignments of revenue. A complete scheme 
for tlieir revision was accordingly prepared by the Settlement 
Officer and sanctioned by G-ovemment ; nid the Village Cess Act 
of 1864 was specially extended to the district by Act I of 1883.^ 
Certain modifications of this scheme were made in 1895. 

One of the most important (and most popular) features of the Features of 
settlement was the grant thereat of unallotted lands to those who ^^^Jf 
applied for them. Native pattadars were granted, at an assess- 
ment of 10 annas per acre, such land as they wanted round their 
holdings to a total extent of 4,376 acres ; and owners of estates 
were gi^en, at Us. 2 per acre, areas which they required to round 
off their boundaries, provide grazing for their cattle and so on, 
to a total extent of 4,075 acres. Both classes obtained this land 
with less trouble and expense than would have been involved if 
they had bought it under the Waste Land Bules, and as they 
would never have taken it at all under those rules Government 
gained by the payment of assessment on a large area which 
otherwise would have remained unappropriated. Every grant 
was inspected by the Settlement Officer to see that it inoloded 
uo forest and was otherwise unobjectionable. Village grazing- 
grounds to the extent of 24,061 acres were similarly inspected 
and set aside for communal use ; and 18,366 acres more were 
classified as available for sale under the Waste Land Rules. 

The survey had disclosed an excess of no less than 75*5 per 
cent, in the extent actually occupied over that shown in the old 
revenue accounts^ and (including the grants above referred to) 
the net increase in area and assessment brouerht about by the 
>iurvey and settlement was 56,890 acres assessed at Bs. 45,813, the 
latter figure being 136*2 per cent, more than the former revenue. 
The average assessment on land held by the indigenous 
cultivating castes, as fixed at the settlement, was only a fraction 
over six annas an acre ; but on the other hand they were now for 

^ A Bhort history of the old village eBtablishments will be found in 
Mr. Barlow*! letter in G.O., No. 142, LegiBlatiTe, dated 28th November 1882. 
Th« Tfllafl^e ceaa was aboliahed with effect from lit April 1906. 



37p tHi mLODUi. 

CHAP. XI. th^ first time obliged to pay for all the land in tbeir occapatioii, 
f H« ExisTixa and since mncli of the soil is too poor to be regularly croppeii 

Of lS8l-^4. ^^7 1^ ^ P^7 ^^6 assessment on their &Uow8 from the produce 

of tHe land thej aotuallj cultivated. Until the settlement ^vb.h 

ii^troduced, the old ' bhartj ' system had remained in fall force 
* sind such fallows paid nothing. 

The general resnlts of the sarvey aud settlement were summed 
up as follows by Mr. Benson : — 

* All private hoHings have been defined, mapped and registered. 
Every man now knows his own, and oai| have a plan of it for a fem* 
annas. The lodg pending disputes between Government and land- 
holders as to their boundaries have been settled. Large areas of 
forest, wrongfully claimed, have been recovered for Oovernment, and 
titles (so far as pattas are titles) have been granted for the areats 
admitted at settlement to belong to olaimants, thus rendering their 
properties more valuable and more marketable. Coaeiderable mnm» 
have been granted to private persons under the Settlement Rolee, to 
tlieir no small satisfaction and the increase of the public revenues. 
The land revenue accounts have been thoroughly revised, and efficient 
village establishments have, for the first time, been organised to keep 
tlie accounts and attend to the collection of the revenue and other 
cognate duties. The areas available for sale in the demaroated 
portions of the district have been registered, so that both the pnbtic 
and the district officers can know them merely by examining the maps 
and registers. In like manner all the lands reserved as forest, swamp, 
road, stream, etc., and the areas set apart as village gnudng grounds 
io the demarcated portions of the district have been defined and 
recorded, both on the ground and in the maps and registers.* 

Settlement of Masinigudi village, as already explained, had always been 

MMmigndi. treated differently to the*land on the plateau aud the settlement 

there was revised subsequently on the ryotwari system. Land 

in occupation was surveyed and domarcat'ed in 1885^6 and the 

seventeen rates of assessment (two for wet and fifteen for dry 

land) in force were reduced to nine, wet land being charged 

either Rs. S or Bs. 2 per acre and dry land seven rates ranging 

from Ks. 2-8 to 4 annas. 

Bbtcnui The earliest British revenue settlement of the South-east 

t?«"wtkaad ^^y^**^ ^^* carried out al)Out 1806, shortly after the death of 

-, ^ ' * the Pychy rebel ' referred to on p. 105 above, by Mr. Warden, the 

rsremie Principal Collector of Malabar, within which district the Nilgiri 

qrttem. WyAaad then lay. His method consisted in aacertaiBiBg by 

experiment the produce of seed sown in each amsam (in the 

Nilgiri Wynaad this was fixed at nine-fold); finding out the 

number of potis of seed per acre which was sown by the ryot 

(a poti equals 30 seers} ; multiplying this by the figure nine (the 



UkUB BEVXNUE ADMINIBT RATION. 279 

aoltiple oattarxi) to get the gross prodaoe; dedacting there* CHAP. XI. 
rrom three potis per acre for oaltivation expenses ; dividing the Bsvenu£ 
reoamder equally between the ryot, the jwmi and Gov^mmeht ; the Wy Jaao. 

lad ooflunatingf the Qovemment's one- third at rates varying 

vilh local cirouBistances. The obvious disadvantages of this 
3i0thod were that it was impossible to find oat how much seed • 
Todlj was sown; that the figure of multiple outturn was the 
^9jDe for all soile — ^good, bad or indifferent — in each arasam ; and 
*hat the conunutation rates varied at the will of subordinates. 
Partly to meet thes6 drawbacks, the amount of seed sown was 
allowed to bo arbitrarily assumed and lowered or raised according 
:*) local circnmstances, such as the poverty of the land or its 
liability to damage by elephants ; and the commutation rates 
were fixed for each amsam. But clearly these steps did not 
remove the objections to the system, for the. amsam officials who 
were left to fix the amount of seed sown were often themselves 
large proprietors who were interested in patting it as low as 
{ossible^ and it was not fair to have the same commutation rate 
for remote villages as for those near large centres. Eventually the 
aasnmed amount of seed^ sown was gradually so reduced by the 
amsam officials that it came to only one-half (or even one-fourth) 
^f the actuals, and the Government share of the crop was dimi- 
nished in proportion. Subsequently janmabh6gam vms separately 
assessed on land which was Government janmam and iu 1^60 
the rate of this was fixed at 8 annas per acre on all occupied land, 
whether it was cultivated or not. J uggling with the figures by 
the amsam officials however resulted in even this fixed payment 
being much reduced in practice.^ 

Dry land was not assessed until 18^8, when it was charged 
Be. 1-4-0 per acre when spasmodically cultivated or 10 annas per 
acre if held permanently. The Government janmabh6gam on 
tbis was again fixed at 8 annas per acre. In 1860 land cultivated 
with coffee was assessed at Rs. 2 per acre from the third year after 
planting |7/u« the usual janmabh6gam. The South-east Wynaad 
was transferred to this district in 1877 and these systems conti- 
nued until the present settlement was begun in 1886. 

The first survey of the Wynaad was begun in 1859 and The first 
carried on in a fitful and desultory manner under the supervision •"'^'®y^- 
alternately of the Settlement department and the Collector of 
Malabar until 1870, when it was made over to the Survey depart- 
nent. It was not completed until 1879 and was brought ap to 
date in 1886. 

> InterMiiBg detailed pftrtioii]wr8 of this oaenal ejsfeesi wiU be fouid in 
Ifv. C^ltet^Mi Stuart's re^KMrt in Bi"., 9o. S909, deted 18th Oc^oher l9^. 



d80 



THE KILOIBIl. 



OHAP. XI. 

BmvEVVK 

HinoBY or 

TBI Wthaao. 

Tbeetelie»t 
enqmirj. 



Thb ButTIKO 
Sbttlbmknt. 

lU iiriiioi- 
ples. 



Between 1884 and 1885 a detailed enqnirj was made into the 
extfnis of land winch had escheated to Government owing* to 
their.having belonged to the Pychy rebel and his folbwera and 
having accordingly been declared to be eeqaestrated. The matter 
had long been discossed academicaUj and the neceasitj for 
speedily conolading it in earnest was emphasized by the gol<?- 
boom of 1879-82, during the course of which land which wba 
apparently Government property had been leased and sold to 
the mining companies by the local janmis. 

The resalt^of the enquiries then lliade have all been printed 
and go to show that there is reason for supposing that ^mam 
right above the gh^fs was a creation of British administration 
and due to insufficient knowledge among the earlier officers of the 
true position of affairs. However this may be, the net up-shot of 
the enquiries was that, of the three amsams comprised in the 
Nilgiri Wynaad, Nambalak6d was declared to be the jaamam 
property of the Nilamb6r Timmulp^d an*! 27 percent, of Munandd 
and 1 per cent, of Ch^rank6(l to be similarly the janmam land of 
the Wander Namb6drip^d, the Melli^lam Arasu and two other 
smaller proprietors. The Ouchterlony Valley is also the janmam 
property of the Nilamb6r TirumulQ&d. 

The necessitj of permanently securing the results of thU 
escheat enquiry by the preparation of regular and complete land 
registers of the usaal kind le<l to the resettlement of the Wynaad. 
The work was begun in 1886. 

The following are the principles upon which it proceeded : 
Land was classed as wet or dry, the former including .the 
numerous paddy-flat« and swamps locally known as vayaU^ nilanu^ 
or khandapni ; wot land was assessed at nine rates varying by incre- 
ments of four annas from 8 annas to Rs. 2-8-0 per acre according 
to the soil, though no land was in practice charged either of tho 
two highest rates ; dry land was assessed at foar rates ranging by 
increments of 8 annas from 8 annas an acre to Hs. 2, the soils being 
roughly classified under the four headings of (a) forest and 
coffee, etc., cultivation, (b) superior scrub, {e) inferior somb and 
best grass and (e/) inferior grass ; on (Tovemment janmam land, 
whether wet or dry, a janmabh6gam of H annas per acre was 
charged; existing coffee, etc., estates held under private janmis 
or in Government escheats were assessed at Rs. 2 (•er acre 
for all land cultivated in them and 6 pies per acre for uncolti* 
vated areas ; but land held under the Waste Land Rules was not 
affteted and estates held on Government patta were treated like 
ordinary land« The fundamental alteration in the existing system 



LAND BBVBKTTS ADMIKISTBATION. 



281 



that a tax on ooonpation, as in other settled distriots, was CHAP. XI. 
snbfltitated for one on onltivation, or rather on the extent of oolti- 'i*HB Dxistik* 
vation returned by an inadequate and badly-paid subordinate ■'"^^^nt. 
revenue staff. 

The net results of the settlement, which was concluded early Iti resalta. 
in 1887, were as under: On wet land, the extent assessed, the 
asseasixkent, and the janmabhdgam were raised by 168, 327 and 
•284 per cent, respectively ; on estates by 784, 61 and 9,385 per 
cent, respectively ; on dry holdings other than estates by 22, 187 
and 2 per cent, respectively ; and on all descriptions of land taken 
toother by 403, 139 and ^25 per cent, r^spective^. 

These startling increases were explained to be chiefly due to 
the great extent of concealed cultivation which had been brought 
to light, to the manner in which the Government demand under 
the former settlement had been whittled^ down by the lower 
revenue subordinates, and to the results of the escheat enquiries, 
which had resulted in janmabh6gam being levied on large extents 
which had previously escaped. It was pointed out that the 
average assessment on occupied wet land was so low as Be. 1-12*9 
per acre. The enhanced wet rates were eventually introduced by 
degrees, the increase being added by increments at the rate of 25 
per cent, annually. 

Hardly had the settlement come into force when the High 
Ciourt's well-known judgment declaring that (iovernment should 
idbue pattas in the name of the janroi, and not of the occupier, 
was promnlgated ; and many of the registers had to be re-written. 

The Secretary of State was apprehensive of the result of the 
great increase in assessment which the settlement had brought 
about and directed that the effect of it should be carefully watched. 
A series of reports on this point thus came to be written in the 
years which followed. The District Officers were for the most 
part of opinion that, though the coffee and other estates had been 
trebled leniently enough, the increased rates imposed on wet and 
dry cultivation by natives did not sufficiently allow for the facts 
that the labour supply was scarce ; the country very unhealthy ; 
and the ravages of wild animals, particularly pig, deer and 
elephants, most serious in certain parts. They pointed out that 
members of the Chetti landholding class were now to be seen 
▼orking for daily wages on coffee estates, a thing unknown in 
former days. Government, however, after considering the whdle 
question at length on several successive occasions, adhered to the 
view that the assessments on the whole were uot too high and 
that the considerable relinquishments of wet land whicl^ had 
86 



262 THR muaiRiB. 

CHAP. XI. andoubtedly oocnrred were duiB to the OhettiB abandoning worth- 

TuaSxxsTiNe less patches now that thej had for the first time to paj for all 

KTTLKMBNT. j^^j^j £jj their occupation, and not merely for the areas they 

actnaUy ooltivated. 

8ett)ement The Ouchterlony Valley, the position 'and history of which 

Oaohterlony <^^ sketched on pp. 372-377 below, was first surveyed in 1872, 'w^s 

^^•llej. " resurveyed in 1887, and was settled in 1889. The land tenure 

there is the same as in the Nilgiri Wynaad, the Nilamb^r Tim- 

mnlp^d being the janmi ; and the new settlement followed the 

principles adopted in the latter area. There was no wet land in 

the Valley nor any dry fields of the ordinary kind, and the only 

areas nnder cultivation ^ere coffee and other estates. These had 

formerly been charged Bs. 2 on every acre ooltivated and Dothin^ 

on nnooltivated areas, and were now assessed at Us. 2 per acre 

on the ooltivated area and 6 pies on the oncoltivated, as in the 

Wynaad. So populaf* at that time was this system, which allowed 

planters to extend their coltivation without extra charge dorin>{ 

the thirty years for which the settlement was to be in force, that 

Mr. Wapshare, who represented the Ooohterlony Trost, the 

biggest holders in the Valley, threatened that onless it was 

followed there he woold appeal to the Secretary of State. 

The resolt of the sorvey and settlement was that the total 
area assessed increased (owing chiefly to the inclosion for the 
first time of oncnltivated areas) by 212 per cent, and that the 
assessment itself was enhanced by 47 per cent, owing to over 
2,000 acres of cultivated land having previously escaped taxation 
and to the oncoltivated area, which had formerly paid nothingi 
being now charged 6 pies per acre. 

ButTiNs The changes in revenue jorisdiction over the Nilgiris which 

^ivia"^* have from time to time occurred have already been sketched in 

a^weiMsvTB. Chapter II above. It first became a separate charge in 1868, 

and a list of the Comnussioners and Collectors who have presided 

over its destinies since that date is given in the Appendix to this 

chapter. 

While the district was under a Commissioner it was not split 
op into divisions as usual elsewhere, but the jurisdiction of the 
Commissioner and his Assistant were oonterminoos. In lhH2, 
when the country was first made a CoUectorate of the ordinary 
type, the Uead Assistant Collector (who was, and still is, the only 
Divisional Officer) was posted to Coonoor. In Joly of that year, 
however, the increasing importance of the gold-mining indostzj 
iu the ISouth-east Wynaad led Government to transfer his head- 
quarters temporarily to D^v4La and give him charge of the 



I^ANB BEVBNUB ADMINI8TBATI0N. 283 

Qiiaiia talnk. In 1883 he moyed to the Baloarres bungalow, a c^HAP. Jl. 
mile or so east of PandalAr, and rented for his office the substan- Existing 
tial bailding at the latter place which had been originally erected ^xrvi^"^' 
as a mining-store and is still known as ' the catcherry bungalow ^ ; kakobmbntb. 
bat later in the year his office was moved back into a rented 
banding at D^v&la. In 1885 this latter place, and in 1889 * 
PandaUu' again, was made his nominal head-quarters ; but as a 
matter of fact, the gold-mining industry being now dead, he spent 
most of his time in GMal6r, Naduvattam and Ootaoamund. He 
was given in 1885 the powers of a District Munsif which had 
before been exercised by the deputy tahstldar of GF6dal6r. 

In 1891 Government ordered his head-quarters to be trans- 
ferred to Gfidal6r, but, on the Collector's earnest representation 
that that place was not fit for the permanent residence of a Euro- 
pean, they said that though his office mxist be in GMal6r he 
bimself might live at Naduvattam. Two years later this order 
^Bs withdrawn and the Head Assistant, who for some time had 
been in Uotacamund on forest settlement work, was allowed to 
remain there permanently, going down periodically to G-^dalAr to 
dispose of any suits which his position as District Munsif required 
him to try. 

In 1905 the growing importance of Coonoor was forcibly 
brought to the notice of G*ovemment and the Head Assistant was 
transferred to that place and given charge of the Coonoor taluk ; 
the Collector took direct control of the other two taluks ; and (in 
1906) the deputy tahsildar of G^dal^r again became a District 
Munsif. These arrangements still continue. 

Coonoor taluk is in charge of a tekhsildar and a stationary sub- 
magistrate; G^daMr of a deputy tahsildar and sheristadar- 
magistrate ; and Ootacamund of a deputy tahsildar. The district 
has only one Deputy Collector, who is in charge of the treasury 
Work at Ootacamund. No treasury, in the ordinary sense of the 
''^ord, exists there ; the Government money is kept at the Ootaca- 
mund branch of the Bank of Madras, where receipts and disburse* 
ments are made on the authority of the Deputy Collector. 

Judicial administration is dealt with in Chapter XIII. 



2^4 



G9AP. XI. 



THE VlhEklMB. 
APPENDIX. 



09mmu9i&n$ri and CMhHort 9ftU Htlfirii. 



Dftte of taking charge. 



let Augnflt \%W 



20tb June 1872 .. 



21at October 1876 
IStli December 1876 
18tb Marcb 1878 



Name. 



2lBt May 1880 
27th Norember 1881 



iBt February 1882 
17th October 1882 
22nd March 1883 

9th February 1884 
9th, April 1889 



Cimmi99im$ri, 



fames WilkinBon Breekt. Wrote Ik$ Pn- 
mitive THh$9 and MonummU of th§ Nila- 
g%ri9. Was Priyate Seoretaiy to Sir 
William DeniM>n, 1861--64. Died at 
Ootacamund on 6th June 1872 and is 
buried in St. Stephen's cemetery. The 
Breaks' Memoriul School was founded in 
his memory. 
John Rennie Gockerell. Made the race* 
i course on the Downs which is called after 

him *• Cockey's Course.' 
William Horatio Comyn. 
Alexander McCallum Webster. 
I Richard Wellesley Barlow. GTandson of 
i Sir Oeorgd Hilaro Barlow, o.c.b., who 
I was Governor-General from 1805 to 1807 
I and Oovemor of Madras from then till 
1812, and whose portrait by Wataon 
hangs in the Banqueting Uali at Madras. 
• Ho succeeded to the baronetcy in 1889, 

before he retired, and died in 1906. 
Norton Aylmer Honpell. 
Bichard Wellealey Barlow. 



Oolkctori. 



Richard Wellesley Barlow. 

Arthur Johnston Brooks Atkinson. 

Francis Brandt. Puisne Judge of the 
Madras Iligh Court from 1884 to (887. ■ 

Leonard Robert Burrows. ' 

Charles FaUdner MacCailiie. Private Se* 
cretary to Lord Wenlook. Made a OXE, 
on Ibt January 1896. Retired in 1896 
and was killed in aotion durinff the Boer 
War at Dreifonteio on 10th Maroh 1900 
when semng with Boberts' Horse. The 
MacCartie Ward at St. Bartholomew'*! 
Hospital was founded in his memory. 



IJUfn> BBTIBUX ADMIllIiTB^TIOH. 
Obmmi«ftofi#f« and CMkffiors of the Nilfftrii—ooni. 



386 



DKfce of taking ttbargv. 



16th Deeember 1891 



19th January 1893 

1%iA Deeember 1893 
16th April 1895 



19th Jidy 1895 
mh, Noyember 1895 
9tli Apnl 1896 
16th August 1896 
I7th Norember 1897 



2l8t Fehniaiy 1898 
27ih May 1898 
12th June 1898 
27«h July 1898 
Ist February 1899 
Ibth Juae 1899 

2nd August 1899 
list December 1900 

iBt May 1901 

4tIiMay 1901 
10th May 1905 

8th July 1905 

8ih NoTember 1905 



Nftine. 



John David Bees. Priyate Secretary to 
three successive Governors — Sir M. E. 
OrantDuff, Lord Oonnemara and Lord 
Wenlock. Government Translator in 
Tamil, Telugu, Persian and Hindust&ni. 
* Besident in •Travanocy^e and Cochin, 
Additional Member of Viceroy's Coimcil, 
1895-1900. Made a O.l.E. on 20th May 
1890. Betired in 1900. Author of 
numerous books and articles in the 
magazines. Becajne Liberal M.P. for 
^lontgomery District in 1906, 'Bees' 
riomer ' on the Downs is so called because 
he broke his collar-bone there. 

Francis D'Arcy Osborne Wolfe-Murray. 
Betired on an invalid pension in 1903, 

John David Bees, 

Henry Alexander Sim, Private Secretary 

. to Sir Arthur Havelock, 1897-1901. 
Made a CLE. on 1st January 1901, 
Additional Member of the Viceroy's 
Council, 1905-06. 

John David Bees. 

Edward Greswell Bawson. 

John David Bees. 

James Henry Apperley Tremenheere. 

Harold Arthur Stuart. Private Seeretaiy 
to Sir Arthur ^avelock, 1896-97, Made 
a 0,S.I, on 1st January 1904 and the first 
Director of Criminal Intelligence in* April 
of the same year. Created K.0.V,O. on 
19th March 1906. 

Donald William Garden Oowie. 

James Henry Apperley Tremenheere. 

Donald William Garden Cowie. 

Alan Butterworth. 

Charles James Weir. 

Sydney Gordon Boberts. Head Assistant 
Collector in charge, 

Charles James Weir. 

Charles Mylne Mullaly. 

Charles James Weir. 

Char)e.s Mylne Mullaly. 

Alexander Lidderdale Hannay. 

Charles Mylne Mullaly. 

liewellyn Eddison Buckley. 



CHAP. ZI. 
Appbn»iz. 



S8« 



THR inLoimu. 



CHAPTER XII. 
SALT, ABKAbI and MISOELLANEOnS BEYENXJE. 



CHAP. Xil. 

Salt. 



Sftltpetre. 



▲bkXbi and 
Opium. 



Toddy. 



Salt— Saltpetre. AaKimi and Opium— Toddy-^Arrftok—Fomgn liquor— Beer — 

Opium and bemp-dmgs. Imcomi-Taz. Stamps. 

• 

Thb district produces n& salt, and that wUcli is consamed in it is 
imported. It contains no salt-earth either; and the illicit mana- 
facture of earth-salt, which in so many other areas has occasioned 
the authorities such trouble, has never caused an7 difficulties. The 
Salt (Jommission of 1876 reported that in those days the salt 
dealers at Ootacamund obtained black salt from Ponn^ni in 
Malabar district, and white salt from Madras, but at present the 
salt consumed in the district is the lighter variety manufactured 
in the pans in the Bombay Presidency, which is brought to Calicut 
by sea and thence by rail to M^ttupdilaiyam or Coonoor and on 
by cart. Salt is sold wholesale at the pans by weight, but 
retailed in the bazaars by measure*; and the dealers therefore 
prefer the light Bombay salt to the heavier kinds made in the 
Madras pans, as it gives them a greater profit. The unusual 
cost of transport naturally makes salt rather dearer on the hiU$i 
than in the plains, and in 1905-06 the price averaged Bs. 3--6-10 
per maund. 

No saltpetre is made in the district ; but considerable quanti- 
ties, l]oth crude and refined, are imported for manuring ooffe^ 
estates (tea is less systematically manured) from the Goimbatore 
and Trichinopoly districts, where it is manufactured in rather a 
primitive way by the natives from the nitrous soils which are so 
common there. The imports of saltpetre from Calcutta which 
appear in the trade statistics consist df the twice-refined product 
which is used in the Cordite factory at Aravank^d. 

The abk^ri revenue consists of that derived from country spirit 
(arrack) , foreign liquor, beer, and hemp-drugs. Statistics regard- 
ing certain of these items, and also concerning opium, will be 
found in the separate Appendix. 

Toddy-yielding palms do not grow on the plateau, and that 
beverage is neither made there nor imported, but beer takes it a 
place. In the Wynaad, sago palms {Caryota urenM) are Bcattered 
sporadioaUy, often in inaccessible places, but only a small number 



MAI/Sy ABKIbi A19D MISGELLAKB0TJ8 BBVBNUB. 881 

t{ them are tapped and they are not taxed. Those growing in OHAP. XII. 
frivate gardens are most often utilized, but their owners seldom ABKiBi and 
tnink of charging their neighbours anything if thej happeil to I!Z?* 
ji^e them a drink and the arrack revenue is not affected". In 
1^76 orders -were issned prohibiting the drawing of toddy in this 
▼ay without a license, but the Kurumbas and other jungle-tribes * 
'esrged that these instructions mi^ht be rescinded, de^lEudng that 
^^.eir gods ^were very displeased at no longer receiving offerings 
^f strong drink at the periodical festivals, and were in oonse- 
^Qence l>ringing down upon them all manner of misfortunes. 
The orders were withdraVn in the same year ; and at present 
'he operation of all the provisions of the Madras Abk^ri Act 
which relate to toddy has been suspended within the district. 

Arrack, or country spirit, is supplied at present under what is Arraok 
termed the contract distillery supply system, which was introduced 
in 1901-02. Under this the exclusive privilege of manufacture and 
supply of country spirits throughout the district is disposed of by 
tender, the successful tenderers paying an excise duty on spirit 
issaed from their distillery and selling it wholesale at rates fixed 
by €k>Temment, while the right of retail sale at the sanctioned 
shops is disposed of annually, shop by shop, by auction. 

The tenderer at present Is Bao Bahadur Tiruv^nkatasv^mi 
Mudaliy^r, whose distillery is at Goimbatore. He distils arrack 
from pcklmyra jaggery there and supplies a ^warehouse' at 
Coonoor, and wholesale ddpdts have been established elsewhere in 
the district. Messrs. Bangayya Gavundan & Go. own a distillery 
on the plateau itself, at Aravankid near Coonoor, but, as they 
found themselves unable to work the cp/itraot for the supply of 
the district jointly with the Goimbatore firm, their distillery wa» 
closed in 1904. 

Drunkenness among the natives is more than usually notice- 
able in Ootaoamund, especially upon ' shandy day,^ or Tuesday, 
when the big weekly market takes place. Shandy day is a kind 
of general holiday in the town, and domestic servants belonging 
to the plains, who are ever under the temptation to fortify them- 
selves with strong waters against the unaccustomed cold and wet 
of the hill climatC) take advantage of the fact ; the cartmen who 
have travelled up with merchandise from the low conntiy, tired 
and iU-clad as they are, fall with even greater readiness ; whil^ 
the Badagas and other inhabitants of the hiUs who have brought 
m vegetables and other produce to the market are unusually flush 
of ca^ then, and indulge in a luxury which is unattainable in 
their distant villages or on the other six days of the week. The 



THl tflLOIBIB. 

OOAP. JOT. liqaor shops lie along main tboronghfares used bj Bnropeaiis, and 
AwmiMi AiTD dronkenness is thas brought to their notice more than it would be 
"^' '' in the ordinary town, into the back basaars of whioh thej woald 
seldom penetrate. The matter has therefore frequently attracted 
notice. In 1856 the Nilgiri abk^ri oontiaot was for the first time 
• sold separately from that of the rest of Ooimbatore district, the 
term being for five years and the price Bs. 24,600 per annam for 
29 shops. In 1860, drunkenness among the domestio servants of 
Bnropeans at Ootaoamnnd was so noticeable that the reaidents 
held a pablio meeting, inflnentiaUy attended, which adopted 
sundry resolnttons askJEig Gk>vemmeilt to legislate about the 
matter. The Ootaoamond servants, it may be noted, have always, 
with exceptions, been the offsooarings of their class — no naan 
caring to work in Ootaoamond, away from his relations and his 
beloved bazaar, who pan get a good post on the more ooogenial 
plains — and the then Oommandant of the Nilgiris stated that half 
of them were either liberated or escaped convicts. The public 
meeting roundly declared that their ' insolence, fraud and drunken- 
ness ' were ' mainly due to the working of the Abkiri depart- 
ment' and had * caused a state of matters at Ootacamund that was 
absolutely intolerable.' The Board of Revenue oonsulted the 
^ Improvement Committee ' and other residents of the town and 
in the end the number of arrack shops in the plaoe (twelve; 
was reduced, the smaller beer shops were put down, and a person 
who, under cover of a license to sell ' good wholesome beer/ was 
retailing a highly spirituous liquor which he styled ' Ginger wine * 
was suppressed. 

In 1892, upon the question again attracting attention, three 
more liquor shops near the market were closed ; while to stop the 
favourite practice of mixing beer with spirits, whioh makes a 
very heady beverage, country-brewed beer was no longer allowed 
to be sold in foreign liquor taverns. 

The only part of the district into which smuggling of liqaor 
from the low country ever appears to be attempted is the 
Ouchterlony Valley. The three liquor shops there were dosed 
in 1893-94 at the request of the planters and, since licit liqaor 
is cheaper in the Ernad taluk of Malabar (which adjoins the 
YaHey on the south) than in the Nilgiris and illicit distillatiou is 
not difficult on account of the wild nature of the country, risk of 
the smuggling of spirit exists. 
Vorsign The supply of foreign liquor is controlled on much the usual 

Mqw- system, Ucenses to vend wholesale or retail being issued on 

payment ot the prescribed fees or, in the case of tavemsj sold by 
auotioB* 



BALTy ABKAbI and MISCELLASBOX^S BBYBHUS, 280 

One of the first things which strack the early visitors to the CHAP. XIL 
Kilgriri plateau was the possibility of making there the beer Abkabi and 

which in those dajs was regarded almost as a necessary of * life ' 

and was imported all the way from Englemd in bottle. They saw Beer, 
that barley was already cnltivated in large quantities and that 
the dunate was cool enough for brewing. As early, therefore, * 
as 1826 * extremely good beer ' was brewed on the Nilgiris from 
baidqr malt of native manufacture and English hops,^ and in 
1827 the Ootacamand ^ Station Oommittee ' urged Oovemment 
to establish a brewery to supply malt liquor to the European 
troops. They said that the hill barley ,yu their jopinion, would 
malt excellently and that hops would grow if once plants were 
introduced. Priyate efforts to grow them had failed, and the 
Committee begged Government to bring* out some seedlings in 
the next year's ships. Hops, it may here 'hfi noted, have never 
yet been successfully cultivated on the hills, and have to be 
imported ; and the better kinds of barley tried there (see p. 167) 
have been found always to deteriorate rapidly, either owing to 
<}efecte in soil, climate or cultivation, or to hybridization with 
inferior local varieties. 

Surgeon T)e Burgh Birch's report of 1838 on the hiUs ' again 
urged that at least a trial of brewing should be made, and by 
1h39 ' an experimental brewery had been started on the plateau 
(by a Mr. Davis at Kalhatti), notwithstanding the severe handi* 
cap which the then cost of carriage imposed. What became of • 
it is not clear. In 1847, in his survey report,^ Major Ouchter- 
lony once more proposed the establishment of a Government 
brewery to supply the troops. He said he had himself brewed 
several casks of beer, without a single failure, from malt made 
from the local barley and hops and dried yeast imported from 
England. No Government brewery was ever established, and 
the real pioneer in the industry was Mr. Samuel Honeywell, who 
(as early as 1857) started at Aravank&d what is now the Castle 
Brewery. 

His beer was a potent compound, containing nearly as much 
iiicohol as inferior arrack, and in 1872, partly to protect the 
more highly taxed arrack and toddy. Government raled that it 
must not in future contain more than 8 per cent, of alcohol and 
iropoeed on it an excise duty of one anna per gallon, which was 

' Hough's lMt»r9 on the Ifeilgherriei^ 135. 
' H J.L.8., Tiii, 96. 

* AMiaHc /o«rfMi{, xxz, 295. 

• MJ.L.8., xr, SO. 

37 



290 



THB KILGIBIS. 



OHAP. XII. 
ABKiBI AND 

Opium. 



Opiam uid 
hemp^drogi. 



the then castoms tariff on imported beer and which ia the rate 
still in force. Mr. Honejwell wanted to open a breworj in 
Madras as well, bat the Board of Revenae did not belieye it 
possible to make ^od malt on the plains, and was not indlined 
to encourage the production, under tlie name of beer, of in- 
toxicating liquors not made from malt. 

In 1872 Captain Albert Frend started the Llangollen Brewery 
near Marlimand. Three years later, analyses and other inform- 
ation showed that barley nialt and hops formed a very small 
item in the oomposition of the hill beejrs and a series of restric- 
tions and rules^esignedfto improve their quality were introduced. 
In 1879 the existing * Nilgiri Brewery ' was started in Ootaoa- 
mund itself, just south of the rehce-course, by the Murree Brewery 
Co. Its buildings, plant and machinery were all expensive, 
and, perhaps for this reason, it had a chequered career. It 
passed to Messrs. Leishman & Co. and . now belongs to the 
same Bangayya Uavnndan who owns the Castle Brewery and the 
distillery at Aravank&d. It makes ^ native ' beer for the supply 
of the local taverns, which, as has been said, take the pkce of 
the toddy-shops of the plains, [n 1883 the Llangollen Brewery 
was suppressed by the Board, its beer having been found to he 
very bad. In 1895 the Bose & Crdwn Brewery, at Tellaahalli, 
near the Half Way House on the Ootacamund-Coonoor road, 
was opened by Muni Uuchanna. He sold it in 1900 to Mr. C. 
Akilanda Aiyar ; it was afterwards attached by the civil oourU ; 
and it is now the property of a limited company and holds the 
contracts for the supply of the troops at Wellington, Triohino- 
poly and elsewhere. For beer supplied to the taverns, the 
barley of the district is used, but for the higher grades (' EnglLsli 
beer ') grain is imported all the way from Rew^ri in the Panjnb, 
whence the Mussooree and Naini T^l breweries are also supplicil. 
The British Brewery, a very small concern, was opened iu 
Ootacamund in 1902 and survived for only four years. 

Formerly tho opium poppy was commonly grown on the 
plateau by the Badagas. Sir F. Price says that for ^me yeiirs 
opium formeil part of the tribute paid iu kind by the hill people 
to Qovemuiont ; and that some of it was sent to China, bnt ma^ 
prDUounceii of inferior quality. The opium was made by scratch- 
ing the green i>oppy-heads and collecting, after a day or two. 
the joico which had exuded, which had by then become gammy. 
This was generally done in tho cold season, when the juioe war* 
supposevl to be thickest. The poppy-head itself was finally 
oUMUied of ita seeds, dried, and sold to the Kolas, who poanded 



8JLLT, ABKlRI AND MISCELLANEOUS REVENUE. 



291 



ABKiBI AND 

Opium. 



Incohi-Tax. 



it well and made a decoction from it. The Badagas used always CHAP. Xli 
to eat the opium and never smoked it. Metz frequently men- 
tions the commonness of its use by suicides — especially by Badaga 
women the course of whose love-a£Eairs did not run smoothly. 

This cultivation has now^ of course, been stopped ; and the 
poppy plant is never seen outside European gardens ; the drug i^ 
obtained from the Madras storehouse ; and its sale ii^ governed 
by the usual rules and regulations. The ganja consumed is al- 
most all received from the Kaniyambadi storehouse in North 
Arcot, where the crop gjrown on the Javadi bills is kept. 

Income-tax is levied and collected, in thi usual manner. 
Statietics of the receipts in recent years will be found in the sepa- 
rate Appendix. The circumstances of the Nilgiris are altogether 
exceptional; nearly a fourth of its people (a higher percentage 
than in any other district) living in its tOwns and a large pro- 
portion of these being well-to-do traders. Consequently, though 
the total amount of tax collected is almost the smallest of any 
district in the Presidency, the incidence per head of the popula- 
tion is over six times the Presidency average and that per head 
of the tax-payers is more than half as much again as that 
average. 

For similar reasons the stamp revenue is also exceptional in 
its nature, for^ while the actual amount received is smaller than 
in any other district, the revenue from both judicial and non- 
judidal stamps is higher per unit of the population than in any 
other. Statistics of the receipts in recent years appear in the 
separate Appendix. 



Stamps. 



292 



THE inLOtBti. 



OHAPTBR XIII. 



ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 



CHAP. XIII. 

Civil 
Justice. 

The •sitting 
ciTil ooorto. 



Begistr** 
tioii« 



CUMIHAL 
JUSTICS. 

The presenl 
tribunali. 



Civil Juiticb— The eziBting oiTil ootirU- -Uecristratioc. Criiiiiial Jcstick — 
The present trihaoalt— Crime — Coffee-acealing. Police— Former 
—The existing force. Jail9— The District Jail — The European 
Sab-jails. • • 

The historj of the administration of civil and criminal jastice 
in tlie district has been sufficiently sketched in Chapter II above. 
The existing civil courts are those of the District Judge of 
Goimbatore, who has the usual ordinary and appellate jurisdiotion 
throughout the district ; the Bub-Judge at Ootaoamund, who has 
jurisdiction over the Coonoor and Ootacamund taluks and in cases 
above Rs. 2,500 in value arising in Ofidalfir, and also exercises 
small cause powers ; the District Munsif (who is the deputy 
tahsiidar) of GAdalfir, who tries suits valued at Rs. 2,500 and 
under arising in that taluk and appeals from whom go to the 
Sub- Judge ; and the village muns^ (headmen), who rarely try 
cases above Rs. 20 in value. Village beneh courts constituted 
under Act I of 1889 also sit at Ootacamund and Coonoor and 
have jurisdiction over certain specified villages in the neighbour- 
hood of those towns. 

The Nilgiris was first created a registration district in 1869, 
a District Registrar b^ing then appointed. A proposal to 
re-amalgamate it with Coimbatore was negatived by Government 
in 1887. Besides the District Registrar at Ootacamund.. there 
are now sub-registrars at Coonoor and GfidalAr, the latter being 
the taluk sheristadar. 

The criminal courts having jurisdiction in the district are 
those of the Sessions Judge of Coimbatore, who exercises the 
usual powers ; the District Magistrate, who is also Additional 
Sessions Jadgc ; the Head Assistant at Coonoor, the Treasury 
Deputy Collector at Ootacamund and the Sub-Judge, who are 
all first-class magistrates ; the tahsiidar of Coonoor, the deputy 
tahsildars of Ootacamund and GAdal&r, the stationary sub-magis- 
trate at Coonoor and the taluk sheristadar of GKidalfir, who havo 
second or third class powers ; the bench of magistrates at Ootaoa- 
munct established in 1898 [former bench courts at Coonoor 
(1875-76), K6tagiri (1878-94) and Gfidalfir (1878-89) have aU 



ADimnSlTRATION Off JUSTICB. 39^ 

been aboliahed] ; the cantonment magistrate at Wellington, whose CHAP. xill. 
office has more than onoe been abolished and re-established ; the Criminal 
Saperintendent and Assistant Snperintendent of the Aravi&iHd ^*"^'' 
Goidiie footory, who, as the footorj is not inoladed in the 
W ellington cantonment, have* powers to try oifences under the 
Towns Nuisances Act ; and the village magistratesi less than half, 
a dosen of whom generally use their powers in any year. 

There is nothing nnasaal about these courts unless it be that 
the appeals to the District Magistrate from the orders of the 
subordinate tribunals are proportionately more numerous than 
in any other district in the Presidency, o ^ 

Outside the two municipal towns, crime is light ; but within Crime, 
them the number of offences committed is sufRcient to bring the 
Nilgiris among the districts in which the proportion of offences 
to population is highest. Grave crime, such as dacoity or robbery, 
is however very rare in any part of the district. The murders of 
Kurombas due to their supposed powers of black magic which have 
oocorred from time to time have been referred to on p. 155. In 
the Wynaad the Paniyans and Kurumbas commit most of the small 
unount of crime which is perpetrated there. A Wynaad house is 
usually walled with bamboo wattle and daub, and roofed with 
thatch, and house-breaking' is consequently a temptingly simple 
matter. 

An offence which has attracted more attention in the district Coffee-atesI* 
than any other is coffee-stealing. In 1877 the Wynaad planters ^°S* 
brought its prevalence to the notice of G-ovemment, declaring 
that it had become . the regular occupation of a section of the 
population ; that wholesale stripping "of the trees went on at 
night ; that almost every wayside bazaar and arrack-shop keeper 
was a receiver of the stolen berries, growing a few t^ees as a blind ; 
and that pulped coffee on the way down to the curing- works on 
the coast was stolen in great quantities, the loss in weight being 
made up, to prevent detection, by watering the bags or by insert- 
ing rubbishing coffee in the place of that abstracted. They prayed 
that a special law, similar to the Ceylon Ordinance of 1874, might 
be introduced to protect them, seeing that coffee was so portable, 
30 valuable and so difficnlt to identify. 

In the next year an Act (Yill of 1878) was accordingly 
passed to check this form of crime. Briefly stated, its provisions 
made it unlawful to purchase any coffee from any labourer on a 
coffee-estate, or to buy from others employed on such properties 
or from carriers of coffee unless the transaction was duly recorded 
in a prescribed register open to inspection by the police and 



204 



TdB MILOlRIi. 



CRIMINAL 
JUStlCK. 



CHAP. xni. magistracy ; rendered labourers and maistries found in posses - 
bion of freshly -gathered coffee liable to ponishmcnt unless \hv\ 
coalci satisfactorily explain how they obtained it; required all 
transport of coffee to be covered by the written permission of the 
owner or his agent; and made the gatherings moving, loading (»r 
unloading of coffee on any estate between sonset and sunrise an 
offence. 

The Act was not a success and the stealing went merrily on. 
At the beginning of the picking season M^ppillas used to comf- 
up from Malabar and squat in temporary huts for no oth»*r 
purpose than iB receivoTthe stolen (*rop ; and the native ownen« 
of small coffee-gardens also entered the lucrative business, 
adding to their own crop the coffee filched from their European 
neighbours. Sometimes a half-cultivated patch of coffee was 
found to be exporting crop six times as heavy per acre as that 
which carefully-tended estates could produce. In 1894 efforts 
were made in the Malabar Wynaad to checkmate this latter cla;»<< 
of receivers by counting all the trees in all the gardens, 
entering the results in a register, noting the amounts gathered in 
each garden at the crop season^ and seeing that small plots no 
longer pretended to have produced tons whereas in reality they 
only grew bushels. The markets Were also watched to stop the 
bartering of stolen coffee for other commodities, and the roads 
were patrolled to prevent its clandestine removal and the thefts 
during transit from the estates to the coast agents. These 
steps effected much good ; but it was evident that the Act of 
1878 needed amendment and this was eventually effected by Act 
II of 1900, which added to it fresh provisions requiring persons 
in charge of coffee^estates who sold, exchanged or delivered 
coffee, to keep registers detailing the transactions ; obliging all 
such persons to keep accounts of their crop ; making the unex- 
plained possession of parchment or cherry-dried coffee, as well 
as of freshly-gathered berry, punishable ; and providing for the 
issue of detailed rules to carry out the purposes of the Act. 

Until the advent of the British there appear to have been no 
police in the district. In most other districts crime was kept in 
check by the well-known kdval system, under which kdvalgdiM 
(watchmen) were appointed to each village or group of villages ; 
were controlled by metikdvalgdrs (head watchmen), often the 
petty local chieftains, who held control over perhaps half a talok ; 
and were required either to detect thefts and robberies or to make 
good from their own pockets any property lost. These village 
and head watchmen were alike remunerated by grants of land 
and annual fees in kind from the villagers ; and when the Briti>h 



Police. 

Fomi0r 
•jBtems. 



▲DMINIgTRATIOK 09 JUSTICE. 285 

occapied the countrj the latter were dispensed witb and their cHAP. nn. 
?rantB and fees resnmedy while the former were allowed to retain Volice. 
their posts and emoluments under the name of talcaydris andVexe "^"^ 
eTeatnally formed into the existing village police. 

This system seems never to have prevailed in the NUgiris — 
vherOy indeed, until the recent settlement there were no regular 
Tillage esta'blishments at all — and tx) this day the district possesses 
no real village police, the duties of the idndalgdrs who were 
appointed at the settlement being rather to collect the revenue 
than to suppress crime. 

The village monigars (nianiyakdrane) and sub-monigars who 
were in office before the settlement, and the number of whose 
posts was largelj increased at the revision of village establish- 
ments then made, were worse than useless in checking lawless- 
ness. Mr. (Jrigg writes ^ the vaguest notion of their duties as 
village magistrate or police officer prevails among the headmen. 
So far from their understanding that it is their dutj to repress 
such crime, they seem to regard it almost as a sacred duty not 
only to countenance and shield the wrong-doers, but even to 
aid in the perpetration.' In the villages, for which alone they 
were responsible, crime, however, has always been light. 

In the towns, on the other hand, the miscellaneous immigrant 
population, formed as it has always been of all sorts and condi- 
tions of castes, races and tongues, has ever needed a strong 
hand over it, and as early as 1828 a small body of military police 
seems to have been established in Ootacamund under the orders 
of the military Commandant then appointed to the charge of the 
place. 

In 1847 ^ these men were under the immediate orders of the 
tahsildar subject to the general control of the military Joint 
Magistjrate, and consisted of a kotw^l on Rs. 42 per mensem, five 
daffadlira and 75 peons ; but three of the daffadars and iS of the 
peona were called sibbandis^ acted as a kind of rural police and 
were employed for part of the year in collecting the revenue, and 
six more of the peons were exclusively engaged in protecting 
the forests round Ootacamund from the depredations of wood- 
cutters. The .kotw&l had a ' choultry ' to which was attached a 
lock-up.- 

In 1859, as has already (p. 121) been seen, the post of Com- 
mandant was abolished, and the military police were eventually 
placed under the orders of the civil authorities in accordance 

* See Oaobterlony'B ■urvey report, 69. * Phwroah'$ GazeUe^r, 488, 



296 



THB NILOIBIf. 



CHAP. XIII 
Police. 



The existiag 
fcroe. 



Jailb. 

The 

Disiriot 

Jftil. 



Ootacamand. 
Kindal. 
Goonoor. 
Welling on. 

Lovedale. 
Kalhatti. 



Paikira. 

Nadtxrattam. 

Madnigndi. 

Otidaldr. 

j;>«v&1a. » 

Xellak6ttaT. 

Ch^rambidi. 



with the Police Act XXIV of that jgbt. The Boperintendent of 
Poliq^ in Ooimbatore had g^eral charge of the new force, and 
the impiediate control of it was in the hands first of an Assistant 
Boperintendent stationed at Ootacamand, later of a Chief Inspeo* 
tor, and finally of an Assistant Boperintendent again. 

In accordance with the recommendation of the Police Com- 
mission, the Secretary of Btate in 
1906 ordered that the district 
should have a Superintendent of 
its own*; and the change whs 
introdoced at the end of that 
year. The police force now con- 
sists of l-)0 men distriboted among the foorteen stations shown 
in the margin and supervised by three inspectors. 

In the early days the only jail in the district seems to have 
been the kotWl's lock-op already mentioned. Boads and other 
public works, however, were largely carried oot by the labour of 
convicts brought up from the plains^ and these people were 
confined at night in sheds attached to the old Convalescent IMpAt 
which (see p. 120) had been transferred to Southdowns in 1832 
and abolished in 1834 and the bqildings of which had long 
remained onoccnpied. 'this consequently was commonlj oalled 
^ the jail.' ^ It was subsequently utilized as a court-hoose for 
the Principal Sadr Amin appointed in 1855, and in I85<i was 
converted into a district jail under the charge* at first, of that 
officer and, later, of the military Joint Magistrate. It contained 
accommodation for 72 male and ten female convicts, three 
under-trial prisoners anfl six civil debtors, and included a 
hospital capable of holding 26. Attached to it was also a 
temporary shed with a corrugated iron roof which was divided 
into three wards capable of holding 88 men in all and was nsed 
for short-term prisoners. For years the convicts were chiefly 
employed on roads and other poblic works in the station and 
when their nombers were insufficient to keep the working gang 
op to a strength of 100, men were drafted to this prison from 
the jails on the plains to make up the deficiency. In Angust 
1887 the jail was abolished and its inmates transferre<l to 
Coimbatore. The boildings are now utilized for the offices of 
the Inspector-Oeneral of Prisons, the deputy tahsildar and the 
forest ranger, as a sob-jail and as residences for Government 
clerks. 



Oacbtcrlon/*! msrrej import, 83 } Phm'omh^§ Oaz^tUer, 48S, 



ADMINISTRATTON OF nXSTlOE. 297 

The old Saropean prison adjoining this jail was opened in CHAP. Xin. 
1862 for tlie accommodation of Europeans sentenced in all parts Jaili. 
of India to long terms, whether by the ordinary tribunals oi» by r|^^ 
coorts-martial. It wonld hold 86 persons. When accommoda- EnropMn 
tion soitable for Eoropeans began in coarse of time to l^e erected P™°"* 
ia other provinces, the nmnber of convicts sent from thence to , 
Ootacamond fell ofE, and the jail was used for short-term prisoners 
^d Eurasians. The convicts in it were never employed outside 
the walls, but were kept at work on weaving, making coir 
matting', shoe-making and so on^ and in keeping their premises 
aod clothing in repair. * . • , 

In 1883 Sir Frederick (now Earl) Roberts, then Commander-in- 
Chief , stopped the sending of persons convicted by courts-martial 
to the jail, oonsidering it desirable that they should undergo their 
sentences in military prisons ; and in 1886 t}ie inmates numbered, 
only six. Ghovernment considered it wasteful to maintain an 
expensive staff to look after so few people, and in 1887 reduced 
the establishment to a strength sufficient to control 18 prisoners, 
abolished the post of Superintendent, placing the institution 
under tbe Medical Officer, and turned the lower htorey of the 
building into a sub-jail. 

In 1890 the Committee appointed by the Governor- General 
to enquire into jail administration visited the prison. They found 
that it contained only seven E'lropeans, of whom four had been 
brought all the way from the Punjab^ and that the establishment 
then maintained cost no less than Bs. 583 per prisoner per annum. 
They declared that the jails in the plains of the different provinces 
contained quarters in which European prisoners could be ' as com- 
fortable as the majority of European subalterns living in the same 
localities nnd far more comfortable than the large proportion of 
poor whites and Eurasians can afford ' and therefore recommended 
the abolition of the institution. Their suggestion was carried into 
effect from 31st March 1891 and the buildings are now used as 
the offices of the Director of Cinchona Plantations, the Govern- 
ment Epigraphist and the District JBegistrar, and as residences 
for clerks. In 1906 the old exercise-yard of the prison was oon- 
verted into the Armoury and Drill Uall of the Nilgiri Yolunteer 
Bifles. This is now practically the only hall available for pnblio 
entertainments in Uotacamund ; and where the prisoners once 
took their dreary enforced walks, dances, dramatic performances 
and fancy fdtes are now held. 

The only prisons in the district at present are the three Sub-JsAi. 
•ab-jsils at Ootaoamund, CSoonoorand Qiidal6r. 

96 



298 THB NILOIBia. 

CHAPTER XIV. 
LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT. 



TiiK District Boabd— Its finanoes. Wsllinoton OANTONMBifT. Cookoob 
MuNiciPALiTY—Drainage — Water-supply. Ootacaxund MuKiciPALiTT^ItJs 
oarly efforts— Tlie market — Drainage — Water-supply — The Marlimand Bnpplr 
— The Dodabetta re8»}rvo^f^-The Kodapamand resenroir—The Tig«r Hill 
reservoir— Checking of overcrowding. 

CHAP. XIY. Outside the limits of the Welling^n oantonment and the two 
ThbDibtbiot manicipalities of Gotacamund and Coonoor referred to below, 
2^* Socal affairs in the Nilgiris are administered by the District 
Board. None of the talak boards or anion pancb^Tats common 
in other districts exist, the rnral population being too backward ; 
and consequently the District Board consists entirely of members 
appointed by G-overnment and includes none of tbe nominees of 
teJuk boards who sit on similar bodies elsewhere. 
I^ financee. Though the incidence of local fund taxation in the Nilgiris 

per head of the population is nearly Chree times as high as in the 
Presidency as a whole, the District Board has always been in a 
chronic condition of impecuniosity. Though the land-cess, the 
mainstay of the finances of the corresponding bodies in the 
plains, is levied on the plateau and in the Ouchterlony Yalley at 
two annas in every rupee of the land assessment, or doable the 
rates usual elsewhere in^ the Presidency, yet it only brings in 
about Bs. 14,000 annually ; tolls are collected at the mazimnni 
permissible rates at as many as fifteen gates and yearly contri- 
bute about Rs. 3 1,000 to the Board's coifers, but this does not 
cover even one half of the annual expenditure on roads ; and all 
the other sources i»f inoomo put together bring in less tlian 
Es. 10,000 a year. On the other side of the account, the g^eat 
length of glidt and other roads which the Board has to keep in 
order eats up as much as Ks. 1 ,20,000 u year ; for their alignment 
along 8te<»p slopes, tin* heavy rainfall and the large traflSc whioli 
some of tlieiu carry make their maintenance a most expensive 
business Consequently the Government, in addition to keepintr 
up the ghdt road from Kallar to Ootacamund (to help pay for 
which, however, they take one-third of the tolls colleeto<l 
thereon) have annually to contribute about a lakh of rapees U* 
keep the Board from insolvency. 



LOCAL SBLf-GOVBRNMEKt. 299 

Particnlars of the roads, hospitals and dispensaries, and OHAP. 'XI7. 
schools kept np bj the Board have been given in Chapters VII, The District 
IX and X respectivelj. • ^^' 

Wellington cantonment, which does ^ not include the Cordite Wbllhigtoh 
£actoiy9 is administered by a militaiy cantonment committee. ^^^'^^^^^^'^^ 
The sanitary provisions of the Cantonment Code have also beenr 
extended to an adjoining area which reaches as far as the Half 
Way House on the road to Ootacamund. Within the canton- 
ment pix>per, taxes on professions, vehicles and animals, a tax at 
7 1 per cent, on the anniyil value of buildings and a water tax at 
4^ -p&t cent, of the annual value of buil&ings anA lands are col- 
lected under the combined operation of the Cantonments and 
District Municipalities Acts. 

Goonoor town, the main features of which are mentioned on Coonoob 
pp. 317-324 below, was constituted a munibipality on 1st Novem- Muhici- 
ber 1866 under the then municipal enactment, the Towns Improve- 
ment Act of 1865. The proposal had not met with approval 
locally. One objector said ' the native population does not 
exceed 1,400 inhabitants, amongst whom I do not suppose that 
six men of substance exist. There are 39 houses for Europeans ; 
but, as many of them are occupied by strangers, the provisions of 
the Act, if introduced, would fall heavily on their owners.^ It had 
been suggested that Wellington and Coonoor might together be 
formed into one muiiicipality ; but the opposition combated this 
idea also, arguing that the heavy cost of the police in Wellington 
cantonment (in those days municipalities had to contribute to 
the upkeep of the police within their limits) would hamper the 
council and that * it would hardly be» fair to tex the Coonoor 
people for police who are kept chiefly to look after camp followers 
and riotous soldiers.' Government, however, waved aside all 
objections and made the place a municipality on the ground that 
it was already ' an important hill sanitarium.' The first council 
was composed entirely of Europeans, there being no natives 
sufficiently qualified. 

The present council includes two natives among its twelve 
members. In 1871 it was given the power of electing its own 
vice-president, and this privilege was continued in the case of the 
chairman appointed under the existing Municipal Act of 1884. 
The incidence of the taxation in the town per head of tbe popu- 
lation is Bs. 3-2-2, which, though nearly treble the average for 
the Madras municipalities as a whole, is lower than in either 
Oot€U»mundor Kodaikanal, the other two 'hill municipalities' of 
the Presidency. A bill designed to provide further sources of 



300 



THB NIl^lBtfl. 



CHAP. ZI7. 

OOONOOR 
MUNICI* 
FALITT. 



Drainage. 



WaUr- 



taxation in tliese tliree areas (and also to secure the better re- 
golation of bailding and improyed supervision over articles of 
fooif and drink) has very recentlj been passed into law. 

Tbe chief permanei^ improvements effected hj the Goonoor 
council during the forty years of its existence have been the 
' extension of the market, which now brings in an annual revenue 
of Bs. 20,000 (more than that produced b^ any mnnioq)al 
market except those at Trichinopoly and Ootacamund), and the 
execution of schemes of drainage and water-supply. 

After years of di^ussion — the •Government constantly 
pressing the municipality to act and the council as persistently 
pleading its impecuniosity — ^the fir^t plans and estimates for a 
drainage scheme were prepared in 1886 by the municipal over- 
seer. They divided^ the town into the two separate areas of 
Bazaar Hill and Mission HiU, which were treated separately, and 
provided for open drains discharging into two covered sewerSi one 
for each of the two hills, which both led into an iron pipe dis- 
chargihg into the Goonoor river just below the masonry bridge 
over it at the edge of the gh^t near the present railway-station. 
The estimates were slightly revised (and increased) by the Sani- 
tary Engineer and were sanctioned in 1 891. They then amounted 
to Bs. 42,500, of which Government made the council a present 
of Bs. 80,000 and lent the remainder at 4\ per cent, on condition 
that it was repaid in twenty years. 

The work was begun in August 1891 and finished by the end 
of the next year. The street drains are semi-oval and either of 
concrete laid in cement or of stoneware obtained from Messrs. 
Burn & Go. of Calcutta. 'The intercepting and outlet sewers are 
stoneware pipes made by the same firm and the outfall down the 
Goonoor river is a 12-incb iron pipe, bolted to the rock in the bed 
of the stream and dischargpng at a point where water is always 
flowing. The actual cost of the scheme was Bs. 42,689. 

The first municipal effort to better the water-supply of any 
part of Goonoor was the expenditure, in 1871, of Bs. 2,160 to 
improve a chanuel which ran from a spring near the Milk Village 
on the old road to Ooty on the western limit of the municipality 
(see the map at p. 318) to Woodcote and the three neighbouring 
houses called Balaclava, -Alma and Inkerman. The channel had 
originally been cut ' without permission sought or g^nted ' by 
Mr. Lascelles to supply Woodcote, which he had btdlt in 1847, 
and the work done in 1871 consisted in improving its alignment 
and extending its benefits. 



tiOGAL SBLF-GOYBSNMEMT. SOl 

Tke houses on the other side of the valley were at this time CHAP. %XY. 
supplied by open chaimels which were polluted during their coarse Coonooe 
m ever? possible v^ay ; and correspondence as to the best method palitt" 

of improving' matters and raising the necessary funds went on for 

years without tangible result. 

At length in 1888, on the Surgeon-General reporting in forci- • 
ble IsDgnage on the state of affairs, investigations were set on 
foot ; and they were completed by the Sanitary Engineer in 1891 . 
This officer's scheme consisted in leading an existing channel — 
which ran from the viUagjp of Teddapalli (near the K6tagiri road) 
past WoodhoQselee and Sim's Park andV^lready impplied most of 
the place — ^to settling tanks and a service reservoir on the hill 
between the Park and the race-course, and distributing it thence 
throughout the town by pipes. The estimate was Rs. 80,000. 

The channel in question, however, runs through cinchona and 
tea estates ; and to preserve it from pollution at such points it 
was found that expensive additional works would be necessary 
which would bring the cost to Es. 1,09,800. In 1899, therefore, 
estimates were prepared for an alternative scheme which utilized 
the purer and larger stream one of the two branches of which fed 
tiie Wellington cantonment. They amounted to Es, 1,13,800, 
and provided for a low dam across the stream, a three-inch pipe 
iheuce to a covered service reservoir holding two days' supply and 
oommanding the town, and much the same distribution arrange- 
ments as before. The Oovemment offered to lend the council the 
money required at 4J per cent, repayable in twenty years, bat 
that body declared its inability to find funds to pay the interest, 
and proposed instead to improve the Teddapalli supply piece- 
meal The sanitary advisers to Government would not hear of 
this latter suggestion, but made certain alterations in the 
Wellington stream scheme which reduced its cost to Bs. 99,200. 

Government then sanctioned this scheme, granted Bs. 60,000 
of the amount required to carry it out, and directed the council 
to raise the balance by a loan in the open market and to enhance 
its water and drainage tax by 2^ per cent, to provide funds for 
the interest thereon. 

The project was begun by the Public Works depcurtment ;* but 
it was speedily discovered that the discharge of the stream which 
ma the source of the supply had been greatly overestimated and 
in reality was barely enough for half of the town. It was 
aooordingly suggested that the branch from which Wellington 
was supplied, which was more than sufficient for the needs of 
the eaotonment, shoold be also drawn npon and thai a joint 



302 



THIS NtLOIfetS. 



CHAP. XIV. 

COONOOB 

Mmrici- 

PALITT. 



OOTACAMUirO 
^ MUHXGI- 
PALITT, 



IltMrly 
•Iforto. 



scheme shoald be prepared for both places. This inTolveci 
correspondence with the military authorities. After much di»- 
onssion the joint scheme was abandoned, bat the sanction of the 
GoYemment of India was accorded to the utilization bj the 
Coonoor council of part of the branch which supplied Wellington • 
In 1903 a slightly revised scheme was prepared accordingly . 
The reservoir was placed on Gray's Hill at Coonoor^ and this 
and other alterations brought the total cost to Bs. 1^16,740. 
Unforeseen contingencies eventually raised the figure to 
Rs. 1,28^200; and in addition further extensions of the pipe 
lines proposecf by the <)ollector and the chairman cost another 
Bs. 32,000 and the supply of the Milk and Chuoklers' Villages 
Rs. 14,000 more. These items and the cost of reserving the 
catchment area made the total excess as much as Rs. 60«800, 
which was lent to the council by Government. 

The head-works of this scheme were completed early in 1906 
and were opened by Lord Ampthill in April. A year later the 
distribution system was also finished and the project is now in 
operation. 

Ootacamund, the general appearance and situation of which 
are referred to on pp. 357-363 below, was first constituted a munici- 
pality, under the Act X of 1865 above mentioned, in November 
1866. Up to that time the few efforts which had been made to 
keep it in a sanitary state had been of the most desultory and 
inadequate description. Sir Frederick Price, whose book gives 
an account of the matter, shows that Colonel Crewe» when 
Commandant of the Nilgiris (1831-36), levied a small Wolontary* 
tax from the bazaarmen'for the upkeep of half a dozen sweepers 
to attend to the streets of the main bazaar ; that this arrangement 
(tbough the number of the sweepers was at some periods rather 
larger) continued to be the only sanitary measure taken until the 
municipality was constituted ; that sach latrines as existed were 
built on the margin of the lake or over its supply channel ; that 
as early as 1860 the lake was declared by the Director-General 
of the Medical department to be the * universal cesspool ' of the 
place ; that the Sanitary Commissioner described it in the fol* 
loif^ing year as 'an unbearable mass of uncleanness, polluting the 
atmosphere' ; and that in 1866 the conservancy of the town waa 
condemned as being ' as bad as could be '. 

The council constituted in that year consisted of thirteen 
* municipal commissioners ' with the Collector of Coimbatore an 
pr^ident and the Special Assistant CoUeotor as bonoraij 
•eoretary. It took over the existing conservancy plant ; bat tliii 



LOCAL 8BLP-G0TSBNMENT. 



808 



OOTACAMUIffD 
MUNICI- 
PALITT. 



coMiated, say the reooids, merely of a few old wheelbarrows and OHAP. xiv, 
of two bollocks one of whiob was unfit for work. 

The net income available for roads and conservancy waci at 
firet Rs. 18,500, bnt the oonncil does not appear to have acted 
with the energy proverbially expected of new brooms, for the 
ICedical Officer's report on the state of the oionservancy and 
poads in 1867 was perhaps the most strongly-worded of the 
many indignant protests on these matters which had been 
penned. It is worthy of note that even in those days the 
Australian inrattle had become a serious nuisance and that the 
sanitary experts had compflained of it as {^r back as 1859. 

In 1868 enteric fever, up to then uninown iu Ootacamund. 

was declared to be endemic in the station ; public confidence in 

the health of the place was shaken and public opinion r^arding 

the need of aotion aroused; and the rates of the taxes were 

enhanced so as to bring up the net income \o about Bs. 22,000. 

Oovemment offered the council a grant of £s. 20,000 and a 

loan of another Rs. 40,000 to enable them to put their house 

in order and carry out sundry improvement schemes which had 

been ontlined, but the Commissioners declared with emphasis 

that house property in the town was unable to bear the extra 

i\ per cent, taxation which tl\e repayment of the loan would have 

required. Eventually Government lent them Es. 20,000 (of 

which half was afterwards treated as a free grant) and this was 

mainly expended on improvements in the main bazaar and in the 

erection of latrines — somewhat to the disgust of the European 

tax-payers, who complained that they had derived no sort of 

benefit from it. 

The council suggested at this time* that the whole of the 
main bazaar should be moved to Kendal ; and though the amount 
of compensation involved was estimated, even then, at between 
£25,000 and £80,000, many thousands of rupees would have 
been saved if this scheme had been carried out. Chronic want 
of funds, however, prevented any heroic measures ; and the 
council declined to tax themselves further, claiming that Govem- 
• ment shonld help them as it had assisted the District Board and 
declaring that though they were quite ready to pay for their own 
conservancy they did * feel it hard that they should be required to 
keep up extensive roads chiefly for the comfort and delectation 
of casual visitors.' The local paper used to refer to the municipal 
commissioners as * the municipal omissioners ' and Lord Napier 
was so little pleased with their attitude that he suggested the 
introdnotion of a bill to abolish them and vest their powers in 
the Conunissioner of the Nilgins. 



304 TSB tftMnitt. 

OHAP. tiv. In 1869-70^ however, some improTemente were efbctad (not* 

OoTAcmnND abl7 the beginnings of the reclamation of the swamp at the apper 

i^i^iT.* endf)f the lake) and the language of the medical officers' reports 

grew milder. The market was extended ; a beef slaaghter^hoose 

was erected ; and the main bazaar and its roads were sloped io pre- 
. vent storm- water from stagnating on them. In 1871 this last are* 
was farther provided with some drains indifferentlj paved with 
granite ; in 1 872 poudrette mann&ctore was started in the middle 
of both Ootaoamund and Kendal, an incinerator was erecteiJ 
on an equally ineligible site and, for the first time, small-pox 
appeared with ^viralenc% In 1873 ooBvicts were employed on 
the reclamation of part of the borders of the lake ; in .1874 the 
matton-bntchers were given a room in which to keep their meat, 
which up to then they had been wont to store in the kitchens 
and bedrooms of their own houses ; and the bazaar drains were 
patched; and in 18f 6 the improvement of the conservanoy of 
the latrines engaged attention and the poadrette factory was 
removed outside the town. 

None of these steps, however, went to the root of matters, 
and in 1877 cholera became established for the first time in the 
t place and small-pox was epidemic. ^ Government then directed 

the Surgeon-General, the Sanitary Commissioner and the Com- 
missioner of the Nilgins to form themselves into a committee to 
report on the sanitary ooudition of the place and to suggest 
methods of improving it. Their report (which covered 200 pages 
of printed foolscap — eacoethea aeribendi seems to have been 
endemic among the medical officers of those times) gave many 
unpleasant details regarding the existing condition of the town : 
proposed that the municipality should be abolished and its duties 
entrusted to one capable officer; revived the question of the 
removal of the main bazaar to Kendal ; and dealt with schemes 
of drainage and water-supply. But it was not unanimous and 
it contained few definite recommendations ; and consequently it 
led to Uttle. 

Three years after it was sent in, Government appointed 
another and larger committee, which included engineeriog as 
well as sanitary experts and also some of the more prominent 
non-official ratepayers, to consider the questions of extending 
the market and improving the drainage and water-supply (whioh 
three things were far more emergent than any others) and the 
submission of this body's report was followed by the first really 
active effort in these matters. 



LOCAL SSLF-OOVBBKMBNT. 305 

GhMig6s in the system of administration also facilitated GHjIP. XIT. 
adTuoe. Up to 1882 the chief executive officer of the council ^^^^^^^^^^ 
hmd been the Special Assistant Collector and his saocessor *the paliit. 
Aaofltaiit Gommissioner^ both of whom had their hands fall of 
other work. In that year the latter's place was taken by a 
riee-president chosen from among the councillors ; in 1884, when . 
the eoriufcing Municipal Act was passed, a paid secretary was 
appointed; in 1806 a salaried chairman was put in executive 
charge ; in 1897 an amending Act gave the council enhanced 
powers of taxation ; in 1899 an Engineer on a salary of Bs. 700 
was made chairman, an arrangement wh^h still tf^ontinues : and 
now the recent Hill Municipalities Act will further increase the 
revenue and powers of the council. This body's income is at 
present nearly two lakbs, or ten times what it was 30 years ago ; 
bat this is still insufficient for its daily incxeasing needs. Since 
1884 it has had to borrow 4^ lakhs (half in the open market and 
half from Government) and in the last ten years it has received 
grants from G-ovemment amounting to Bs. 3,87,000 besides a 
Rpeci^ contribution of Rs. 78,000 towards the new drainage 
scheme referred to below. 

It remains to sketch shortly the history of the market and of 
tlie drainage and water-supply schemes. Much fuller details will 
be found in Sir Frederick Price^s book, which has been freely 
indented upon. 

The first market was built in 18i7-48 at the personal sugges- The market, 
tion of the Marquis of Tweeddale and cost Bs. 6,800. It still 
forms part of the rectangular block in the centre of the present 
enclosure. Fees were first collected in 1864 and the proceeds 
applied to the improvement of the building. In 1867-68 two 
small wings were added ; but it was not until 1885 that any 
notable extensiuns were made. In that year two large buildings, 
one of which is now used for grain and the other as the meat 
market, were built at a cost of Rs. 61,000. Eight years later 
the existing stalls for European vegetables, fruit, poultry, eggs 
and fish, and the rooms for storing meat were completed at an 
outlay of Bs. 22,000 ; and in 1903-01 corrugated iron sheds for 
the sale of native vegetables, costing Bs. 4,800, and iron palings 
all round the enclosure, value Bs. 6,600, were erected. The 
revenue derived from the fees collected is now larger than that 
of any municipal market in the Presidency except Trichinopoly; 
and ^ shandy day ' (Tuesday) is a crowded holiday during which 
nstivee in the town can with difficulty be prevailed upon to do 
any work. In the old leisurely days all public offices jnsod 
»9 



306 



THI HILOIBIS. 



CHAP. XIV 
OoTAi:AinTin> 

MUKIOI- 
PALITT. 



aotnally to be closed at noon on market daj so that the olerks 
might be able to purchase their supplies for the ensuing week. 

'f he first definite action towards the draining of anj part of 
Ootacamund was the deputation, in 1867, of Major Tullochy 
B.E., who had made a special studj of such subjeotSi to devise 
* a scheme for the main basaar. He proposed to laj an egg-shaped 
brick sewer along the margin of the lake from the point where 
the supply stream ran into it down to the out&dl. This was to 
carry sewage only, and not storm-water, and was estimated to 
cost Rs. 74,000. House and street draijis were not provided for 
or designed, Ctfptain TdUoch declaring them a simple matter. 
Government decided that the cost of the sewer was too high» 
and nothing was done. 

In 1870-71, as already mentioned, the streets in the basaar 
were properly sloped find paved drains were provided for them» 
the work being part of a kind of general scheme prepared hy 
Major Farewell, the District Engineer. In 1879 Major Morant, 
B.E., also District Engineer, drew up a more complete project 
providing for open surface drains to carry both sewage and 
storm-water into the lake and estimated to cost Bs. 32,900. In 
1881 Mr. O'Shaughnessy, then Local Fund Engineer, elaborated 
this and prepared four detailed es'timates which ranged from 
Bs. 57,200 to Bs. 86,400 according to the material used for the 
drains. It was however generally agreed that it would never do 
to run sewage into the lake and that an intercepting sewer must 
be constracted to carry it down to the lake outfall. The com- 
mittee of 1881 above referred to recommended that Oaptain 
Tulloch's sewer should b% built for this purpose. Bventoally an 
improved edition, costing Bs. 94,000, of the most expensive of 
Mr. O'Shaughnessy's four schemes (that which provided for 
drains made of stone) was sanctioned in 1888 ; and in the follow- 
ing year a sum of Bs. 40,000 more was passed for a square brick 
intercepting sewer from Glendower Hall to the Willow Bund 
and Bs. 66,985 for an iron pipe sewer running from thence along 
the margin of the lake to the lake out&lL These three under- 
takings were completed in March 1887. 

The brick intercepting sewer, however, has given trouble 
ever since. It often became silted up and it did not fulfil its one 
duty — that of keeping sewage out of the lake — as it so often over- 
flowed through its manholes. The Sanitary Engineer reported 
in 1890 that its fall was too small, its section unsuitable, and the 
arrangements for keeping silt out of it defective ; and in 1898 the 
portion from the market to the WiUow Bund was raplaoed by 



LOCAL SlEL^GOVEitlTMSNT. SOt 

a nine-incli stoneware pipe, laid at a somewhat steeper gradient^ CHAP. XIT. 
it a cost of Bs. 11,300. Ootacamund 

Bat the sewer oontinued to act badlj — silting up, leaking and palxtt.' 

OTerflowing until it became a perennial nuisance — and in 1897, 

on the advice of the Sanitarj Board, the nine-inch pipe was 
palled up and replaoed fay one three inches faigger and a flushing- 
sliiice on the stream which feeds the lake was provided at the 
head of the sewer near G^lendower Hall. The work was done hy 
the Public Works department and cost Bs. 41,680. In the 
following year, however^ it was found that the upper section of 
th0 sewer, from the market to Glendo^r Hallf which still con- 
sisted of the old square brick construction abo^e described, was 
too weak to carry any proper head of water for flushing and it 
was replaced fay a twelve-inch stoneware pipe at a cost of 
Rs. 14,600. It was also discovered that the iron pipe sewer along 
the margin of the lake had ^ot out of alignment and leaked in 
several places, and this was put right and provided with man- 
holes at a cost of Bs. 10,000. In 1903 the Sanitary Board exam- 
ined the whole position afresh and came to the conclusion that 
the intercepting sewer needed to fae entirely regraded and supplied 
with flushing tanks placed on the high ground afaove it ; and this 
is now faeing done as part of the general drainage scheme referred 
to below. Meanwhile (in 1893) the drainage of Kendal fay open 
channels discharging into a sewer had faeen carried out at a cost 
of Bs. 35,000 of which Government gave half. 

In 1903 the Sanitary Engineer drew up, under the orders of 
€k>veinment, a comprehensive scheme for the complete drainage 
of the whole town on modem lines witji closed pipes and numer- 
oos house connections. This divided the place into fourteen 
blocks^ including the main faasaar, each of which was to be treated 
separately, and provided for the regrading and flushing of the 
main sewer already mentioned^ and for the establishment of a 
septic tank and sewage farm faelow the outfall of the lake alongside 
the new Paikira road. This extensive scheme met with little 
approval locally, the council and the Collector doufating whether 
closed drains were suited to the ways of the natives or could fae 
properly flushed with the scant amount of water availafale. It 
was sanctioned in 1905-06, the estimated cost faeing Bs. 3,83,020, 
and is now in progress, Government having made a large grant 
towards it. 

For many years the residents of Ootacamund were dependent Water- 
for their water upon wells^ springs and streams. It was not "^^^ ^ 
until 1865 that the first systematic supply was estafalishod and 



^08 



Mb KlLOtBIfl. 



CHAP. XIV. 

OOTACAXUND 

Munici- 
pality. 



The 
Marlimand 



water from the southern dopes of Dodabetta was brought to a 
few of the honses in the soath-west comer of the town hj tho 
aqnedaot over the Coonoor road which for so many years mari[ed the 
entrance to the station, was subsequently replaced by nader- 
ground pipes, and eventually collapsed in 1904. 

The next step was the preparation in 1888 by Major Farewell * 
District Engineer, of a scheme to supply the houses lying to the 
north of the lake from a reservoir (now the Marlimaad reservoir ) 
and thn streams which flowed down the sides of Snowdon Hill to 
the north of Snowdon House and above the Government Gaidens. 
These streams kad alreaAy, in 1864-65, been tapped at a cost of 
Rs. 650 in order to supply water for the construction of the Col- 
lector's office' and St. Bartholomew's Hospital, which were than 
being built. Major Farewell's scheme also included a amaller 
reservoir on Dodabetta (the existing * Dodabetta reservoir ') to 
increase the supply brought over the aqueduct above mentioned to 
the houses to the south of the lake. In both oases, to save 
expense, the water was to be brought in open channels. 

His proposals were sanctionedj and by 1870 both reeervoin 
were completed. The Dodabetta reservoir soheme, the channel of 
which was 5^ miles long, was hunded over to the council oa the 
first day of 1871 ; and the Marlimand project, the execution of 
which had in some ways proved unexpectedly troublesome, in 
1878-74. 

In 1877 Captain Morant, B.E., drew up a scheme for improv- 
ing the north (Marlimand) supply by, among other things, adding 
three more reservoirs. His estimates amounted to Bs. 1,23,692, 
and the council applied to G-overnment for a loan of this som ; 
but eventually the project was dropped. Captain Morant's 
report pointed out that both the Marlimand and Dodabetta reser- 
voirs were polluted by the plentifully-manured tea and other 
cultivation which lay within their catchment areas and that 
immense wastage of the supply in them, and also further poUotion, 
was caused by carrying their water into the town in open 
channels. The committee of 1881 above referred to proposed 
accordingly to run intercepting drains round the cultivated por- 
tions of both catchment areas, making up the loss of water thus 
occasioned by tapping new tracts, to fence the whole of the catch- 
ment areas, and to pipe both supplies. The rough estimates for 
these improvements to the two sources of supply amounted to 
about Hs. 1,79,000 and Bs. 75,000 respectively ; but the Govern* 
ment of India would not lend the money for them or permit the 
Madras Government to do so, and it was not until 1886 that any 
action followed. . 



ioCAL 81LV*Q0VSSKMSNt. 809 

In tliat year an estimate for Bs. 1,70,000 for improTing the ohaf. xit. 
MarluBand aupelT was sanctioned from Pronnoial funds, and the Ootacaiiund 
watk was completed in April 1889. The improyements followed, pauty. 

in their general principles, the proposals of the committee afteady 

mentioned. Part of the existing catchment area was out out 
beeaoae it was contaminated p and was replaced by a collecting . 
giooiid on Snowdon Hill which was the source of several 
rivYiIete. These were intercepted and carried to the reservoir in 
a oorered channel. A service reservoir (the * Snowdon ponds') 
was made near Snowdon and the bupply channel from Marlimand 
to the town was piped throughout. Ho^se conxi%[)tion8 were laid 
^beoquently, partly at the cost of the owners of the buildings 
benefited. 

The sanitary experts continued, however, to pass uncompli- 
mentary remarks regarding the quality of the Marlimand water, 
pointing out that a large bog lay at the head of the reservoir and 
that part of the catchment area consisted of the Tudor Hall tea 
estate, with the dwelling-house and cooly lines thereon ; and iu 
1895 the Sanitary Board even went so far as to recommend that the 
reservoir should be practically abolished and the Snowdon ponds 
greatly enlarged to take its place. 

In 1896 Mr. G-, T. Waloh, who had just retired from the post 
of Chief Engineer for Irrigation and was residing at Ootaoamund, 
was appointed to consider the whole question of the water-supply of 
the station. In the case of th^ Marlimand supply he suggested 
that ike Tudor Hall estate should be acquired ; that the channels 
leading the Snowdon streams to the Marlimand reservoir should 
be lined with masonry ; that a certain ^l^ream above the Oovom- 
ment GNudens should be diverted into them ; and that all the 
water from the reservoir should be filtered. Government agreed 
to his proposals regarding the Snowdon chaimels and they were 
earned out. The filters and the acquisition of Tudor Hall were 
thought unnecessary ; but the latter was subsequently agreed to, 
and in 1899 two lakhs were paid for 178 acres of the estate. 

The Dodabetta reservoirs had meanwhile attracted attention. The Doda- 
There are really two of them ; but the smaller of these, which is ^^ 
abont 300 yards lower down the valley than the larger one and 160 
feet below it in level, is little more than a pond the chief supply 
to which is the surplus from its bigger neighbour. Iu 1889 the 
8urgeon-Gmieral pointed out that cultivation lay within the catcli- 
msfat basin of the upper reservoir and that the delivery channel 
was polluted by the village which stands near the old aqueduct 
lie reo(»nmended that the channel diould be piped ; and tUs was 



sio 



tHt HtTiOlBn. 



OHAP. xiy. 

OOTACAMUND 

Muvici- 

PALITT. 



The Kodaptf- 
fln»nd refer* 
■voir. 



The Tiger 

Hin 

reeerroir. 



Oheohiaff of 
dinf. 



effected by the end of 1892 at a cost of Re. 38,000. Mr. Walch'H 
report suggeeted that the private land within the oatohmtfit area 
of file upper reservoir should be acquired (which was eventually done 
in 1899) but otherwise proposed no great change in this part of 
the town's supply. 

His recommendations however included^ besides improvements 
to existing sources, the construction of two entirely new reservoirs, 
one above Eodapamand and the other on the Tiger Hill stream on 
Dodabetta. Both were eventually carried out. 

The former of them had originally Ijeen designed by Mr. Nerv, 
then municipal^ngineei^in 189'i ; and it is formed by a low dam, 
placed across the Kodapamand stream above all sources of eon* 
lamination, whence pipes run to the hamlets of Eodapamand and 
Vann&rap^ttai (where most of the dh6bi8 live) and the honses 
along the K6tagiri* road — ^see the map at p. 857. It cost 
Rs. 12,160. 

The Tiger Hill reservoir is a far more ambitious project. It 
was carried out between 1901 and 1904 and cost Rs. 1|26,788, of 
which Government gave Bs. 40,000. It lies so far up the dopes of 
Dodabetta that it commands even the highest p&rts of -the station 
and is thus of great use in supplementing the supply from Marli* 
mand. Its catchment area includes that of the upper Dodabetta 
reservoir (the private land within both was acquired in 1899 at a 
total cost of Ks. 42pl20) and it receives the surplus of this when it 
overflows— which it does during much of the year. The masonry 
dam across the Tiger Hill stream which forms the reservoir is 42 
feet high, five feet wide at the top and 27 feet at the bottom- 
The water runs thence through a six-inch pipe to near Waltham- 
stow, down to Charing Gross, and up to St. Stephen's Charoh, just 
above which it joins the main from Marlimand. 

A further matter which of late years has occupied much of the 
municipal council's attention, and which is certain to become more 
pressing as years go by, is the overcrowding to be found in the 
main bazaar, 'ibis great block of buildings has grown up at 
haphazard, little by little, without any guiding hand ; and now 
contains many exceedingly insanitary spots, traversed only by 
narrow lanes, where the people are huddled together to an extent 
which makes them a danger to the rest of the station when diseas'' 
breaks out. The council has bought up one or two of the worst of 
these spots and improved them, and has opened out others ; bat to 
knock down houses without providing substitutes only results in 
further crowding in those which are left. In 1903, thereforei the 
couneQ resolved to acquire land just to the north of the Kinds^ 



LOCAL IBLF-QOVIBNMBNT. 311 

bazaar, establish a new stsburb there, and move thither the chap. xiv. 
inhahitautB of the wont portions of the main bazaar. The Ootacamund 
adrantage of the Eindal site is that it lies in a vallej qtiite Hunici- 
di^tinot from that of the Ootaoamnnd lake and oan thus be drained — * 
with oomparatively little diffiooltj. 

The oost of the soheme, including compensation for houses * 
remoYedy laying out the new suburb, making roads through it 
and supplying it with water and drains, worked out to as much 
as Ba. 2^80,000. The council made a beginning by spending 
Bs. 32,000 in acquiring §9 acres for the site, which it proposed 
to lease in small plots subject to a low grdbnd-rent.* 

The council subsequently proposed to acquire another site for 
a new suburb in the valley behind Bishopsdown, which, like 
Edndal, is outside the catchment area of the lake. But Govern- 
ment discouraged the projeot and no action has been taken. 



312 rmm vilsi 



CHAPTER XV. 
OAZETTIBB. 



OoovdoB Taluk --Ar»TBB]t&d~AtiuUrft«tti— Barlijir— BfrgAOBi — Cooooor — 
DMM— Diahmtti — Hafikal Drag— KifM — Kenguw-- KM—Ktfdaaid— 

OOTACAMUXO l^LVK— ligHatti -- Avakiicbtf ~ Billikftl-K«Ik»ttf— llMuii- 
godi — Uolwor'm Band— M^tkandah ~M6karti Peak — VrnduntUm - Kan- 
janid ~ OolMMiiiuid^ BUpivs— T^nStL OfoALfo Talvk— <}1i£niabldi — 
D^vte -- Gddal^— MuduwlM— HsalMtak6d— K«lUk6tt«t— V«nii]M^> 
Oaehtetlonj Vmll^j^PUidaMr. 



OOONOOR TALUK. 



CHAP* XV. CooNOOR, wliich is named after its head-qoarters, is the more 
CooxooR. easterly of the two talaks on the plateau and includes the old 
divisions of P^rangan&d and M^rkdnid. Its limits and shape 
saflSciently appear from the map in the pocket at the end of this 
volame and statistics regarding it are given in the separate 
Appendix. The places in it worth a note are the folbwing :— 

AntVftnkid (Arvenghit) : A vallej in the revenue village of 
Vubatalai Ijing three miles from Coonoor on the road to Ootaca- 
mund. The name is supposed to mean * the jungle of h^rriaii 
(jdoob) grass/ The place was originallj known ^ as ' Sappers' 
VaUdj-' because the Sappers and Miners who made the first 
rough road from Coonoor to Ootaoamuud had their camp there. 
In 1857 the Castle Brewery (see p. 289) was established in this 
valley, the site being selected on account of the excellent 
water available, and the records of those days refer to the place 
under the names ' Glen Owen \ ^ Ghlen Arven ' and ' Arvan 
Ghhaut.' 

The old road and tho now railway from Coonoor to 
Ootaoamuud both pass through the valley aud the latter has a 
station there. 

Aravank^d is now best known for the Government Cordite 
Factory which has been established there, the red buildings of 

* JBm OaohterloBjr't sorTey roport Id M.J.L.Sn xv. 46, and his aasp in ill* 
iSOOBd sditioa of Bslkfo't N^U^Imriu. 



GAZSTTIIB. 313 

which form a small town by themselves with the residences of CHAP. XV. 
the officers in charge perched prominently along the top of a Coomoor. 
ridge above them. 

The establishment of a Cordite Factory in India was 
sanctioned by the Secretary of State in the latter half of 1899, 
experiments previoasly carried ont at Kirkee having proved * 
the feasibility of making that explosive in this country. The 
boilding of the factory began in May 1900 and manufacture in 
July 1904.1 

The site selected staiids about 6^000 feet above sea levels 
and the main gate is on the Coonoor-Ootacamflnd road about 
four miles from the Goonoor railw9>y-station. The position is 
suitable owing both to its equable and temperate climate and to 
the general lie of the ground, which latter renders possible the 
isolation of danger buildings in separate hollows and the erection 
of the various parts of the factory in such a manner that water 
and other liquids can be run by gravity from one to another as 
required. 

The factory is run by hydro-electric power, which is obtained 
at the K^t^ri falls, distant about 3^ miles as the crow flies. 
Just above the falls a dam 38 feet high has been built across the 
outlet of a natural basin and a reservoir with a storage capacity 
of 12^ million cubic leet has been formed. From this the water 
is carried to the power house at the foot of the falls by a 24-inch 
riveted steel pipe approximately 2,100 feet in length. The 
difference in level between the dam and the power house is 
650 feet, giving an effective head pressure of 620 feet. 

The power house is 100 feet long* by 30 feet wide and 34 
feet high to the eaves, and is designed to contain the whole of 
the generating plant. This consists of four 125 K. W. sets and 
one 500 K. W. set (three-phase, alternating current, 40 cycles) 
giving current at 5,000 volts, fitted with hydraulic turbines of 
the ' modified Q-erard ' type ; the generators are separately 
excited from direct current generators (output 280 amperes at 
110 volts ) fitted with turbines of the same type as above of 37 
H. P. each. 

The high-tension power transmission lines to the transformer 
house at the factory are each No. 1 S. W.GF. copper wire carried 
on steel posts with wooden arm-brackets. In the transformer 
house there are five transformers (5,000 to 880 volts) of the 
three-phase air-cooled type. 

1 For tlie*fo1]iy«riiig aoeonnt of it I am indebted to the courtesy of ^sjor 
D. M« Bftbington, B jI., iti Snperinteiideiit. 

40 



314 THB NILatBIS. 

CHAP. XV, Power witLin the factory both for running machinery and 

CooNooB. for lighting purposes is distributed on the underground system, 
the cables being laid in earthenware troughing and cast up with 
pitch "(solid system). The motors at the variouB buildings vary 
in size from 3 B.H.P. to 60 B.H.P., each nf them (except the 
, small ones) haying its own switch, starting-box and ammeter 
placed in a convenient position. 

Owing to the distance apart at which it is necessary to placo 
danger buildings, the factory proper covers a considerable area of 
ground. It is divided into the following nine branches: Acid, 
Gun-cotton, Nifero-glyc€|^ne, Cordite, Cfannon Cartridge, Mechu* 
nical, Plumbers, Laboratory and Q-eneral. The first five of these 
are the main manufacturing branches. 

Acid Branch, In a factory for the manufacture of cordite in 
India the supply of « acids is a most important matter. It is 
impossible to purchase them in the country and the coat of 
importing them from Europe is prohibitive. It was therefore 
necessary to instal plants at Aravankad not only for manufactur- 
ing both nitric and sulphuric acids but also for reconcentrating 
' waste ' acids, t.^., those which had been used in the manufacture 
either of gun-cotton or nitro-glycerine. 

After manufacture, the strong acids are mixed in the proportion 
required for the manufacture of gun-cotton and nitro-t^ljoerine 
and are stored in steel boilers each holding between 30,000 lb. 
and 36,000 lb. 

Omt'Cotton BrjLnch, The manufacture of gun-cotton is efiected 
as follows : Cellulose in the form of cotton waste, baviilg been 
picked over by hand, ' tossed ', and dried, is treated with strong 
nitric acid, sulphuric acid being used to absorb the water formed 
and BO keep the nitric acid concentrated. During this treatment 
the cellulose, without changing in outward appearance, is nitrated » 
f.r., turned into gun-cotton. The gun-cotton is then wrung in a 
centrifugal machine to get rid of surplus acid, next washed 
several times in cold water, again wrung and finally taken to t}u> 
vat house to be boiled. It afterwards passes through ' beaters ' 
which cut it up into a fine impalpable pulp, and is next run into 
a ' poacher ' in which it is blended and given a final washing 
preparatory to pressing it into primers or slabs etc. according to 
whether it is required for the manufacture of cordite or for qm> 
by itself. For the manufacture of cordite the gun-cotton i> 
pressed lightly into primers and dried. 

Nitro-glycerine Branch. The manufacture of nitro-glycerino i*' 
an exceedingly dangerous operation, and visitors to the factory 



GAZsrtsEK. 815 

(onless specially authorized) aro not allowed to enter this branoh. chap. X7. 
The substance is made by slowly running glycerine into a mixture Coonoob. 
of nitric and sulphuric acids. It is a heavy oily liquid which 
will not mix with water, and it is well washed both with soda 
solution and pure water, dried and filtered. It is then mixed 
with dry gun-cotton for the manufacture of cordite. 

Cordite Branch. The gon-cotton and nitro-glycerine, after 
being partially mixed by hand in the nitro-glycerine branch 
and converted into ' paste ', aro forwarded to the cordite branch. 
Here in the mwn building the paste, to which a solvent (acetone) 
and a small percentage of mineral jelly havei^ been added, is 
kneaded in incorporating machines until it is thoroughly mixed 
and gelatinized, the product being known as ' dough.' 

This dough is then taken to the presses, which are sitaated 
in the same building, and squirted through dies of difiPerent sizes 
according to the diameter of cord required and thus converted 
into cordite. To the layman, this is perhaps the prettiest opera- 
tion in the series and he never fails to be struck with the ease 
and apparent safety with which the innocent-looking yellow cords 
are wound off on reels and chopped into given lengths. 

The cordite is next placed in trays and allowed to dry so that 
the acetone and any other volatile matter may be driven off. It 
is then ' blended ' to ensure uniformity, and is finally packed ajid 
despatched either to the ammunition factories at Dam-Dam and 
Kirkee or to the cannon cartridge branoh in this factory, 

Oannon Cartridge Branch. In this branch the cordite 
manu&otured in the factory is made up into cartridges. Cannon 
cartridges (except those for quick-firing guns) are made here, 
and in these the cordite is placed in silk or shalloon cloth bags 
which are stamped with the nomenclature etc. of the cartridge. 

The names of the four remaining branches sufficiently explain 
the nature of the work carried on in them and they need no 
description. 

The total Earopean staff of the factory is as follows : Superin- 
tendent, Assistant Superintendent, Danger BuUding Officer, 
Manager and three Chemists, Chief Mechanical Engineer , 
Mechanical Engineer, Chief Foreman Plumber, three Electrical 
Engineers, and 43 Foremen, Assistant Foremen, Soldier Mechaiiics 
and Leading Hands. The average number of native workmen 
employed is about 930. The faotory is easily capable of turning 
out all the cordite reqnired for India. • 



'4i^, TSX Sl^^IZI^i. 



Earr'^^te fi4r». 't^:^ fr:3L S^r.^:^ 1^ Mj^cyr^ tcrritorr aal tettled 

cmI m£x«r«rard» at Tii:ir '^a vat p^itesiB wess of KakbsIiAi) 
and Ta^rlaarabiitti ^to toe ADTiii'Vcst of Melir) sad thttt it 
was tcer wbo er^t^ tbe ipi-^f 4::rEd CTorVprrg of Tadir and 
yUbAiT nAemA to oa p. IOC*. 

TiAhr and Ta^la?:i.4raiatti are a j'W b-4ii deserted ; bat in 
toe fbna/Err a cat-^Ie-kraal, ^ old shrine aad a pit £3r &re>valkmg' 
roajr vtLl be »«7erii, and ia^lie latter aaocher kiaal aad one of the 
raiaed stone platforois called HLaaiafkalla bj the Badagaa. 
Tiaditkm ^ajs that the Badagas left these places aad fooaded 
Athikarih^^tti and its hamlets instead, becaase the Knmmbaa 
rcmnd aboat cootinoal^j troabled them with their nagie aiia and 
indeed killed by sorcerr several of their most promineai citiaena. 
The ham.et of Mattinad, aboat a mile north-east of Athikiri* 
Itatti proper, is the place where are made most of the ooffee*wood 
and other walking-sticks which are so indostriooalj hawked aboot 
Ootacamund and Coonoor. 
• Another mile farther on in the same direction is Kullimalai, 

the onlj Kola village in the Merkonid. 

Barliyibr : About seven miles down the ghat from Coonoor 
to M^ttup^laiyam, population 2^*34. The Baili rirer is here 
crossed by the ghat road and a chattram stands cloee bj. Before 
the railway diverted so mach of the road traffic, the spot was 
a well-ktiown halting-place on the gh^t road and the population 
was largor. To the north of it is a hamlet of Korambas. The 
Government Garden here has been referred to in Chapter IV, 

Bteganni: A liamlct of the revenae village of Nedagala 
Hitaated aboat four miles in a straight line north of K6tagirL 
It is famouH among the Badagas all over the platean for its temple 
to H<^*tti or H^ttamma, the apotheosis of a woman who committed 
sati. There are other similar shrines to her and other viotims of 
Rati in other villagfes, but that at Birganni is far the best known 
of them, and vows and visits are made to it even by the Badagas 
living iiear the distant Kundahs. Vows generally take the form of 
dedicating a cow or she-baffalo to the shriney and the institution now 
pos^eHses about a hundred animals obtained in this way. They 
are looked after by a p6j£ri who is always a youth under the age 
of 21, lives within the temple (which is just like an ordinary 
Badage house) and uses it as the dairy. His pos ition and duties 



GAZBTTSSB. 3lt 

resemble corioasly those of the T6da p^lol (see p. 140) and have GIIAP. xy. 

apparently been imitated therefrom. He is forbidden, for Coonooi. 

example, to have anything to do with (or even to look upon) any 

woman so long as he holds office, and if he suspects that ahy of 

the &ir sex are anywhere near when he wants to leave the shrine, 

he raises a shout as a signal for them to scatter and hide ; his , 

offioei like the pflol's, is temporary, and when he reaches the age 

of 21 he quits it, marries, and becomes as other men ; his duties 

are to tend the sacred cattle and he lives^n their milk and ghi ; 

and onoe a year, at the annual festival, he is presenter! with his 

clothing for the next twelVe months — a liurban, ijpper cloth and 

waist-cloth, ail of which are specially woven for him on the spot 

by Sedans (Tamil weavers) specially imported for the purpose 

from the plains. This annual festival is the occasion when those 

who have made vows bring up their cattle to dedicate them to the 

shrine, but otherwise the ceremonies thereat are not peculiar. 

On the tops of the hills round about Berganni are at least 
thirteen cairns, of which only two appear to have been opened by 
Breeks. 

Coonoor : Head-quarters of the Ooonoor subdivision and taluk, 
a monioipality, and the sepond largest town in the district. 
According to the 1901 census^ its population was 8,525 souls, but 
this enumeration was made in March, before the annual influx of 
hoi- weather visitors and their following had begun, and in the 
height of ' the season ' the numbers are much greater. 

The place is built round a wide, broken vaUey on the edge of 
the crest of the plateau at the head of the great ravine up which 
run the road (21 miles long) and railway^ (16"90 miles) to it from 
M^ttupdlaiyam, and some of its houses command vir^ws down this 
ravine and across it to the plains below. This gives the Coonoor 
scenery an advantage over that of Ootacamund, which stands in the 
middle of the plateau ; but on th^ other hand the dense mists which 
in the evenings often roll up the ravine from the lower ground are a 
corresponding drawback. The place is eleven miles from Ootaca- 
mund by the ghii road and is some 1,500 feet lower down, the 
Coonoor church being 5^954 feet above the sea and St. Stephen's 
at Ootacamund 7,429 feet. This difference in elevation makes 
Coonoor warmer, more suited to sub-tropical plants (such as tree- 
ferns) and to roses, more relaxing, but less trying to the 
liver and lungs ; moreover the heights to the west of it keep 
off the worst of the long south-west monsoon which is apt to 
be 80 depressing at Ootacamund, though it suffers more than 
that place from the north-east rains and the strong east wind 



8l8 THB KILGIBIS. 

GAAP. XV. whioh follows them; farther, the sites aloag the edge of the 
CooNooR. platean overlooking the ravine and those on the high ridg^e 
which bounds the station proper on the north are aneqnalled for 
residences by any in Ootacamnnd ; and finallythe bazaar lies in a 
separate hollow away from, and below, the European qnart-er. 
• For all these reasons, many visitors to the hills forgive the place 
the cramped site which is its chief disadvantage and prefer it to 
Ootacamnnd. Tiady Wenlock rented the house at Coouoor called 
' Brooklands ' for two seasons and lived there, instead of at 
Ootacamnnd, a great part of that time^ 

In a valley ftdjoiningTIoonoor and on the ridges above it stands 
the Wellington Cantonment referred to below, and the two pla^e:^, 
though under different forms of administration, practically form 
one towu. Just beyond Wellington, but four miles up the road 
from Coonoor to OotAcamund, is the Aravankdd Cordite Factory. 

The map attached will give some idea of the lie of Coonoor, 
though on so small a scale it is nut possible to show hill contoar:^. 
The great ravine mentioned above lies south of it, on either side 
of the Kdteri river, and on the top of the precipitous further 
side of this, facing Coonoor, is perched the old fort of Hnlikal 
. Drug referred to below. The lowest point in the town proper is 

near the railway-station and the now defunct Ashley engineering 
works, close to which three streams which drain the neigh- 
bourhood unite and fall over the rocky lip of the plateau under 
tlie name of the Coonoor river to join the Kat^ri stream a thousand 
feet below. On this Coonoor river, near its junction with the 
Kat^ri, is a pretty cascade known (from the officer who built tlie 
ghat road) as ^ Law's fall ^ ; and a little lower down the torrent is 
crossed by the iron girder * Wenlock bridge,* which carries the 
gh&t road over it. 

West of the Coonoor railway-station, on the low ground near 
the municipal office and market and also up the Mount Road lead- 
ing to the hospital, is built the native bazaar ; and well above this, 
on a long high ridge which runs from Sim's Park to the Olenview 
hotel and is crossed by a convenient saddle at the post office (see 
the plan) are some of the best residential sites in the place. A 
conspicuous point from many of them is the hill known as 
Teneriffe (the * Coonoor Betta ' of the maps), whioh is 6,894 feet 
high, or only 334 feet below the Ootacamnnd lake. At the 
northern end of this ridge, near Sim's Park, two spurs run out 
to the east and west and on these, along the roads whioh lead 
respectively up to Kotagiri and down into the valley whicii 
divides Coonoor from Wellington^ are other excellent sites. 



COONOOR MUNICIPALITY 



SCALE OF FURL0N08 



10 50 I 



? f t ? ? T r SnTrX:' 




GAZBTTBEB, 319 

Round Tiger Hill, on the southern limit of the station, runs a CHAP. XV. 

drive commanding beautiful views of the plains, and this goes on Counoor. 

into Lord Hobart's road, which leads along the very edge of , the . 

[lateau, overlooking the low country, to Lamb's Rock, Lady 

Canning's Seat and the Dolphin's Nose (called M^kkumalai by 

the natives), a curious peak which is very prominent from the 

]»lains. 

Sim's Park is so named from its founder, Mr. J. D. Sim, c.s.i., 
Mtmber of Council in 1870-76, who during the last few years of 
his residence in India devoted much time and attention to 
forming it and laying it out. It has already been referred to on 
p/206 above. * * 

The Glenview hotel, formerly known as Davidson's, is the 
oldest hotel in Coonoor and was mentioned in appreciative terms 
by Burton ai far back as 1847. As its name implies, it is built 
on the very edge of the ravine. Two other excellent hotels are 
Gray's (formerly known as * the Union hotel ') and Hill Grove, 
which ^so stand on the ridge already referred to. 

The Tiger Hill and Lord Hobart's roads ^ere made between 
1873 and li<75, and in the latter year the second of them was 
named in memory of the Lord Hobart who had been Governor of 
Madras since 1872 and had jast died at Madras. 

Lamb's Bock was so called ^ by the then- Collector, Mr. E. B. 
Thomas, after a Captain Lamb who had gone to moch troubk- 
and expense in opening up a path to the place. The rock is a 
perfectly sheer precipice of several hundred feet rising straight 
lip from the Coonoor ravine and commanding gorgeous views 
across this and down to the plains. It^is a most popular spot for 
picnics. 

Lady Canning's Seat (also named by Mr. Thomas) commands 
similar, but even more wonderful, views and is marked by a 
small summer-house bailt just above the road at the point where 
it rounds a great shoulder of rock 4^ miles from Coonoor. 
Charlotte, Countess Canning, wife of the then Viceroy, visited 
Madras, Bangalore and the Nilgiris daring the .Mutiny. She 
apparently came up by the Sigiir ghdt, and she arrived at 
Coonoor from Ootacamund on the 7th April 1868, her party 
occupying three detached bungalows which now form part of the 
Glenview hotel and in which Lord Dalhousie had previously 
^stayed from May to August 1855, In The Story of Tiro Noble 

^ For thiB and other items of interest I am indebted to Mr. Alexander 
Alitn, one of the oldest residents in Coonoor, 



820 THB XILQIBIB. 

OHAP. xy. Lwes ^ will be found some of the letters she wrote darmg ber 
i?ooxooB. staj thore and afterwards at E6tagiri. She was enchanted with 
the 'place, its climate and the views from it; spent her time 
riding, walking, sketching and botanizing; compares the yie-vr 
down to the plains with that over the Mediterranean from the 
, Comiche, and the Wellington barracks to the Bscorial ; and only 
regrets the distance which separated her from the stirring events 
which were then proceeding. 

Other baildings along the ridge at Coonoor alreadj mentioned 
which runs from Sim's Park to the OleQview hotel are the Clab, 
the Library, th^ Pasteur Institute and All Saints' Church. 

The Club began with a tennis court or two which were 
situated near the back of the present courts and made in the 
seventies bv General Richard Hamilton , so well kiown for his 
papers on sport on the hills written over the nom de pUum of 
' Hawkeye/ Mr. Gray of Gray's hotel, to whom the land 
belonged, eventually put up a small room there, which is still 
standing. Later a regular ^ Tennis club ' was established <m the 
spot and in 1894 the adjoining house, * Blackheath,' was rented. 
On the 1st September 1897 the Club moved into tha original 
)K>rtion of the pn?sent club-house, .which had just been boilt. 
Later on the Assembly Rooms close b\, the squash racquet court, 
the chaml>er?, the rink and th^ billiard room were buiit in tnm. 
the last being finishes! in 1906. 

The Library was started in 1S04 and at first was localed in 
the builiUng now <x>?upied by th«» jx^st oflBce. \YTien the Assembly 
Rooms just m*>n tinned were put up. a small room in them 
allotted to the library^ and in 1903 the pr^^sent large boilding 
erected from debentures at a cost of Rs, 'A'>,00<> from designs by 
Major E. R. B. Stokt-s-Ro>*-rt<, R.K. >fr. tiray m*l^ a gift lif 
the lanvi. 

The Pasteur Institute h^ recently be<*n opened. It i^ 
desiiHied toir»\ide for Svnithirn India the l»^ne£ts whi.h tr.^' 
similar institute at Easauli confers u}<on the north, and waa boLt 
chif fly from a munifioent donation frvs*nte«i to Lord Cnrson, 
when Viceroy, for su:h purjos*^ a* he might Si»*levt, bj Mr. 
PLi}y<s, an American suhjeot. The t^timates for tht main 
Ijuaing" were lis. 6C»,4S0» fc>r subsidiary bcildiiurs Rs. 10,750 
and foi" the land Es. 6,750. Tnese do not iE:l-:ie furaitnre aad 
miacellaneoGS ceeds. 

* Ft AvfxtTM J. C Eatv G«cr£« A:>s« Lts^ «, :^^ -» 



OAXBTTSIB. 321 

The foundation stone of All Saints' Gharcli was laid on 3rd CHAP. XT. 
September 1^^51 in the presence of the Chaplain, the Hon. Mr. Coohoob. 
J. P. Thomas (Member of Council), Major-General BracUey 
Kennett of the Bombay Army, Mr. E. 6. Thomas (the Collector), 
Captain P. M. Francis, Madras Engineers (the architect), and 
others. Services used previously to be held in a room in* 
^The liodge,^ next dopr, the house of GFeneral Kennett. He 
made a free gift of the land for the church and took great 
interest in its construction. The residente of Coonoor subscribed 
Rs. 6,000 for the edifice, but this was insufficient either to provide 
the best materials or to secure speedy wtffk ; and*the monsoon of 
1852 burst before the roof was on, with the result that the tower 
and most of the eastern wall, which were made of inferior bricks 
laid in olay, came down. Up to then Bs. 6,632 had been spent. 

Govemnlent was applied to for assistilnce and sanctioned a 
sum of Bs. 4,674 for completing the work, but declined to pay the 
cost (Rs. 1,250) of rebuilding the tower. This latter item had in 
the meantime been completed from additional private subscriptions 
(the total amount of which had risen to Ks. 8,983) and eventually 
Government sanctioned a further allotment which brought its 
contribution up to Rs. 7,177 and the total cost of the building to 
Rs. 16,160. General Kennett presented to the church (at a cost 
of Bs. 800} a clock and an east window, much of the glass in 
which was painted by his own hand, and Mr. J. F. Thomas gave 
a font worth another Bs. 800. The building was consecrated on 
18th March 1854. 

Genersd Ketinett was murdered 'in The Lodge in October 
18d7. The crime was instigated by a»Masalman of Cawnpore 
who had opened a cloth bazaar in Coonoor and borrowed money 
from the General, and he and his accomplices broke into the house 
during the night and stabbed their victim so severely that he died 
five days later. Three of them were hanged.^ The G^nend is 
duried in the All Saints' cemetery. 

Up to 1859 Coonoor was an appanage of the chaplaincy at 
WeUiogton, bnt in May of that year the station was made into a 
separate chaplaincy with Coimbatore and P^lgh&t as out-stations. 
In 1863 Government made the church a grant of a snip of 
Rs. 6|790 which had been lately expended in repairing its roof, 
altering and improving the seats and building a componnd wal^ ; 
and supplied it, from the Madras arsenal, with a new bell in 
place of its old one, which had cracked. Next year half the 

^ See Reports of Oriminai ea$09 d^UrmiMd in tKo Fwjdo^rw Udolol. rili, 

41 



322 THE KILGIBI8. 

CHAP. XV. sittings were let for fixed amuants to raise a fond for the mainten- 
CoonooR. ance of the choir, clock, etc. 

In 1874 the Bishop asked for a grant for adding a ohanoel ; 
bnt the Government remarked that they had already given 
Rs. 7,177 for the constraotion of the church and another 
* Rs. 12,530 for its improvement and repair, and could afford no 
more. Eventually aboat Rs. 6,(K>0 were raised by public aob- 
scription and from the Diocesan Church Building Fund, and on 
19th Au<ifast 1879 the fonndation stone of the chancel was lat<l 
by Bishop Gcll. The designs were e:^ecuted by Major J. Ii. L. 
Morant, K.E., District Bfigineer of the Nilgiris, who had a special 
penchant for ecclesiastical architecture, and they were approved 
by Colonel (formerly Captain) Francis, the original arohiteot of 
the main building. The work consisted in^ slightly lengthening 
the nave, erecting a* chancel, supplying a new eabt window in 
place of General Kennett's, making a vestry, and other minor 
items. 

The cemetery was enlarged in 1885; in 1888 the building 
was roofed with Mangalore tiles ; and in 1894 the ohanoel was 
altered to make room for a new organ. All these improvement^^ 
were done at Government cost. 

The church stands in a neat churchyard planted with weeping 
cypress trees, Cupressua funebris. The namerons graves aronnd it 
(the earliest of which is dated 1852) include those of many 
soldiers ; of the wives of Surgeon-Major Francis Day, whoee books 
on Indian fish are so weU known, and of W. S. Lilly, formerly 
of the Civil Service, who retired on an invalid pension in 1872 
and became the author of On Shibboleths and other philosophical 
works ; and that of Bishop Cell. In 1905 a new cemetery was 
laid out on Tiger Hill. A Roman Catholic bnrial-groond i?^ 
attached to St. Anthony^s Church. 

This last, and also the American Mission church, have 
already been referred to in Chapter III and in Chapter X will bt* 
found some account of some of the educational inetitntions in 
Coonoor. Municipal matters and the water-supply of the station 
are mentioned in Chapter XIY and the hospital in Chapter IX. 

The growth of Coonoor has been extremely rapid. The first 
beginnings of the station date from the time when th^ old Kteep 
gh^t road up to it from M^ttuptUaiyam (see p. 228) was made in 
1880-J^2. The camp of the Pioneers who were constructing this 
was near the present railway-station; and Baikie's Nrilghmrki, 
which was wntt^n in 1833, says (pp. 9, 16) that the six or eight 
umall bungalows which then existed in Coonoor all belonged to 



GAaElTEEK. 828 

tha Pioneer ofBeers, and that the only pnblio accommodation in 09 AP. XW 
the place wa^ at the old travellers' bungalow, which stood on the Oqonooh. 
knoU above the lailway-station now occupied by the new fSaluk — 

catoberry finished in 1906. The map attached to Dr. Benza's 
sketch of 1836 of the geology of the plateau ^ also shows only the 
Pioneers' oamp, the travellers' bungalow and the old village of . 
Coonoor. This last (the name of which has been supposed to 
mettn either ' hill village ' or * little village ') was a hamlet of the 
Badaga village of Jakkatalla and then stood just north-east of 
' the Fountain ' at Wellinorton. Even in 1«38 Surgeon De Burgh 
BiTch, in his Topographical Report on ihs Neilgherriesy^ disposes 
of Coonoor in ei^ht depreciatory lines, saying that it ^ is not a 
station, but as it once was the place of encampment of the 
Sappers, it cannot pass unnoticed. It is only just at the summit 
of tbe ghit, Vhioh is covered with thick jangle, and being only 
6 ,000 feet high is sometimes feverish and therefore objectionable 
a» a station.' Official records show that in 1842 only four 
gentlemen (Mr. H. R. Dawson, Major-(Jeneral Kennett, Major- 
General Wahab and Mr. Norris) owned houses there and that 
the first of these and a Captain Yallancey occupied between them 
196 cawnies of ' coffee and mulberry plantations.' 

The Coonoor ghdt, however, rapidly began to oust all other 
routes up to the Nilgiris ; and Coonoor, being at the head of this 
and possessing other intrinsic advantages, soon grew. Ouohter- 
lony's survey report of 1847 * calls it a ' settlement ' and speaks of 
residences of Europeans, an hotel (perhaps the present Glenview), a 
baaaar in the hollow below them and a masonry bridge (still in 
existence) over the stream down there. X^e European and Eurasian 
population, however, still numbered only nine persons and the 
adult natives only 283. Ouchterlony^s map, printed in the second 
edition of Baikie^s NeilgherrieSj distinguishes ^ Old Coonoor/ the 
Badaga hamlet above referred to, from the present Coonoor. 
Burton's Ooa and the Blue Mountains, which was also written in 
1847, contains a rough sketch of the place, evidently taken from 
near the travellers' bungalow, which latter he describes as ' that 
long rambling thing perched on the hill above the little bazaar, and 
renowned for broken windows, fireless rooms and dirty, comfort- 
less meals.' This sketch shows ten European houses ; but, except 
that two of them are clearly G-lenview and The Lodge, it is not 
easy to make oat which others of the present houses these, the 
earliest residences in the station, represent. Burton mentions a 

> MJJi.8.. iv, 241. » Ihid,, viii, 99. 

» Ibid., XV, 46-7. 



324 THB KtLOIBli. 

on A?. XT. T6da mand close to Davidson's hotel and there was also one in tlie 

CooNooB. hollow by the present badminton courts at the Clab. Woodoote* 

' whidh is above the old travellers' bungalow and so not inolodeil 

in Burton's sketch , was bailt by Mr. Lascelles in 1847 ; and not 

long afterwards Qeneral J . W. Cleveland boilt the three booses 

• near by named Baladava, Alma and Inkerman which were 

commonly known collectively as * the Crimea property,' 

The second edition of Baikie's NeilgherrieSy published in 1857, 
says there were then 24 well built and ^ell furnished houses in 
the station, besides the four detached l2ungalows which constita* 
ted the Glenview (then «£alled Davidson's) hotel In the garden 
of the latter grew (it is declared) oranges, peaches, nectarines, 
plums, apples and pears, ' all equal to any that Govent Q«rdc»n 
exhibits ' and ' a great variety of splendid flowers.' The Chorch, 
as has been seen, htfd also been built by then. ^The basaarj 
however, was ill-supplied, and stores (and also servants, ponies 
and carriages) were best obtained from Gotacamund. 

By l'-66, when the place was first made a municipality, there 
were 42 bungalows in it and 263 native houses and 8hop^. 
Cofie^ estates had now been opened all round it and had added to 
^ its importance. At the census of 1871 the total population 

numbered 8,058. Shortly afterwarcls the new gh^t road from 
M^ttupdlaiyam was opened and became the highvray to the 
Nilgiris, and the rapid growth of the town in the next 30 years is 
sufficiently indicated by the census figures 

1^1 * 6*049 fi^^^®^ '^ *^^® margin, though these, as has 

liK)i !.. 8i626 already been said, give only the oold- 
weather population. In 1888 the Mithorai 
and K^t^ri Gold Mining Co. started work on land a little to the 
south of ' the milk village ' on the old road to Ootacamnnd, but 
no payable quartz was ever found. The construction of the taok- 
railway up the gh&t in 1899, its extension to Ootacamund which 
is now proceeding, and the great influx of labour and traffic 
occasioned by the establishment of the Cordite factory close b\ 
have in the last ten years quite altered the nature of the place. 
It is now so crowded that schemes for its extension to the west 
are under consideration ; and in 1905 the deputy tahsildar (who 
was first appointed in 1860) was replaced by a tahsildar and 
the station was made the head -quarters of the European Head 
Assistant Collector. 

IMnid : A village of 1,230 souls, almost all Siv^h&ri Badagas, 
situated seven miles in a straight line east by north of K6tagirL 
It ^as the first village on the plateau seen by the first European 



OAZ^TTEBtl. 8^6 

Tisitois, who (see p. 107) came up by the path to it from CHAP. XV. 
Danii^7akank6ttai, and its name appears in the records regarding Goonook. 
the early expeditions to the hills under various curious ^forms, 
such as Demaad and Dynaud. In those days it boasted a 
travellers' bungalcjw. It is now well known all over the eastern side 
of the hills for its tire-walking festival, which is only second in* 
ituportanoe to the more elaborate ceremony at M^16r referred to 
below, and differs from it in one or two points. Other similar 
festivals are also held at Jakkan^ri and Nediigula. It takes place 
on the Monday following the February new moon, near the 
Jadayasvlimi temple to the north-east d£ the village. Those who 
intend to walk through the fire arrive the night before and bathe 
the next n oming. The fire is lighted by an XJdaya ( Wodeya), 
or Siv&cb^ri priest, who afterwards offers to it a cocoanut and 
some plantains, sprinkles a little holy water on it, bums camphor 
and incense, and then leads the procession through it. A dance 
by both sexes to Kota music generally occupies the next afternoon. 
As at lAAdr, this fire-walking appears to be primarily an 
agricultural festival, for no one will plough his fields before it has 
taken place and a Kurumba is fetched up to sow the first seeds. 

Dimhatti : A hamlet of Kotagiri lying about a mile to the 
north of the parent village on a lower sheltered spur running 
nearly north and south. In a similar position on a parallel spur 
half a mile away stands the Badaga hamlet of Kannerimukka, and 
this latter is the place which was called Dimhutty by the earliest 
European visitors to the hills. It is of interest as being the first 
spot on the Nilgiris on which European dwellings were built and 
is constantly referred to in the books end records about the first 
settlements on the plateau. 

The only trace of European occupation now remaining is a two- 
storeyed building standing in a field of koraK just north of the 
Badaga hamlet. • This now belongs to the Badagas there and is 
used as a potato and hay godown, but its present uses and dilapida- 
tion do not conceal the fact that it was once an excellent little 
dwelling. It contains four rooms, is well and substantially built 
of brick in mortar (few houses on the hills, even nowadays, aspire 
to more than brick in mud), is coated with fine chunam^.has a 
terraced roof supported on strong teak beams, a neatly-finished 
wooden staircase, teak doors with brass hinges and ornamental 
plaster cornices running round the rooms. In front of it was 
once a verandah. The Badagas call it ' Sullivan's bungalow,' and 
it was apparently built hy Mr. Sullivan, Collector of Coimbatore 
and the Nilgiris. That gentleman is shown by official records to 
have had a bungalow at Dimhatti in 1821 (which Sir Fxedeziok 



THE NTIiGIBtS. 

OHAP. XV. Price thinks lie most have boilt during his stay tkere in 1819) 
CtooNooi. and a medical report on the hills written in June 1822 by Aflsifltant 
Snrg^n Orton says that the Collector's (Mr. Snllivan*«) dstAblish- 
ment Vas then ^ placed ' at Dimhatti ; Hough's Letters (m tkm 
Neilgherries, written in 1826 and already several tiroes quoted, 
•speaks of ' a very commodious bungalow ' at this plaoe and wbjs 
that Johnstone} Mr. Sullivan's gardener at Ootacamnnd, informed 
him that ^ he commenced gardening at Dimhutty/ which shows 
that Mr. SoUivan had at least a garden there ; and Captain B. 8. 
Ward's report on his survey of the hills, which was probably 
written about Uie end of 1822, sa3rs ^'several bungalows have 
been built in different pleasant situations, as at Dimhutty, aad 
here is a very good kitchen garden.' Ten years later this latter 
was described as ' one of the earliest, and still one of the beet, 
kitchen gardens on the hills.' It may seem odd that Mr. 
Sullivan should have erected such a substantia! and well-finished 
residence in such a spot at so' early a date, but the way he 
subsequently launched out into an expensive residence apd a big 
garden at Ootacamund shows that he was a gentleman of lavish 
ideas. 

He moved to Ootacamund in 1822, apparently in Aprils and 
the Dimhatti house passed to the Church Missionary Society — ^how 
and when, the Society possesses no records to show. At some 
su))sequent date it and five adjacent smaller bungalows (whioh had 
apparently been built by the C.M.S. and have now vanished) were 
purchased for nearly Bs. 5,000 by Mr. S. B, Lnshington, the then 
Governor of Madras who had taken so much interest in the 
opening up of the Nilgiris^ When the latter left India in 1832 
he placed all six bungalows and the kitchen garden onder the 
care of the Officer Commanding the Nilgiris and the Collector, 
with instructions tliat they should be made avaUable^ at a nominal 
charge sufficient to meet repairs, for people who wera in need 
of a change to the hills but were deterred by the high rente 
demanded there.* 

Sketches of Dimhatti and the buiigalowK appear both in 
Harkness' book on the T^das published in 18 «2 and in the 1884 
edition of Baikie*8 Ifeilgherriea, and in the former the larger boa- 
galow above described and its five smaller neighbours are very 
clearly indicated The i'omraittee appointed to report on the 
prospects of the hills as a sanitarium had suggested, jost before 
Mr. Lushington's bequest was made, that Dimhatti should be 

' J^ift ainnte on the in»tt.«r if pr'ntod in full on pp. 129-4 ol Jerris' 
So/rrrnHv •/• /om/m^y U th% Ml« «/ th» OamV9ry, ftlreadjr sevoral timff ett«d 



iJASlSTTXCft. 3S7 

ecmstitated a separate sanitarium subordinate to Ootaoamnnd. CHAP. XV. 
Dr. B&ikie liad reported very favourably on its eUmate^ and it Ooonoom. 
wa« conveniently placed at the head of the rough ghit -from 
Sinunngai, near M^ttnp^laiyam, which had been constrnoted in 
1820-23 by the Pioneers at M"r. SuUivan^s suggestion. Q-ovem- 
ment, however, reserved this proposal for further consideration . 
and no action was ever taken. Ootacamund, in fact, by this time 
overshadowed all other stations ; and the commencement, in 1830, 
of the first ghit to Ooonoor left Dimhatti and K6tagiri off the 
main rout-e to the hills. 

For this and other reasons Mr. ^FiUshing^on's benevolent 
scheme regarding the six bungalows bore little fruit. Surgeon 
De Burgh Birch, writing in 183?, refers to the bungalows and the 
terraced house, which he says were ' let at low prices to sick 
offioers,' and states that near them then wds ^ a nice garden, and 
fine lawn-like piece of ground, bounded by a handsome wood ad- 
joining.' But the bungalows apparently became less and less 
used ; and about 1850 what remained of them was sold on 
Mr. Lushington's account to the well-known Parsi firm of 
Framjee & Co. of Ootacamund. In 1851, therefore, Q-ovemment 
formally withdrew from any further connection with them. The 
five smaller bungalows had by that time tumbled down. Burton, 
who wrote in 1847, says * that even then * the unhappy 
cottages, after having been made the subject of many a lengthj 
Bole find Regulation, have at last been suffered to sink into 
artistic masses of broken wall and torn thatch, and the larger 
bungalow now belongs to some Parsee firm established at Oota- 
oamnnd.' He declares that the latter \^as built by Mr. Lashing- 
ion himself^ ' who spared no expense to make it comfortable, as 
the rafters which once belonged to Tippoo Sultan's palace testify,* 
but Burton was often more picturesque than accurate in his his- 
torical statements ; Mr. Lushington's own minute says he bought 
all six bungalows from the C. M .S. ; and he is not likely to have 
paid nearly Rs. 5,000 merely for five thatched cottages. 

Framjee & Go. are shown by official records to have sold the 
two*storeyed bungalow to Captain Thomas Bromley of the 
Bombay Army, and Mrs. Bromley died there in 1852. She is 
hnried at St. Stephen's, Ootacamund, and her epitaph calls the 

' This i-eport willT^ found in Jervi»* book, pp. 117-21 . 

* Qoa and ih0 Blvi MtmntainSf A58. Ouohterlony's survey report of 1S47 
also viatefi that all but one of the bangalows were in ruins. He wrongly say* 
that they were ' built long since by Government for the acoommodatiou of 
invalids,* which shows how short official memory is apt to be. j 



t A ^ jr «uil i^--'' "i'-.k ^ Ji j^-^-nr^ir ;f aiimrf-^ cwrr^i tib*-.^ ': j 

lait ^- fcr">« ;r juut "•* •iii* Z:i.iiW^* wiu ai:^ .wm il, T : - 

r»*TUi*a.-* -,f v.^ ir,ii-4*' ^^aiui f^rorxj i^cn** in. * £--«i ir k.fr&d ; at. I 

IfnT-^aLl DTTg. -*^7 known §»$ "^"i- L*ri^/ -a » pr-cij-il--:- 

2T«iar r%T-.a«» won- a rui* 1^ •wi •-•>:!ii>-r. I' «**•!* *>.**.^ f^^t 
*'v;t* -a»* *<r* j-i'*t -xp:«r.*if Cccaoor laii 3. E^ii -5 h, is crowii^-1 
>.7 *^!!isi nijw -f la :»it/:rtr-r**. *a'i i:* & f*T:«ir>e ct-rmi: rlAce. It 

fnr^ci*.' *-#i tii^ tror? 2^.«» 'iidX 'li.is la^^er '^ so call-:*! l^cao^e in 

terror '.f :h* Tc^-'ryii*. T-i* *'Ot ▼::•*-» th^r b*r^5t was bari-r.! 
» •It.O'jrB. ttr-AT t'liT Pllaijir t-TE^ •.* to tc* <of:tft of B-i^likjAl Tilla^'e 
Aiui -a ruATird 't t£Lr«=« ?*!*:>c??«- Birti:>a sar? tL-rv a^«ril form-r-r y 
# to ii^ a ftoc^ luiAv^ of tte s\vii tiiref'.th'rreari^DC*^. 

T-*-?^ o.d fort «tani3 on a {:.-*< iritons ?:*•*. thjv^ side* of whioh 
f;iL* a.\tL£At ^c.^-T i jwn to ttip' ^'^.c-:- r raTici* 00 the one hand arl 
tKfr Coi'mhafc'jre [!.*;«*• on the o*her. whil«? the f«»arth is connect*'*! 
iri>V. rho- r^t of the ransre oiilv Ir a narrow n«=ck th*? last par' 
of wLi^ h wil" nr>t a.iniit mor** than »n»Er man at a time. The f^^eat 
natnral strength of t'.e fositi n has be^n in^renioaslj incpeaau-*! 
Lj the m^ 'I tier in which di^fences have l^vn tuilt close alon^ th»» 
e<J^e of the pre«';picc« and atrentrthenMl by projections whepever 
i^" f;'>-^ibLitj uf an e-jcalade exi-ted, and a high wall fitted witlj 
emhr*more<j and l«x>j'hoies ha-» b<-en erectt^ to face the entran«*i* 
from tlie n;»rn^w neck, Th»- fort itself occupies the whole of thf 
orff'^t of the hhifl, )>ein^ a boat 500 yards long and TRijing from 
100 to 2o » yardx in br«idth. It ia encloseiJ by a roagh wall of 
Nton** in iniul, wli'ch for the most part wfive feet thick. Besides th(> 
ni liii entranr'e fai^in^ the neck, there was originally a gateway 
opfKititi- thiH If-ading straight down the steep side of the hilL 

Cuptiiin Hark nefcfl, describing the place in l8-^>2, says that in 
tliow dH\ h the wftlln of Home large native houses were still standing 
witliin th»' fort ; an<l tliat thou;.^h ranch of it was overgrown with 
for^'Ht tho tn'f'H wr'H* Htill young, showing that the place had been 
oc/onpiod within com|)aratively recent times. Almost the whole 
loloNuro is now thickly covered with a tangle of jungle. 



GAZETTEER. 32d 

The view from it is magnificent. Even Barton, wlio as a rule OHAP. TV. 
has not a single good word for anything on the Nilgiris (he went Coonoob. 
np there on sick leave and perhaps his complaint was Jiver), ^"*" 
appreciates its beanties. He says — 

' The rock npon which we tread falls with an almost perpendicular 
drop of four thousand feet into the plains. From this eyrie we descry* 
the houses of Ooimbatore, the windings of the Bhawany, and the 
straight lines of road stretching like ribbons over the glaring yellow 
surface of the low land. A bluish mist clothes the distaut hills of 
Malabar, dimly seen upon the horizon in front. Behind, on the far 
side of the mighty chasm* the white buBgalows q^ Coonoor glitter 
through the green trees, or disappear behind the veil of fleecy vapour 
which floats along the sunny moontain tops. However hypercritically 
disposed, you can find no fault with this view ; it has beauty, variety, 
and sublimity to recommend it.' 

Who built the fort is not known. The Badagas usually call it 
Paldlsurak6ttEU ^ and a legend among the people in the plains below 
quoted by Capt. Congreve,^ says that it is so named because a 
demon c^ed Pak£sura or Bhak^sura lived there in days gone by. 
He daily exacted from the villagers below a cart-load of provisions 
which, with its driver, he used to devour at a sitting, returning 
the cart to the plains with, a kick to be used again next day. 
Bhima, the strongest of the five famous F^ndava brothers, 
happened one day to be near M^ttupdlaiyam and offered to take 
up the daily cart-load of food. Getting hungry on the way up, he 
devoured the provisions himself, but filled the cart with mud and 
took it on to the demon. The latter was furious and attacked 
Bhima, who, after a tremendous struggle, slew him. With his 
dying breath the demon pronounced ^ curse upon the people sCt 
the foot of the hills who had thus tricked him, declaring that they 
should thenceforth be a prey to the deadly fever from which 
they have suffered ever since. 

The Badafifas told Colonel Ouchterlony ^ that this fort, Malaik6ta 
near Ealhatti and Udaiya £&ya fort in E6nakarai (the two latter 
of which are referred to below) were built by three of their chiefa, 
who divided the rule of the plateau among them. Another tradition 
says that Haidar Ali built Hulikal Drug and Malaik6ta ; but it 
seems more likely that he merely occupied and repaired them. 

^ This name » given in the maps to a slighfcly higher hill to the sonth-wett. 
Another Badaga name for the Drug is Gaganachnkkik^ttai. Mr. Sewell's LisU 
of AntifuUies (i, 229) erroneously enters these three names as though they 
helcmged to three difiPerent places. 

* M JX.8., xiv, 142. Variants of the le/rend are met with in other parts of 
the Prestdenof . ^ 

' See his survey report, M J.lIs., zt, 81. 
43 



880 THi vxLonui. 

OHAP. XY. He undoubtedlj collected revenae on the plateau. The Badagaa 
CoovooE. told Colonel Ouchterlonj that his officers used to despoil whole 
yiUag^ of all their grain and force the rjots to cany their own 
plundered property down to Dann£7akank6ttai (near the junction 
of the Bhaviniand the Moj&r), which he had re-named SharifibM 
*and where he kept a strong force and a big magazine. Captain 
Harkness says that Haidar's son Tipu re-named Malaik6ta 
Hussain&b&d, and kept there a garrison of 60 or 70 sepoys under 
a Idlladar named Saiyad B6dan which was relieved every two 
months from Dann&7akank6ttai, and that he called Hulikal Drug 
Saiyad^b&d and fcad a gaAison of 100 men there under a killadar 
named Ali Kh&n. 

Another tradition avers that Tipu used Hulikal Drug as a 
place of confinement for prisoners of war, and in Colonel Meadows 
Taylor's novel Tippoo* Sult'iun the hero, Herbert Compton, is 
interned there for many months ; spends long honrs lying on the 
grass at the edge of the precipice watching the scene below him 
and thinking how his friends would marvel at the European flowers 
and climate of the place; tries to escape bat, his guide having 
been killed on the way by a tiger, is unable to find his way alone 
through the thick jungle which separates him from any civilisation ; 
and is at length returned to his friends in a state of collapse from 
malaria contracted at the foot of the hills on his way down. 

There is perhaps little troth in this tradition about prisoners 
of war, the two forts being more likely to have been kept up as 
outposts to overawe the hiUs and collect the revenue horn them. 
This is the view of Captain B. S. Ward in his survej report on 
the hills, and he was a most paiostaking enquirer and wrote in 
1822, only twenty-three years after the death of Tipu at the taking 
of Seringapatam. 

Kdt^ri is for revenue purposes a hamlet of the Athikirihatti 
mentioned above, but is now a populous and rising Badaga settle- 
ment. It lies just off the road which runs from the Half Waj 
House on the Ootacamund Coonoor road southwards to Eulakam- 
bai, and near the point where the K^ti stream meets the KMn 
river. Just below this junction the latter forms the weU known 
falls referred to on p. 8 and is there dammed up to make a 
reservoir for the water-power required (see p. 313) for the Cordite 
Factory at Aravank&d. The dam bears a tablet showing that it 
was constracted in 1902. 

I[angarai: A village of 1,650 people lying seven miles east 
by so^th of E6tagiri. Its hamlet of Hal6ru is the Hlaiura of 
Mr, Breeks' Primitive Tribes and Monuments of the NUagirm, where 



some good Boolptored cromlechs, described and figured hy him, CHAP. XV. 
exist. About a mile north of Kengarai, near the Hiriodija Coonoos. 
temple and on the site of old Kengarai, is another well scnlptored 
cromlech which has not apparently been noticed hj him or any 
other writer on the subject. 

A mile beyond the toll-gate on the Bookery gh&t is a rock 
called the Todawan pdrai^ or ' T6da's rock/ The story goes that 
a T6da who was a headman of those parts oppressed his p^^ople so 
mucli that he was ultimately sent for to Dann&yakank6ttai and 
sentenced to be hanged ^before the fort gate there^ and that from 
this lock his wife pronounced a curs^ against? the fort that it 
should become covered with pfickly pear. The curse has certainly 
been fulfilled, for the prickly pear at Danndyakank6ttai is now 
so thick that it is necessary to cut one^s way into the place. 
The T6da woman's spirit will doubtless bd pleased to hear, also, 
that the very site of the fort will probably eventually disappear 
under the water of one of the great Bhav&ni reservoirs now 
contemplated. 

K6ti (Kaiti) : A village of 4,456 people, lying three miles in 
a straight line south-east of Ootacamuud in the well-known valley 
of the same name, which is ,an open treeless expanse of red soil, 
covered with Badaga cultivation and scrub, along the north- 
western side of whioh run the railway and road from Coonoor to 
Ootacamund. The experimental farm which was started here in 
1880 has abready been referred to on p. 202 above. When it 
was closed by order of the Directors in 1836 and the greater part 
of the land belonging to it was returned to the Badagas, Govern- 
ment retained its buildings and the gardens immediately adjoining 
them. These were lent from 1836 to 1839, as a hot- weather 
residence, to General the Marquis de St. Simon, Governor of 
Pondioherry, who lived there for some time. 

In 1840 Lord Elphinstone, then Governor of Madras, bought 
the property for Bs. 550^ and also acquired, on a ninety-nine 
years' lease from the Badagas, some land round about it. He 
frequently resided there, preferring it to Ootacamund owing to 
its greater privacy and milder climate, and on the site of the old 
homestead he built an excellent house (the furnishing of whioh is 
stated in Baikie's book to have been planned by Count D'Orsay) 
and surrounded it with a beautiful garden. 

In 1845 he sold the whole property to Mr. G. J. Casamajor, a 
Judge of the High Goart who had just resigned the Civil ServicOj 

^ Thii figure and soine of the facta below are taken from Sir Frideriok 
Prioe*i book akeady frequently cited. 



332 THX KILOOLIB. 

CHAP. XV. for Ba. 15,300. Mr. Casamajor kid oat aaotber lU. 10,000 in 
CoosooB. alterations and lived there for some jears. fie spent mach of his 
time in eyangelistic and edacational work among the Badag^aa, 
opening a school for them in the hooae and learning Ganareee so 
that he might translate the Gospel into that language. He died 
Mhere in Maj 1849 and is buried at St. Stephen's, Ootacamand. 
It is said ^ that at one time he had wished to be boned in the 
little wood bj the hoose, throagh which led one of his fayonrite 
walks, bat that he afterwards changed hia mind becanae he was 
afraid that the Badagas, who were Tery devoted to him, might 
torn his grave into a plac^of worship. On his death it was found 
that be had bequeathed the greater part of his property to the 
Basel Mission^ in which he had recently taken much interest and 
to which he had given the money which enabled it to start its first 
operations at EotagirL* He had wished that the EM property 
^ should be sold and the interest on the money so realized be 
spent on the mission ; but as no purchaser for it could be found 
it was turned into the head-quarters of the mission (which had 
already rented a house olose by the Kiieri falls) and all its beautiful 
foiniture and fittings were disposed of. It is still the mission's 
head-quarters on the Nilgiris, and in buildings round about it are 
a lower secondary school and a boys' T>rphanage. 

Close by the mission's property was established, in March 1902, 
a camp for 1,000 Boer prisoners of war. The temporary buildings 
in this, which had mud walls and galvanized iron roob, cost some 
3^ lakhs. The prisoners were allowed to walk about the ghit road 
and the Wellington bazaar, where their distinctive yellow pagru 
were a ^miliar sight, butjKrere permitted to enter Ootacamnnd, 
Coonoor and Wellington itself only in special circumstances. 
Thej were repatriated in August 1902, and in October the 
buildings were dismantled and the saleable materials sold. The 
mud walls still remain to mark the site. 

K6danAd: Six miles in a straight line north by east of 
K6tagiri; population 973. The name seems properly to be 
K6dinAdu, or ^ the end ndd.' The country round about it differs 
charmingly from the rest of the east of the plateau, often consist- 
ing of grass land with scattered 8h61a8, like that to the west of 
Ootacamund, instead of bare red soil and Badaga cultivation. 
The E6dan^d tea estates, whose well known trade^mark is K.TJE., 
were started in 186 i- 66 by Mr. R. F. Phillips, who bought about 
1,000 acres of land there, mostly covered with splendid forest 

' ^T. G. Wieland*! IV/fy yeart' wcrk oj th4 Bas^ tftuHoii on iA« }ni^ru 
B JC. PreM, MMgalore^ 1886), IS. 



GIZETTEBB. 333 

which, to the disgust of local sportsmen, he proceeded to fell CHAP. XV; 
forthwith. The views from this comer of the plateau across Cookoor. 
the Moy ^r valley and away to the Satjamangalam hills on' the 
east are some of the finest on the plateau. 

K6liakarai: Lies 2^ miles east-south-east of K6tagiri; 
population 1,278. Some two miles south-east of it, within the ' 
TuUocliard estate, in a place known as KoUai-hdda, or Hhe fort 
flat,' lie the remains of the old fort Udaiya Edya Kota referred 
to in the account of Hulikal Drug on p. 329. This has gone by 
several names : the popular: pronunciation is TJdriyak6ta ; Captain 
Harkness calls it ^ Atra Oota ; ' Captain CongreVe, ^ Adi-Eaer- 
Gottay ' (and he founds an ingenious theory on this mis-spelling) ; 
and Mr. Grigg * Udiariya K6ta.' Except for a few mounds and 
hollows, a bit of stone-in-mud rampart and signs of gateways on 
the eastern and western sides, no trace of *it now remains; but 
Harkness (1832) and Congreve (1847) have both given descrip- 
tions of it as it was in their time. The latter ^ says it is — 

* Situaled on a small table-land and sequestered by hills clothed 
with jungle. The position is strong, being nearly environed with a 
moraHS and stream running along the channel of a deep fissure in the 
ground. The remains of the fort indicate it was originally constructed 
of earth in some places, and in other parts of uncemented stones. In 
shape it is an oblong, the longer side measuring one hundred paces, 
the shorter fifty-three, and consisting of a double line of works one 
within the other, the space between the two occupying twenty-five 
paces in breadth. The remains of two square towers are visible 
adjoining the outer line, one seated on the west face and the other on 
the south ; the gateway probably ran under the former. 

Within the inner walls I found some remains of stone buildings, 
consisting of large blocks and flags unwrought, and two upon which 
the marks of the chisel were apparent . . . Fragments of orna- 
mented j)Ottery were dispersed aroimd.' 

One of the chiselled stones is still lying there and seems to 
have been used for pounding grain. Local accounts say that the 
materials of the fort were utilized by a former owner of the 
estate within which it stands for the construction of a bungalow 
and out-houses on his property, and were afterwards carted to 
£6tagiii and used in building the house in that station c&Ued 
'Caberfeigh.' 

Badaga tradition gives a fairly detailed account of Udaiya 
B4ya. It says he was a chief who collected the taxes for the 
Ummattir Bdjas referred to on p. 93 and that he had also a fort 

* M J.L.S.. xiv, 121. 



334 THE NILQIRIS. 

CHAP. XT. A^ Knllanihorai, near Siramagai, the remains of whicli are still to 
CooNooR. be seen. He married a woman of Netlingi, hamlet of Nedngola, 

namefl Muddu Gavnri, but she died by the wrath of the gods 

because she persuaded him to celebrate the annual fire-walking 
festival in front of the fort, instead of at the oustomaiy spot bj 
* the Mahdlingasvimi temple about half a mile off, and after her 
death he moved to the Malaik6ta near Ealhatti which is referred 
to below. Nellidlam tradition adds that he was an officer of the 
forefathers of the present Nelli^lam Arasu. Bound the Mahilinga* 
sv^mi temple, it is said, was once ^ populous village named 
Gudihdda and fMkddj wa% raised in the adjoining flat. Gut on a 
group of boulders there, are some modem Canarese letters of 
which no sense can be made.^ 

Near the fort are the only kistvaens on the hills. They have 
been mentioned on p. 98. Before one of them (that on the 
E6nakatti hill) the Badagas of Jakkan^ri annually sacrifioe a 
buffalo calf. The actual killing is done by a Kurnmba. 

About two miles south-west of K6nakarai, in the liamlet of 
T6tanalli, are the so-called * Caves of Belliki,' on the walls of 
which are certain scratches which Captain Gongreve eolisted in 
• support of his theories that Buddhists or Jains once held sway on 

the plateau. These * Caves ' are merely overhanging rocks ; and 
the scratches (as may be seen from the photographs of them 
in plates LXXX to LXXXII of Breeks' book) are hardly of 
historical interest. 

K6tagiri : Eighteen miles by road east of Ootaoamund and 
twelve from Coonoor. Population 5,100, which makes it the 
third largest place in the district but includes the people of 
several outlying hamlets. The uame is properly Kdiar-kiri^ or 
* the street (or line) of K6tas ' ; old papers often spell it Kotar* 
gherry and there is still a K6ta settlement in the place. The 
tahsildar of Coonoor holds fortnightly sittings at the police-station 
to dispose of criminal cases arising in the neighbourhood*- The 
place contains a station of the Basel Mission, a chattram, a dis- 
pensary, a market and a gorgeous new mosque constructed by 
the Palni Muhammadans who do most of the trade in it, 

K6tagiri lies about 1 ,000 feet lower than Ootacamond (the 
Basel Mission chapel is 6,511 feet above the sea) and is protected 
by the Dodabetta range from the violence of the south-west 
monsoon. It consequently possesses the climatic advantages of 
Coonoor (already mentioned) with the added superiority that it 

* Inaocnrftte trauKcriptt of them appour in Oongrere*! paper (ICJXJI., shr, 
141) and BiMks (plaU XUY A). 



GAZBTTItBR. 886 

does not suffer from Coonoor's mists and is more bracing. It is^ CHAP. XV, 
however , off the main route, and -the journej np to it from Coonooi. 
M^ttnp&Iaiyam hy its own ghit of twenty-one miles one in 
seventeen (which is usually performed in a rickshaw) is a 'long 
ooe. The station standi at the head of a fine ravine running down 
towards M^ttup^laijam and is scattered over a piece of steeply , 
nndulating country (almost hare of trees and thus in great con* 
trast to Ootacamnnd and Cbonoor) where almost all the European 
bouses stand by themselves^ each on a knoll of its own. Several 
of them command beautiful views down to the plains and the 
Ltfunbton's Peak range in Coimbatore. The plac^ boasts a hotel 
which is open in the hot months^ but no travellers' bungalow. 

It was at Dimhatti, just north of K6tagiri (see p. 325), that 
the first European visitors to the plateau settled ; and it was to 
Dimhatti and! E6tagiri that the first ^ road ' 4o the hills was made 
in 1820-23. Bough's Letters on the NeilgherrieSy written in 1826, 
says that several bungalows had then been built there (they were 
probably very temporary affairs) and describes in detail the journey 
np the gh^t from Sirumugai. At Ariv^nu, the first village 
down the present gh^t from K6tagiri, was then a rest-house which 
had once been a bungalow bmlt for his own use by Lieutenant 
Evans Macpherson, the makel* of the road of 1820 and the builder 
of ' Clony Hall ' at Ootacamund. By 1847, according to Ouchter- 
lony's survey report, there were fifteen European houses in the place 
(the same number as in Goonoor) but latterly the comparative 
baccessibiUty of the station has counteracted it« climatic advan- 
tages ; the decline of the coffee industry has hampered it ; and it 
has grown but slowly. Plans for supplying it with a piped water- 
supply from the Longwood sh61a at a cost of Bs. 40,000 have been 
elaborated but shelved for want of funds. 

Apparently the oldest of the existing houses in K6tagiriis 
that which is now called ' The Avenue.' The site of this was 
originally granted to Mr. B. H. Clive, who was Head Assistant 
and Sub-Collector of Coimbatore from 1822 to 1827. In the 
latter year he went Home on leave and sold the place, which was 
then Imown as ' GUve's House,' to Colonel Hazlewood. In 1881 
the latter disposed of it to G-eneral J. S. Eraser, who in 1856 sold it 
again to Lieutenant Eraser (no relation), a naval officer. In 1861, 
at which time it was called ^ Hillwood,' it passed to Colonel Herbert 
M array- Aynsley of the Madras Cavalry, who gave it its presenlt 
name and sold it in 1871 to Captain John Craig of the Ordnance 
department. The latter gave it to its present proprietor, Mr. 
W. 0. Johnston, in 1875. 



336 THX NILGIBIS. 

CHA.P. X7. After 'The Avenae' the oldest hoase in the plaoe is ' Eota 

CooNooR. jjaii > which stands in a beautiful situation looking down the 
ghdt.. This was built by Mr. James Thomas, who was Collector 
of Ooimbatore between 1830 and 1832^ and made a new bat 
steep road to K6tagiri direct from M^ttap^Iaijam.' About the 
* same time his brother, lifr. E. B. Thomas, who was Head 
Assistant and Sub-Collector of Coimbatore from 1830 to 1833, 
built the next house, Belmont, which in 1853 became the property 
of the Ouohterlonj family. It was perhaps in one of these two 
houses that Sir Frederick Adam, thcD Gpyemor of Madras, stayed 
in 1836. The Sixrharu of June 2nd in that jear * remarked malici- 
ously: 'Becent letters from the Neilgherries mention that Sir 
Frederick Adam is much broken in health and very much 
out of humour ; that he resides a good deal in the most retired 
way at Kotagherry ; takes no great exercise and Iransacte no 
great business.' In 1840 Bishop Spender, then Bishop of Madras, 
bought Eota Hall, to which he made additions. In 1847 it passed 
to G-eneral J. T. Gibson of the Madras Army and after ^is death 
in 1851 to his son-in-law. Major Briggs. In 1855 it was let to 
Lord Dalhousie, who had been sent to the Nilgiris by his medical 
advisers and was accompanied by his daughter Lady Sosan 
Ramsay. He was apparently there in April and again in August, 
September and October. He is popularly, but erroneously, 
supposed to have signed there the order for the annexation of 
Gudh. The same story is told of Waltharastow, the house he 
stayed in at Gotacamund. Lady Canning went to Eota Hall for a 
few days in May 1858 and one of her letters calls it ^ the place 
Lord Dalhousie chiefly lij^ed at, and liked most of all,' but says 
that by then ' the doing up expended by Lord Dalhousie is in 
decadence, though the house will do very well to live in for a 
week. The view is really beautiful/ In August and September 
1858 Lord Harris, then Governor of Madras, stayed at Eota Hall 
for about a month to recoup from a sudden and severe illness 
contracted at Gotacamund; and in July 18tt2 Sir William 
Denison, another Governor, was there for a few days. 

In this latter year the property was sold to General CuUen ; in 
18t31 to Mr. (afterwards Sir William) Bobinson (who added 38 
acres to, and otherwise much improved, it) ; in 1868 to Mr. 
Q. S. Forbes ; in 1877 to Mr. Gordon W. Forbes ; and afterwards 

1 The Gov^ernment grant for the land (20 oawniet) wa« not made until 
1838, but the house mnat haye been built before that. 
* Jerrta, p. 134. 
< See Aaiatic Journal^ ni, 186. 



OAZBTTBSB. 387 

tn tnm to Messrs. Stanes & Co. and the present owner, Colonel CHAP. XV. 
Hntcliiiis, whose wife's sisters now occupy it. Ooonooi. 

Next to Kota Hall, the oldest house in K6tagiri is ' GorAej.* 
Captain Frederick Macleod bought the nucleus of the site in 1832 
from the E6tas for Bs. 25 and obtained a Qovemment grant for 
it in 1838. On this he built a large wooden house (said to have • 
been made in Calicut and sent up in pieces) which was first 
called • Angelica House ' and subsequently ' The Ship/ ' Steep 
HilP and * Prospect Hill.' After changing hands several times, 
the property^passed in 1873 to Colonel Vine, who sold it in 1880 
to Mr. F. R. GriflRth, who named it * Ccfrsley ^ ani to whose family 
it still belongs. He planted in its grounds the wonderful colleo- 
tion of rare plants and trees which still thrives there, and added 
to it the property variously known as * The Dove's Nest,* * The 
Haunted House * and ' Tragedy Hall.' Intrhis latter house died in 
1848 Theodora Mary, daughter of Bishop Spencer and wife of 
Hatlej Frere, C.S.,^ and her tombstone, which bears only her 
initials and the date, is in the K6tagiri cemetery. No servants 
would afterwards stay in the house, which they declared was 
haunted, and it is now in ruins and overgrown with a wild tangle 
of jungle. The 1871 map of the district marks ' Metz Castle ' as 
one of the chief houses in KxStagiri, but the building so called, in 
derision^ was a little one-roomed construction near the bazaar 
which belonged to the Bev. F. Metz of the Basel Mission. 

While General G-ibson was at Kota Hall he began the 
construction, from his own money, of the little church called 
Christ Church. At his death in 1851 the walls were only a few 
feet high, but he had left funds for tha work with his son-in-law 
Major Bnggs, and the building was eventually completed there- 
with. He is buried just outside the Communion rails and a tablet 
to his memory is built into the wall. It is said ^ that he selected 
the unfortunate site which the church occupies (at the bottom of a 
deep hollow and far from most of the European houses) because 
he wished to be able to see it from the windows of Kota Hall. 
Far better sites (such as the hill above the Blue Mountain Hotel) 
were avcdlable. In 1864 Major (then Qeneral) Briggs made over 
the church to Government on the condition (among others) that 
it should never be consecrated, so that clergymen of all denomi- 
nations could hold services in it. In the same year Government 

' Mr, J. J. Cotton's Inscriptions on Madrtu Tombs, 

* For this and tome other partioolvrs about Ktftagiri I am indebted to 
Miai M. B. L. Cockburni whose father, Mr. M. D. Cookborn, M.C.S., wat the flrtt 
European to settle penaanently in the plaoe. 

48 



THK XILOISIB. 



CflAP. X?. presented it witt a bell, and they liave since kept it in repair. 

CoosooE. Proposals to boild a new chareh on a more convenieiit site have 
recently (19<>>) been negatived. 

The European cemetery lies at the other end of the itatioiij on 
a spar overlookins' Dimhatti. It is said that this odd and out* 
• of-the-way site was fixed by the accident that in the Tery early 
days of the station an officer who had pitched his tents there died 
and was boned in ^ront of th»jm. Sabsequent graves were placed 
alongside his, and the spot thos became the r^KSognized cemetery. 
The earliest tombstone is dated 1822 f|pd is to the memory of 
Mr. E. H. Crottendpn, Jtfdge of Trichinopoly, to whom there is 
also a tablet in St. John's Church in that station. Other grave* are 
those of Mr. M. D. Cockbuni, ILC.S. (brotherof Henry Gockbnm, 
Lord Chief eTastice of Edinburgh i, who died in 1869, of his wife 
Catherine (after whom St, Catherine's Falls were named and who 
died in 1870) and of several members of their family. 

Largely owing to them, K6tagiri was one of the earliest 
centres of cofTee and tea-planting ou the plateaa. Ihfr. IC. D* 
Opckbum and his brother-in-law Mr. Frank Lascelles pat down 
coffee plants (obtained from Ceylon and Nadurattam) in the 
Kannavehatti and Hardathorai estates in the forties of the last 
pentury, and Miss M. B. L. Cockbum introduced t^e first tea on 
Allports estate in 1863. 

K6tagiri suffered slightly from the gold-mining mania of 
1879-82, the Eotagiri Beefs Co. and two other companies opening 
np supposed lodes below florash61a and in Naduhatti on the 
bridle-path to Coonoor. The undertakings were all failures. 

In Jakkan^ri, a hanfiet to the south of E6tagiri, are the 
sculptured cromlechs alluded to on p. 99. Near them formerly 
stood, it is said, the villages of Dodd^ru and Jakkatakambsi, 
now vanished. In the heart of the Banagudi sh6Ia, not far from 
the 'Doddfirn group' of cromlechs, is an odd little shrine to 
KaraitYiya, consisting of a ruined stone hut surrounded by a low 
wall within which is a tiny cromlech, some sacred water-worn 
stones and sundry little pottery images representing a tiger, a 
mounted man and some dogs. These keep in memory, it is said, 
a Badaga who was slain in combat with a tiger ; and annually a 
festival is hold at which now images are planted there, vows are 
p^id, a Kurumlia in:ikos fire by friction and burns incense, 
throws sn notified water over the numerous goats brought up to 
be sacrificed to see if they will shiver in the manner always held 
necessary in sacrificial victims, and then slays, one after the other, 
thosd which have shown themselves duly qualified. 



GAZETT££K. 339 

A fire-walking festival also takes place annually at the OHAP. XV. 
JadayasT^mi temple in Jakkan^ri under the auspices of a Siv&- Ooonoo*. 
ch^ri Sadaga. It seems to have originally had some conneption 
with a^icultgral prospects^ as a young bull is made to go partly 
across the fire-pit before the other devotees, and the owners of 
joung^ cows which have had their first calves during the year 
take precedence of others in the ceremony and bring offerings * 
of milk which are sprinkled over the burning embers. 

Knlakambai (the termination -kambai denotes a Kurumba 
village) is for administrative purposes a hamlet of M^liir^ eight 
miles as the crow fiies soiith-west of CoQnoor. It is an important 
coffee centre, and midway between it and M^16r, in the valley of 
the deserted T6d6r village mentioned above (p. 316), is the 
well-known Terramia tea estate. The falls and hill here have 
already beea mentioned in Chapter I. 

M61^i a village of 2,947 people, eight miles south-west of 
Coouoor, is widely known for its fire-walking festival, which 
is one of the most elaborate on all the plateau. It takes place 
on tlie Monday after the March new moon, just before the culti- 
vation season begins, and is attended by Badagas from all over 
M^rknn&d. The inhabitants of certain villages (six in number 
who are supposed to be the descendants of an early Badaga 
named Guruvajja, have first, however, to signify through their 
Oottok&rs, or headmen, that the festival may take place ; and 
the Gk)ttukir8 choose three, five, or seven men to walk through 
the fire. On the day appointed the fire is lit by certain Badaga 
priests and a Eurumba. The men chosen by the Gottukdrs then 
bathe, adorn themselves with sandal, do obeisance to the Udayas 
of Udayarhatti near E^ti, who are specially invited over and 
feasted ; pour into the adjacent stream milk from cows which have 
oalved for the first time during the year ; and, in the ckftemoon, 
throw more milk and some flowers from the Mah^lingasv&mi 
temple into the fire-pit and then walk across it. Earth is next 
thrown on the embers and they walk across twice more. A 
general feast closes the ceremony and next day the first plough- 
ings are done, the Kurumba sowing the first seeds and the 
priests the next lot. 

Finally a net is brought ; the priest of the temple, standing 
over it, puts up prayers for a favourable agricultural season ; two 
fowls are thrown into it and a pretence is made of spearing them ; 
and then it is taken and put across some game path and some 
wild animal (a sambhar if possible) is driven into it, slain and 
divided among the villagers. This same eastern of annually 
killing a sambhar is also observed, it may bo here noted, at other 



340 THE KILGIBIS. 

CHAP. XV. villages on the plateao, and in 1883 and 1894 special orders were 
CooKooB. passed to permit of its being done during tbe close season. 

Latterly disputes about precedence in the matter of walldu^ 
through the fire at Mel6r have been earned as far as the ci'vil 
courts, and the two factions celebrate the festival separately in 
alternate years. 

BangasTimi Peak : A conical peak 5,855 feet above the 
sea which stands prominently forth on the extreme eastern limit 
of the plateau and is a well-known landmark from the pbdns. 
It is the most sacred hUl on all the plateau. Hindu legend sayA 
that the god Rangasv&mi iv^ed to live at Karaimadai on th« plains 
between Mettupalaiyam and Coimbatore, but quarrelled with his 
wife and so came and lived here alone. In proof of the stoiy two 
footprints on the rock not far from Arak6d village below the 
Peak are pointed out. , This, however, is probably aa invention 
designed to save the hill folk from the toilsome journey to 
Rangasvdmi's car -festival at Karaimadai, which used onoe to be 
considered incumbent upon them. In some places the Badagas 
and Eotas have gone even further and established ' Rangasvimi 
Bettus ' of their own, handy for their own particular villages. 

On the real Uangasv&mi Peak are two rude walled enclosnres 
sacred to the god Eanga and his consort, and within these are 
votive offerings (chiefly iron lamps and the notched sticks nsed 
as weighing machines) and two stones to represent the deities. 
The hereditary p6j&ri is an Irnla, and on the day fixed by the 
Badagas for the annual feast, he arrives from his hamlet near 
Nandipuram, bathes in a pool below the summit, and marches to 
the top shouting ' 66vinda ! G6vuida ! * The cry is taken ap 
with wild enthusiasm by all those present, and the whole crowd, 
which includes Badagas, Irulas and Eurumbas, surrounds the 
enclosures while the Irula priest invokes the deities by blowing 
his conch and beating his drum, and pours oblations over, and 
decorates with flowers, t\^e two stones which represent them. 
That night two stone basins on the summit are filled with ghee 
and lighted, and the glare is visible for miles around. Ths 
ceremonies close with prayers for good rain and fruitfnlness 
among the flocks and herds, a wild dauce by the Irula, and the 
boiling (called hongal, the same word as pohgal the Tamil agri- 
cultural feast) of much rice in milk. Ordinarily the Badagas do 
not boil milk, but drink it cold. About a mile from Arskod is 
an overhanging rock' called the kodai'kaly or ' umbrella stone,' 

^ There 19 no * oave ' as stated in the Coimhatore Dittriet JfofMial, ii, iS7, 
and Mr. Beweirs iiifurmantfl misled him wlien thej said (IA$t$ of <nHqpiti9$, t, 
916) that the ' temple * on the peak ooutaiaed insoripttona. 



OAZKTTEEB. 341 

onder whioh is foand a whitish claj. This clay is used by the OHAV. XV. 
Irolas for making the Vaishnava marks on their foreheads at Goonoob. 
this festival. ' 

North hy west of Raagasy^mi's Peak is Bangasv^mi's Pillar, 
an extraordinary isolated rock pillar which rises in solitary gran- 
deur to a height of some 400 feet and has sheer sides which must ^ 
be quite xinclimbable, 

Wellington: Is a cantonment about 1^ miles north of 
Cooncor, situated near the road to Ootacamund on one of the 
numerous spurs of the Dodabetta range 6,100 feet above the sea. 
It contains 4,793 inhabitants. Its climate and general appearance 
resemble those of its neighbour Coonoor, but it does not get the 
latter's frequent mists. Though it was originally a bare spot, 
it has now been thickly planted with Australian and other exotic 
trees. It is^ the head-quarters of the Colonel on the Staff com- 
manding the Sonthem Brigade of the Ninth (Secunderabad) 
Division, and also contains a Convalescent D^pot and part of a 
British Infantry regiment. The station is in charge of the 
military authorities and possesses a Cantonment Magistrate. 

One of the first things which struck the earliest European 
visitors to the hills was the desirability of quartering British regi- 
ments there, especially those newly arrived from Home, in order 
to obviate the large amount of sickness which usually resulted 
in them from residence on the plains during the hot weather. 
As early as 1882 Dr, Baikie brought the matter forcibly to 
the notice of the Medical Board.^ In 1838 Dr. Birch * again 
referred to the matter and proposed that the troops should 
be cantoned away beyond Avalanche ip« what was then known as 
the Long Valley on the Sisp^ra road. Luckily this suggestion 
was not adopted, as during the south-west monsoon no wetter 
and more bleak situation could probably be found on the plateau. 
At the end of 1839 Lord Elphinstone proposed that a regi- 
ment should be stationed at Ootacamund, but the Government of 
India would not have it.^ The Marquis of Tweeddale, who 
became Governor in 1842, held views similar to those of Lord 
Elphinstone and suggested that a sum of £45,000, which the 
Government of India proposed to lay out on barracks at Trichi- 
nopoly^ should be expended on similar accommodation on' the 
Nilgiris. Major Ouohterlony, then engaged on the survey of the 
hills, pointed out to him the Wellington site, and in 1847 the 

' Hii report printed on pp. Ill ff . of Jervit' book. 

• M J.L.B., ▼!«, 89. 

' A history of the proposa] will be found in Sir F. Prioe's book* ^ 



343 TSX SZL«iCUlL 

C<vi».«.s. X:i:i:z^ irTreTrr w^i» ritual. j i:c* fcr several jemn. In those 
da^C wibrs. «2ic?% w^* no rmilw^r mud trutspoK mnimals ooold 
CT1.7 ce c^.CAiLn^i fr:o^ Mj^ire, Saurs. mnd Coimbatore, there wiere 
3«ru;i!is fr._-ftCcir-i: i\]*iM'uutLS to i£« tf jcacion of troops on tlie liills ; 
• ak::i is vu ilsc f-s:w^i HAAit Vzri Kea vwild g«t maluia when 
cAriiia^ iz. •r*v«^ria It tinc^i the fe ier i sa jangle on the 

Im lr4^ P^*^ f-» f«rs-kz.€ti, iiiir^ad of temporftij, bermcks 
w^r^ ftt Lass ir^Tii gz &zilm 1^<j0-51 m «caeme for a ConTileeeent 
i>^ot wae ^::*^:r.c«i by the Hcz<? aathoriiies and woA wat« 
bir-'-m. Tre «cari:a vas at that time called Jakkatalla ior 
Jftiiu^&^^h from :he ba*iA^ tlUa^ of that name to the norlL 
0(7%^ a=.d in 1^-52 Sir Richard Armstrong, then Commander- 
i&X;h:€:f. rec*>c:mec*i«d that the name should be "changed to 
We..lx:^ca. in hone or o:' the Iron Duke, who from the first had 
eT;c:jel an i:.:er^^ in the est^iblishinent of a sanitarinm on the 
Nil^'iris, which he tm*: hare 3e»=-n froan aiar in his yoath»^nd had 
expiv^sei his aaqaaanei appnjbation of the •cheoie* Sir Henry 
PoTtic^T, the then GoTemor, thought the name woold be on- 
inteUi^ible to the natives : bat in l^t)0 Sir Charles Trevelynn 
hel 1 that ' this interesting militarj ^etablishmenl could not be 
connected with a more appropriate name ' than Wellington, 
and ordered it to be so called thenceforth. Aboat the same time 
he proposed to tho Secretary of State that Ootaeamond shonld in 
fature be called Victoria, bat the soggestion seems to hare met 
with no response. 

The barracks were bfgan in 1852 and completed in I860. 
Another block was added in 1876. The total coet, inclnding ail 
outbuildings, etc., was £167,0.0 and thej contain acoommodation 
for bi non-com mi>sicned officers and 820 men. They are sub* 
gtantial and of the best materials, and the water-supplies and 
sanitary and cooking arrangements are excellent. Besides the 
Omvalescent Depdt, they now accommodate a British Infantry 
battalion which supplies detachments to Calicut, Malapparaui 
and Cannanore in the Malabar district. The native basaar 
stands some distance away on the other bank of a stream which 
runs* beside the Coonoor-Ootacamund road and is crossed by 
* the Waterloo Bridge,' better known nowadays as * the Black 
Bridge/ a tarred wooden construction. 

Above the barracks are the officers' bungalowsi conspionoos 
among them being the Commandant's on the top of the hill ab3ve 
« the* Fountain/ a point where half a dozen roads meet. .Below 



OAnTTKBB. 843 

and ipreat of this is a small lake, along the embankment of which CHAP. XT. 
nms a road to Coonoor, and east and south of it is a deep ravine, Coonoob. 
which, separates Wellington from Coonoor, and at the bottom of 
which is the raoe-conrse. 

The Waterloo Bridge, over which passes the road which runs 
from Wellington to join the Ootacamund-Coonoor road, was * 
first built in 1858, but collapsed before completion on 26th 
NoTember of that jear owing to a combination of heavy rain and 
bad work. Acrimonious recriminations followed among the 
varioas officers responsib!^ ; and in the end the Executive Engineer 
was sent back to military duty. A.n iron giifler bridge was 
next designed, but there were no funds ; and in 1878 the present 
wooden construction was put up. In 1855, when the project of 
oonstraoting a bridge there was first mooted, it was suggested 
that a high dam should be thrown across the stream and the 
road taken along the top of that. When the bridge collapsed 
Sir Charles Trevelyan revived this proposal, but the cost was 
prohibitive. The idea of forming a reservoir at this point has 
recently been revived iu connection with the scheme for utilizing 
the water of this or other streams for the electrification of the 
Nilgiri railway. 

The existing lake was made, it is said, by Lieutenant- 
Colonel Richards, the Joint Magistrate of Wellington, largely by 
the labour of convicts in the Jail there, about 1875. 

The race-course was due to the energy of the same officer, 
and was chiefly made from public subscriptions. The stream 
which now runs along the western side of it formerly ran through 
the middle of the hollow in which it lies, and had to be diverted. 
The local Badagas say that the T6das had a ti dairy there, and a 
fmieral place near the barracks. Their mand, as has already been 
stated on page 324, was near the present Coonoor Club ; and 
the Badagas had a village near the Commandant's house. Vbe 
T6das were moved to Bettumand near the EaUia reserve, and the 
Badagas to the neighbouring village of Banthumi ; and com- 
pensation is still paid annually to both of them for their land. 
The race-course is extremely picturesque, wooded hills rising 
above three sides of it, but is so small that the turns make 
tracing dangerous in wet weather. Meetings were regularly held 
there nntil 1905. They took place just before the May meeting 
at Ootacamnnd, so that the same horses could compete in both, 
and all Gotacamnnd used to go down to them. In 1905 the 
coarse was severely damaged by floods in the stream already 



344 THB inLoniig. 

CHAP. XV, meDtioned, and this and other causes led to the ahandonmeiit of 
CooxooB. the meeting, which shows no signs of being reviYed. 

^ l*iie Anglican charch at Wellington, St. Oeorge's, was Ymili 

in 1886. It stands on a commanding site and will hold 400 per- 
sons. The question of erecting a place of worship in the oanton* 
• mentwas first raised as earlj as 1854, but as the plans lor the 
barracks included two rooms for use for divine service and the 
Coonoor church had just been finished the matter was dropped. 
In 1868, in 1873, and again in 1082, the subject was revived — 
strong representations as to the uns^itabilitj of an ordinary 
barrack room fer public Irorship being made bj the Chaplains — 
and at length in 1885 funds were found for the work. The 
building was designed hj Major Morant, B.E., who had built 
the chancel at Coonoor and was now Consulting Architect to 
Oovemment, and wtf^ finished in 1886. The estimate was 
Bs. 38,161, but the work cost Bs. 47,810 and there was trouble in 
consequence. The present bell came from St. Stephen's at 
Ootacamund. It was not required when the new tubular bells 
were put up there in 1894, and was transferred to this church, 
the existing bell in which was reported to be ^ very small, very 
cracked, and graving a most insignificant sound which can scarcely 
be heard at the barracks.' The organ, which cost £400, was 
obtained in 1902 from public subscriptions. 

The Boman Catholic church, St. Joseph's, was also designed 
by Major (then Colonel) Nf orant. The estimate (Bs. 30,626) wan 
sanctioned in 1886 and the building was completed at a cost of 
Bs. 33,576 (including furniture) in 1888, the Boman Catholic 
Chaplain himself carrying^ out the work under the supervision of 
the Executive Engineer. 

The Cantonment cemetery was opened in 1852 and enlarged in 
1877. In 1854 and 1855 no less than 44 officers and men of the 
71 th Highlanders, a wing of which was then stationed at Wel- 
lington, were buried there ; Baikie*s Neilgherriea (second edition, 
1857) says that, with exceptions, these deaths were due to 
dis^^ase contracted before the regiment came up, but another 
account states that the men had been brought up to help in 
building the barracks and were quartered in unhealthy temporary 
huts, which had been hastily constructed for their accommodation 
and had no proper floors. Within the Cordite factory is a tomb- 
stone to nine men of the 83rd Regiment who died in 1876-77. 



OAZBTTBBB, 345 



OOTAOAMXTND TALUK. 



OHAP. XV 
Is the largrest of the three Nilgiri taluks, and oorresponds^ Ootacamund 

almost exactly with the old divisions of T6dan^d and Kundahn^d, 

thus occapying the northern, north-western and south-western 
portions of the plateau. In addition, it includes the tract at the 
northern foot of the pLateau in the vallej of the Moy&r. Its 
exact limits may be gathered from the map at the end of this 
volonLe and statistics regarding it appear in the separate Appen • 
dix. The more interesting places in it are the following : — 

Anaikfttti : A hamlet of Ebban&d situated in the jungle 
of the Moydr vallej. The experiments in mule-breeding made 
there have been referred to on p. 29. The stream which flows past 
it tumbles over a pretty fall on the slopes of Birm^ku (Bimaka) 
hill, l^e Badagas call the spot KuduraihaUa, or ^ the ravine of 
the horse,' and say the name was given it because a Badaga — 
covered with shame at finding that his wife gave him first sort 
rice but h^s brother, who, lived with them, only second sort — 
committed suicide by jumping his horse down the fall. The 
Badagas also say a chief named Edmar^ya once lived at Anai- 
katti and built an anient, now washed away, across the stream, 
bnt he is a shadowy personality of whom little seems to be 
remembered. 

Avalanchd : A spot at the foot of the Enndahs (thirteen 
miles from Ootacamund by bridle-path and sixteen by the old 
Sisp&ra road, which latter is practicable thus far for lightly- 
laden country carts) at which are a local fund travellers' bun- 
galow, a chattram and the quarters of two forest guards. The 
bungalow is a favourite point for trips from Ootacamund and 
oonsists (see the separate Appendix) of a central room with 
fireplace, two bedrooms with bathrooms, a kitchen and a stable 
with four stalls, is in charge of a maty and is furnished with 
chairs, tables, cots, baths, cooking kit, crockery and cutlery. Bnt 
visitors must bring their own bedding and, as there is no village 
at the place, every kind of supplies. The bungalow is visible 
bom. several points near Ooty, notably the hill above Porcupine 
8h61a and the upper part of the Havelock Boad. It stands at the 
foot of a big sh61a on the south side of a wide and beautiful valley, 
and looks across to the long line of Bettumand {alias Himigala) 
hiU, up the wrinkles of which climb straggling sh61as and «rhicK 
H 



846 TRB im.atBi«. 

CHAP. XV. was known of old, from the nombers of ibex wbiob bannted its 
ooTACAMONo. cliffs, as Chamois Hill. This separates the Avaiaache Yallej from 
its nftrthem neighbour the Emerald Vallej. On the top of it is » 
thick bed of magnetic iron ore, running east and west. 

Avalanche gets its name from a big landslip which ooooiTed 
* about i8'^4 on the eastern face of the steep rocky height soatli- 
west of the bungalow, which was known in consequence to the 
earlj residents on the plateau as Avalanche Hill but is called 
Kudik&du Hill in the maps. ' There was a constant fall of rain 
for eight days, with heaving rolling thunder; during all which 
time the winds "^ere so tempestuous, and the country so enveloped 
in darkness, that none dared stir from their homes. When at 
length the weather cleared up, they discovered the tremendous 
havock that had been made ; and that the Pavhk, overflowing its 
banks in every direction, was surcharged with the wrecks and 
fragments of the mountain's side.'^ In 1883, when Baikie wrote 
his account of the Nilgiris, the great scar made in the hill-side by 
the slip was still fresh, and was plainly visible from Oottfcamund, 
and Dr. Benza describes the slip in his account of the geology of 
the locality written in 1836 ; but since then Nature, with gentle 
. hand, has so effectively healed the wound that all remembrance of 

it has almost been lost and the site of it is only revealed by tho 
smaller size of tho trees which have sprung up upon the fftUen 
masses of earth. It comes into view as soon as one crosses the 
highest part of the grassy ridge which runs across the left front 
of the bungalow. It was evidently a well-known landmark in 
the early years of the last century, for Captain Murray, the offioer 
in charge of the Pioneers* who were cutting the 8isp£ra ghki in 
1882, dates his official letters * from ' Foot of the Avalanche ' 
and ' Camp at the foot of Avalanche Hill.' Mr Qngg seems 
to have overlooked the passages above cited, for he says ' that 
the landslip is apocryphal and that the name Avalanohe is 
derived from the Canarese opal-aneM or ' first post/ from the 
post-house formerly located there. Ouohterlony's survey report 
shows that the post did not go that way until about 1846. 

In Baikie's time, ^ towards the lower part of the valley, which 
is still encumbered with rocks, trunks of trees, masses of earth, 
etc., a chalybeate spring is found issuing from below the debris 
uid mingling with tho rivulet, to which it imparts an oohrej 
tin^p.* This water was analysed by Drs. Bcokie and Glen, and 

* EarVncfifi' book ou the &\um, 147. 

* Be« Jenrit' J^wmey to the Fall$ of thg Cauvery (Lottdua, 1SS4), pp. IS9» 14U 



OAzbtTiikB. 347 

the reBolts were so favourable (the spring being ' macli the CHAP. XV. 
strongest and porest jet examined ') that they entertained tbe Ootacamund 
hope tliat it would prove ' highly useful in cases of dejtility 
of the digestive organs,' especially as it was situated in a 
sheltered valley possessing a climate far more equable than that 
of Ootacamund. Happily this idea of locating a second Carlsbad , 
in this beautiful spot came to nothing, and the valley retains its 
ancient peace and is a &vourite haunt uf small and large game. 
All that is wanted to complete its attractions is some trout in 
the fine stream, plentifully fringed with the Nilgiri lily, which 
traverses it and tumbles over a little cascade of eleiren steps in view 
of the bungalow. This is one of the feeders of the Kondah river 
and is usually called the Avalanche stream. A bridge was bnilt 
over it in 1847 at the point where the roeul crosses it, but this was 
washed away audits place has been taken hf a cradle, big enough 
to hold one person, which travels along a wire rope. 

Pleasant expeditions from Avalanche are to ' Mclvor's bund ' 
(referred to on p. 352), four miles by bridle-path; up the pass 
to the top of the Kundahs (called ' Avalanche top') by the 
Sisp&rabridle-pathf 2^ miles ; and to the top of the big hill at the 
back (south) of the bungalow. The pass up which runs the 
Sisp&ra path is one of the finest in all the? Nilgiris. Early 
visitors to the hills waxed exceeding enthusiastic over its beauties. 
* The view from aU points of this ascent,' wrote Dr. Benza the 
geologist, ^ * is really -^rand. I do not recollect having seen 
anywhere such a wild, yet magnificent, spectacle as the ravine 
formed by the two hills — the one of the Avalanche chain, the 
other one of the eastern range of the Kundahs. The thick 
impervious jungle, extending its whole length, occupies also the 
lower halE of the steep declivity of both the hills, and is then 
sncceeded by the usual carpet like covering of dense turf, which 
extends to the very pinnacles of their prodigious altitudes. 
. . . At every turn of the road a most striking and superb 
coup iToeil presents itself — ^the nearly vertical side of the 
Avalanche hill, with its precipitous battlement-like summit — ^the 
enormous prismatic masses, three or four in number, bursting, 
as it were, through the turf -covered soil of the steep declivity of 
the hill ; one of which, in particular, looks like a huge martello- 
tower stuck to the nearly vertical side of the mountain — ^wbile 
the magnificent ravine to the left completes the strikiug view 
before ns. This assemblage of grand and wild objects cannot 
but produce sensations of wonder and admiration.' 

1 M JX.S., iv, 274, 



348 THB RiLana. 

CHAP. xy. Dr. Bensa might also have spared a few saperlatives for the 

OoTACAMUHii. flowers along this ravine, the magnoUas and rhododendrons 
in the jangles, and the balsams, orchis Had bine gentians amid 
the grass. 

From the top of the pass it is an easy walk eastwards, alon^^; 
* the south side of the ravine, to the top of the big hill imme- 
diately above the bnngalow. The same point can also be reached 
from the bungalow itself by going a hundred yards along the 
path to Mclvor's bund and tiieu turning sharp to the right up 
the steep gratts i^Iope above it. The vi^ from this hill is one of 
the most oomppehensive^in all the plateau, for the panorama 
begins with MAkarti Peak on the north and embraces the 
Avidanche valley ; Ootacamund and Dodabetta ; the heights of 
Devashdla and Coonoor (conspicuous by their blue gums) ; the 
Bhav4ni valley, up ^hich drift lasy clouds; beyohd that the 
Lambton's Peak^range and (on dear days) the Anaimalius ; Bellai- 
rambai, Mottakadu and Tai sh61as, three of the biggest wood- 
lands on the plateau, lying one behind the other ; the m'Pilfihii 
hills beyond them ; close at hand, the sugar-loaf peak of Mrbetts 
or Bear hill ; and last the quieter beauties of the nndulating land 
which stretches away westwards to Sispira. 

Dr. Benza preferred the scene o1)tained by clambering from 
the top of the pass to the summit of the Avalanche hill, up its 
southern side. * The view from it,' he says, ' is the non pbu uUra 
of this group ; but the spot which struck me most was the awful 
recess to the north, intersected by deep ravines and sbrupt 
escarpments, which join the Avalanche range to that of the 
Himigala. This wild soe^e is exceedingly striking, and I thought 
it the most romantic in the Nilgiris until I visited MfikartL' 

Billikalt A hamlet of Hulhatti situated about 1,000 feet 
below Ootacamund and some eight miles north of it by a steep 
bridle-path taking off from the (Jonnemara Road. The place 
contains a bungalow now belonging to Kbin Bahidur Hiji Fakir 
Muhammad Salt of Ootacamund and a small artificial lake, and has 
long been a favourite spot for a trip from Ootacamund. Obpt 
liarkuess, who wrote in 1832, says that even then a garden had 
been established there and was doing wonderfully welL fiatkie 
(lb3;5) speaks of Sir WillUm Rumhold's < little farm ' thece. The 
place stands on the edge of the plateau and Burton ^ says that one 
inducement to go there was ' the pleasure of contemplating the 
reeking flats of Mysore.' In those days the path down to Sigir 
ran through it, but this was atterwards superseded by the present 
Sigfir ghiU 

* Cha and thM BIm MeHnioiM, 3SS. 



aASKTTSER. ^40 

Apparently the bungalow was first built by Sir William CHAP. XV. 
Bnmbold as a shooting-box ; and it is said ' that there was then Ootacamunp* 
a small natural pond close by and that this was afterwards enlarged 
ia 18i4 By Mr. Martelli, who then owned the property. Appa- 
rently this latter gentleman is identiccd with the ' Mr. Martin, an 
Italiaa,' who is described in the Asiatic Joumaly xxxiv (1841), , 
103, as liaving settled at ^ Betticull ' and established a silk factory 
there. - That journal said that he had already produced some good 
specimens of silk, and some of the white mulberry trees he planted 
for his worms are still in existence. Sir William Bumbold, it is 
said,* was the first to stock the pond (which is us^ially known now 
as the Billikal lake) with fish from the plains, and Mr. Mai^teUi 
re-stocked it with fish obtained from the Sig6r river and from 
Barra, at the confluence of that stream with the Moydr. Mr. 
Sullivan also planted fruit trees round about.' 

In Dr. Day's time (1866) the fish had greatly increased and 
some of the carp {PuntiiLS Camaticus) weighed 5 lb.* He trans- 
ferred aafew of them to Ootacamund. In his Bod in India Mr. H. 
S. Thomas says that in 1875 Mr. Thomas Kaye, then owner of the 
lake and bungalow, told him that the water was still full of big fish 
which rose to a fly and took butterflies thrown in to them, and the 
sound of whose splashing itbout could even be heard from the 
bungalow, two or three hundred yards away. They kept to the 
deep water and were unapproachable without a boat. Apparently 
nothing has been seen of them in recent years and the only sport 
at present is with the little Basbora, which take a very small fly 
greedily. 

On the top and the southern side of^ what is called the Billikal 
hill are several cairns which were dug into by Mr. Breeks in 1872. 
llie finds, which included a gold ring, are described on pp. 83-84 
of his book already often cited. Under a group of trees near 
Uhinna Kunn^r, three miles east of BiUikal, is a sculptured crom- 
lech not mentioned iu any of the books and two others without 
ornament, A number of others, also unnoticed hitherto, stand in 
ruins round a prominent big tree near the hamlet of Kavilorai to 
the south-south-west. 

Kalhatti : A hamlet of Uulhatti situated three miles from the 
head of the Sig^r gh4t and eight miles north of Ootacamund. A 
travellers' bnngalow stands there (for the accommodation wherein 

* Dr. l«*raiioi8 Day in Madras Quart. Jouni. Med. Science, xii, 44. But his 
tiujiftM and dates are not always accurate. 

* Mr. Grigg's Manual, 2285. 

* Dr. Day's paper died, 77. 



dSO. tKB NILGIRli. 

OAQP. XV. ee the separate Appendix) facing whioli the Sigiir river cornea 
OoTACAMUKD. down over a pretty &11 170 feet high into a deep pool. The place 
is a fkvoorite spot for piocios from Ootacamond. 

The experimental Gbvemment gardens which osed to eziat 
above the falls are referred to in Chapter IV. 
* About H mile west of the bungalow are the rnina of the old 
fort of Malaikota ( * hill fort ' ) which has been briefly referred to 
in the accounts of Hulikal Drug and K6nakarai above. Ijocal 
tradition says that the place was the stronghold of a chief who 
was subordinate first to the Ummattfir Rdljas and then to the kings 
of Mysore and w&o, when ^ipu came into power and coveted the 
place, fled to Nellidlam in the Wynaad, where his descendants are 
still knovm as the Nelli^lain Arasus^ speak Canarese in the midst of 
a Malay&lam country, ally themselves in marriage with the arasas 
(or ursus) of Ummat^Ar and are still applied to by the Badagas 
of the plateau ior decisions on questions of importance. The 
hamlet of Bannimara, half a mile to the east, is still inhabited by 
BMars who are said to be descendants of men from iht Mysore 
country who were the old chief's servants. 

Captain Harkness, as has already been mentioned, says that 
• when Tipu Sultan occupied the fort to, overawe the hiU people and 

&cilitate the collection of the revenue he changed its name to Bos- 
sain^b^d and placed in it a garrison of 60 or 70 sepoys, under a 
killadar named Saiyad B6dan, which vras relieved every two months 
from Danndyakank6ttai. Mr. William Keys' report of 1812 men- 
tions a tradition that Tipu even succeeded in getting a piece or 
two of artillery up to it. 

The old fort stands in*a most commanding position, but little 
now remains of it except its deep ditch. The interior is cultivated 
and the potatoes grown there are alleged to be unusually excellent. 
Harkness gives an interesting account of it as it appeared in his 
day, seventy-five years ago : — 

* Its figure is that of an irregular square, the diameter of whioh 
does uot exceed three hundred yards. The walls are built of rade 
stone, and of a reddish sort of earth, whioh seems to have formed a 
very good cement. Induding the parapet, they rise to between 
tw«>lve and fifteen feet above the surrounding level, uttd in eevexal 
parts' projeot out in the shape of semi towers ; Jbut the whole it now so 
completely overgrown with brambles and other brushwood that with* 
out much labour it is difRcnlt to form a correct notion of its original 
shape. It is however surronnded by a dry ditdi, fearfully deep in 
some parts and generally not less than sixty feet, with a b i a sdU i al 
the BUTfaoe of about thirty but gradually decreasing towards the 
bottom. It has never had more than one entmnoe, of 



OAZSTTIBB. 351 

tafficient to admit a horseman, and that by a passage leading through cHAP. XV. 
one o< the eemi towers, approaohed by a causeway little more than Ootacamund. 

two feet wide and in one of the deepest parts of the ditoh . . % . 

To the south-east of the fort are hills of much greater elevation, on 
which ajne the ruins of two watch towers. ... To the left, as we 
approached the causeway, is a dilapidated temple dedicated to Basaya.' 
Worship in this last is still kept up, the hereditary p6jdri visit- 
ing it every Monday. 

Masiniglldi: Eighteen miles north-west of Ootacamund and 
six from the foot of the Sig6r ghii on the main road to Mysore. 
Population 1,<!91. It is Situated in the* low coui^ry in the Moyir 
valley amid much jungle, and is consequently very malarious. 
Oontains a travellers' bungalow, police-station, post-office and chat- 
tram. It is the one village in the district which has been settled 
on the ryotwari system. , 

As has already been mentioned (p. 93) , it was once called Masana- 
halli and was known to the earliest visitors to the hiUs as D^va- 
r^yapatqa. Masini Amman is the village goddess, and her shrine 
still stands to the west of the village. The place and the neigh- 
bourhood were fon^erly of far greater importance than at present* 
South-west of it stand the remains of a mud fort ; round about it 
are the reputed sites of several villages of which no trace now sur- , ' 

vives ; near Tottalingi, in the Westbury estate, Aralatti two miles 
from Masinigudi, and Semb^nattam on the left bank of the Sig6r 
river are signs of other old forts ; and scores of cromlechs and 
' hero stones,' many of them sculptured, abound around it. South 
of the Kemb&nattam fort is one (and by it a slab bearing a battered 
Ganarese inscription) ; further south, in the reserved forest, are two 
more ; in patta land, close by, is another ; others stand in Gudi- 
k^rimila, GtSraik^rim&la and M&laipuram, deserted hamlets four 
miles east of Masinigudi ; others in and around Masinigudi itself ; 
and a whole series, somer half buried, in the forest reserve two 
mQes east of the 8ing&rat6tam estate, the bungalow on which pro- 
perty is partly floored with the slabs belonging to some of them. 
These cromlechs are generally of the usual kind, one slab only 
being sculptured and this containing at the top representations 
of a man and of the sun, moon, lingam and basava ; in the second 
row standing figures of both sexes ; and in the third and lowest 
the hero himself, armed with some weapon. 

Two nules west of Masini<jfudi, in the hiU called Karadigudda, 
is much iron ore, and tradition says that a century ago many 
smelters worked it. Hough's Letter$ on the Neilgherriea states that 
the tract round the village was formerly highly cultivated, but was 
devastated in the campaign of 1 790-91 with Tipu. The fiunme of 



352 TMM NILOUtU. 

CHAP. XV. 1876-78 also pressed seyeiely on this part What was 
OoTACAMuiTD. popolotis ttfea is now a malarioas jungle ; and Masinigodi, oaoe 

(app^rentlj) tbe capital of the Wynaad, is littie more than a 

collection of huts. 

Molvor'8 Bund: Four miles east of the Avalaaohe bnnga- 
* low the Knndah river runs in a deep channel between high hiUs, and 
there, near the point where the bridle-path from Nanjauid to 
Melkondah crosses it, are the remains of the bond which Mr. 
W. G-. Melvor, then Saperintendent of the Gt>vemment Cinchona 
Plantations^ attempted to constract in 1^68, and above them, sar- 
rounded hy Australian trees, the ruins of the bongalow in which 
he lived while the work was in progress. 

Mr. Mclvor was a firm believer in the ^ silting process * of 
mating embankments^ which consists in leading strqpuns down to 
the site of the work, shovelling earth into them above the site, 
and leaving them to bring the silt down to the work an<1 deposit 
it there exactly where it is wanted. So enthusiastic was he on the 
possibilities of this system, which had never been reallV tried in 
India, that he wrote an illustrated pamphlet on the subject ' and 
when he was at Home on leave in 1867 took pains to interest the 
t Secretary of State and engineering ^perts in his views. Mean* 

while Government had resolved to construct a road from Oota- 
camund to M^lkundah, where there was then a Government 
cinchona plantation, but found thu Eundah river's deep vallev 
a serious obstacle- Mr. Mclvor then came forward with a 
proposal to throw across the river by the silting process a huge 
embankment no less than 700 feet hig^h ( ! ) which would not only 
form a vast reservoir for ^rigatiou in the plains but would carry 
the road and so avoid the necessity of goins^ down into the Eundah 
valley and up again the other side. The engineers threw cold 
water on the idea, but the Secretary of State ordered that the 
silting system should at least bu given a trial under Mr. Mclvor's 
supervision ; and eventually in 1868 that gentleman undertook t) 
make an embankment 140 feet high at the spot" above referred to 
for the insignificant sum of Bs. 25,000. 

Two stone culverts or tunnels, one above the other, traces of 
which exist to this day, were first of all made at the side of th^ 
river at a cost of Bs. 20,3(H) to csrry off the ordinary and flood 
discharge of tlie river, and then neighbouring streams were led 
down to the site of the dam, to bring the silt thither, by chaiuieli) 
which may still be seen on several of the adjoining hills. The 

} Oi» M<mmUtin Ran^ts ; Bow IAmV rttourc^s may 6t tmrm^A inU ocepMrnf* 
Hisgiabotham, I8U7. 



GAZSTTBIR. 353 

river at that point was onlj 108 feet wide and the vaUej wab onl7 OHAP. XV. 
700 feet wide at 150 feet above the level of the stream. Work Oot^camuiio. 
went on satisfaotorilj at first, and the reservoir which wa&to be "^^ 
formed hj it came to be known as St. Lawrence Lake ; *bnt in 
June 1869 a freshet topped the bond and swept practicall7 the 
whole of it down stream. G-ovemment however sanctioned 
another Rs. 10,000 and operations were begun again. 

On the 15th June 1870, when the embankment was 81 feet 
high^ a storm began which lasted for four days. The river 
came down in a great ^ood and the water gradually crept up the 
bond in spite of the discharge thrdugh the«two culverts and 
through escape channels cut in the side of the gorge. It formed 
at first ' a beautiful expanse of water, extending for many miles 
and winding in all directions among the mountains,' but on 
Sunday tBe 19th it topped the embankment and scoured out a 
breach which rapidly widened and deepened until it reached 
right down to the bed of the river. Contrary to expectation, the 
silt of •which the bund was made formed a very compact mass of 
greasy moist clay which offered great resistance to the current, 
and portions of it remained even after the water had rushed 
continuously over it for a month. 

Grovemment were at first inclined to permit another attempt 
to complete the work, after first excavating a permanent flood- 
water escape through a saddle above the site ; but this saddle 
was discovered to consist largely of rock ; it was found that the 
cost of silting (which had been put at 400 cubic yards per rupee 
but in practice had worked out at only 17) had been greatly 
under-estimated ; and the idea was aibandoned. 

M6Ikandah(' upper Eundah') is aBadaga village of 272 
inhabitants situated on the very edge of the soathem side of the 
Kundahs overlooking the Bhav^ni valley. Near it are the Tai 
Sh61a and other coffee estates, and the bridle-path thither from 
Ootaoamund crosses the Eundah river by a bridge built in 1885. 
The Government cinchona plantation which was started in 1863 
in this remote spot and abandoned in 1871 is referred to on 
p. 184. It was opened with convict labour and is still known 
locally as * the Jail Tote.' 

South of the village is the sculptured cromlech referred to 
on p. 105 of Breeks' book, which is full of the water- worn stones 
called diva-kotta^haUu, Here, as in other spots, the Badagas have 
selected the neighbourhood of the cromlech as the supposed 
abode of their deified ancestors Hiriodiya and Ajji. 
45 



364 THB viloibh. 

CHA?. XT. M^arti Peak : Perhaps the best known peak on the 

OoTACAMciro. Nilgiris. It is 8,380 feet above the sea (very little lower than 

^"^^ the two sammits of the Avalanche hill to the soath) and frum 

Ootaoamnndy twelve miles to the west as the crow flies, is very 

noticeable owing to its cnrions shape, which is that of an acnte- 

^ngled triangle with one side almost vertical. 

The name by which it is generally known means in Canarese 
* cat nose/ and sundry legends are related to account for it. 
One, quoted by Metz,^ says that Rivana, the demon-king of 
Ceylon, furious at finding that the people of the plateau paid 
him less reverenc^ than hi» enemy Rdma alias Rangasvimi, pro- 
nounced a curse upon them and threw into the air a handful of 
dust which turned into the two kinds of vermin with which their 
houses and persons are still infested. B&ma thereupon out off 
Havana's sister's nose in^revenge, and stuck it up in the"prominent 
position it still occupies as a permanent warning that he was not 
to be trifled with.' The other legend, given by Shortt,' avers 
that in days gone by when female infanticide prevailed ^mong 
the T6das the condemned babies used to be taken to this side of 
the hills to be put out of the way ; and so no T6da woman was 
allowed to approach it. One of them disobeyed' the injunction 
and her nose was cut off as a punishment. It was however 
turned into this peak and she became a goddess. Neither story 
is convincing, but the hill people have not the knack of spinning 
improbably realistic fairy-tales which distinguishes their brethren 
of the plains. The peak, none the less, is known to every one of 
them^ and Grigg says that ' from M6karti to MolemaTa' (a 
fabulous tree on the eastern extremity of the hills) is the equiva- 
lent in Badaga ballads to our ' from Land's End to John o' 
Groat's', while the T6das are supposed to believe that from its 
dizzy summit the souls of men and buffaloes leap together into 
the nether world. 

The peak is seventeen miles from Ootacamund by the 
Governor's Sh6Ia road and the Eriirmand bridle-path, and an 
easy path up its eastern face leads to the top. The view from 
thence is one of the finest in Southern India. Probably the most 
striking description of the locality extant is that of Dr. Bensa, 
sreologist and surgeon to Sir Frederick Adam.^ He describes 
how he and a companion set out on foot towards ' the goige at 

1 r/i« 2Vi6e« inhaUHng ilx% Neilghtrry hilU (Madru, IStMl), 66. 
. ' The BimijAiift gives quite another etorr of the wnj in whioh BAv«aA*a 
«tftter*e note oame to be cnt off. 

* Bill ranges of South India, pt. 1, 9. 

* 41 JX.8., IT, SS8. 



GAZBTTEBB. 355 

the foot of the south declivity of the highest peak ' and CHAP. XV. 
then goes on — Ootacamuni). 

* At last we oame up to the gorge .... What a view ! Who 
can deeoribe in words the scenery which burst all at once on our sight I 
I doubt much whether even the pencil could give, not an adequate 
representation, but an approximation .to it, of the terrific spectaolf 
that came to view. To the south of where we stood the northern 
termination of the Kundahs rose in abrupt escarpments and vertical 
predpices, to the enormous height of 8,000 ft., excavated and furrowed 
by deep ravines. Sharp mural spurs project from their rugged abrupt 
facades, like so many preps for the suppiprt of those gigantic walls ; 
some of them, thousands of feet high, have not br^dth proportionate 
to such an altitude ; and they decrease, as they shoot upwards, to an 
oblong sharp edge, forming the summits of these wall-like escarpments. 
A sentiment of deep wonder must influence the beholder of such wild 
BoUtade and grandeur, rising majestically above the tame, monotonous 
plains of Malabar. I never saw such impressive mountain scenery 
before, Sispdra's amphitheatre not excepted, which is too small, too 
iamea^d regular, to bear comparison with this. 

Having admired this stupendous spectacle, we thought of scaling 
the peak. I must say a few words of this extraordinary excrescence, 
which shoots up from the yery edge of an abrupt precipice, and raises 
its perpendicular faQade above five hundred feet. On the very brink 
of the escarpment, which forms the western termination of the 
Makarti range, this peak rises, suddenly, in the shape of a cone split 
into two equal parts from the apex to the base, one half hsving been 
hurled down to the plains of Malabar, the other stuck to the brim of 
the preeipioe, and having its split f a9ade in a line with the escarpment, 
like a gigantio battlement .... 

When half wayupwesat down — ^my companion with his pencil to 
take a view of the romantic recess of the Kundahs, and I to gaze 
around me. Fearing giddiness, I did not attempt to walk to the brink 
of the precipice, but I crawled for the last twenty yards, and when 
near the Swamy which stands at the very pinnacle of the cone, I sat 
down ; and after a few minutes ' rest I crept on all fours to the brink, 
projecting my head only beyond the precipice. 

How can pen describe the horrific coniusion at the bottom of this 
awful abyss ! Huge masses, portions of mountains I should say, lay 
scattered, or heaped up, in frightful disorder, at the foot of the parent 
mountain, which rises, like an enormous column, hiding its lofty 
summit in the douds. I could not gaze at this frightful scene more 
than two or three minutes ; and I retired creeping back to the Swamy, 
where we enjoyed again the sight of the recess of the Kundahs.' 

The depth of the sheer drop which took the good Doctor's 
breath away has been grievously exaggerated. The first edition 
of Baikie's Neilgherrk8 puts it at 5,000 feet, the second edition at 



366 THE NILOIBI8. 

CHAP. XV. 6,000 feet, and Marraj's Guidey not to be oatdone, at 7,000 feet. 

OoTACAMUND* Evon in the Alps, there ^re no really sheer precipices of this alti- 
tade, l^nd the drop is probably nearer 1,500 feet. The extra- 
ordinary steepness of the walls of this corner of the plateaa can 
best be appreciated from the lower ground — say from the Nidg^i 
bungalow in the Wynaad. 

Nadnvattam (or Neddy wuttum) is a village of 2,500 inhabit- 
ants standing on the western edge of the plateau, twenty miles 
from Ootacamund by the main road to GKidal6r. It oonttdna, in a 
hollow just off the road, a well-equipped •trayellers' bungalow, a 
post-office, a poliCe-station and a few bazaars ; and within its 
Umits are the Q-OTernment cinchona plantations and factory 
already referred to on pp. 184-187. The bungalow of the Director 
of these standi further west on a site commanding a wonderful 
view over the Wynaad. * The name of the village is supposed to 
be derived either from nadu ^ centre ' or nidu * long ' and vaiiam 
* a valley/ and thus to mton either ' central valley ' or ' long 
valley.' Neither etymology is borne out by the po6itioti*of the 
place. 

Nanjan^ : Four miles as the crow flies south-west of 
Ootacamund. A Badaga village of 1,565 inhabitants built on 
one side of an open and treeless hollow of red soil known as the 
Nanjan^d valley. It contains a well-known chattram standing 
beside the bridle-path to Avalanche which runs along the 
bottom of it. 

Above this and to the south-west of it rises a wooded hill on 
the southern side of which ere excavations which have led to some 
discussion. Captain Congreve^ thought they were the remains 
of an entrenched camp and proceeded to compare them with 
ancient British encampments in England ; but since Mr. Brongh 
Smyth, the mining expert employed by Qovemmeut in 1879, 
found ^ numerous traces (much obliterated by subsequent cnlti- 
vation) of ancient gold-workings on the quartz veins in this 
locality, it is at least equally possible that the excavations are 
nothing more than old mines. In the pretty Fairlawns ravine, 
just to the north-east, Mr. Brough Smyth found (see p. 12) other 
workings along the banks of the stream there, but Captain 
Congreve considered that the excavations (of which only the 
slenderest traces now survive) were the remains of a fortified 
position, of an altar, and of long rows of ruined walls forming 
streets which once formed the capital of the T6das. In later years 

* M.J.L.8.. sir, 104. * P. 40 of bis nport of 1S79. 




^-=^rx . — » — — 



\,^^ 






V 






4 



I- 



OAZBTTBBR. 357 

Vr. Walhoase hazarded more guarded views of the matter.^ The OHAP. XV, 
most obyious of the remains were the ruined walls, and they may Ootacamund. 
have belonged to the huts of the gold-washers. Still further ' 
east, behind ' Bishopsdown/ is a valley which- the Todas '6aL 
P&nthot, or ^ the gold village/ which is another sign that gold 
was worked in the neighbourhood. 

Fairlawns, it may be noted, is so called from a strip of good 
tarf there where formerly, according to the ungallant Burton,^ 
' daring the fine season the votaries of Terpsichore display very 
fantastic toes indeed, par^cularly if they wear Neilgherry-made 
boots, between the hours of ten a.m. ftnd five f).m.' In these 
degenerate days people do not care to dance in boots, on grass, 
through the hottest hours of the day ; but Fairlawns is still a 
favourite place for picnics. 

Ootacamundi head quarters of the taluk and district and of 
the General commanding the Ninth Division, summer residence 
of the Madras Government, and the largest hill-station in 
SoutheSi India^ is a municipality of 18,596 inhabitants. It 
lies eleven miles by road from the present railway terminus at 
Coonoor in a valley (the bottom of which is 7,228 feet above the 
8ea) which is surrounded on the south, east and north by the 
four hills called Elk Hill (8;090 feet), Dodabetta (8,640), Snow- 
don (8,299) and Club Hill (8,030), but is open to the west. Part 
of the bottom of this valley (see the map attached) has been 
levelled to form the public recreation ground known as the 
Hobart Park, and the adjoining lower portion of it is occupied 
by a lake, about a mile and a half long and of irregular shape; 
made by damming up the stream whi<fli runs through it. The 
main basaar overlooks the Hobart Park ; and in Edndal, a separate 
valley further north, is another. large collection of native houses. 
The European houses and oflSces are on higher ground on the 
numerous spurs which run down in every direction from the 
eaclosing hills, and for the most part are hidden away among 
thick plantations of Australian and other trees, notably blue gums 
(Encalyptm) and acacias {A. mehnoxylon and dealbata). 

The history of the founding of the place is sketched in Chapter 
II, some account of the mission churches in it is given in 
Chapter III, the roads to it are mentioned in Chapter VII, its 
hospital and schools in Chapters IX and X, its jail and couije in 
Chapier XIII and the doings of its municipality in Chapter XI y. 
All that need now be referred to are thamore important of ita 

* IndUm Antifuaryt iV) ^61. * Ooa and the Blue Moumtairu, 299, 33l 



358 THE KlLOIltll. 

CHAP. XV. remaining buildings and institutions. Regarding these and many 
OoTACAMUND. Other matters (among them the mnoh-disonseed qnestion of the 
etymology of the name Ootacamund) a mine of information is 
provided by Sir Frederick Price's forthcoming work;^ and the 
following few lines consist chiefly of facts purloined therefiom. 
For fuller particulars the reader shpnld consult Sir Frederick's far 
more detailed accounts. 

The Government Offices on Stonehouse hill occupy tiie site, 
and include part, of Stonehouse, the first house which was built at 
Ootacamund. This was constructed (of stone, whence its name) 
in 1822-23 by Jihe Mr. John Sullivan who has so frequently been 
mentioned already. To the east of it he laid out an excellent 
garden, which he placed under the care of a European gardener. 
From 1827 to 1834 the house was let to Government and was 
utilized as quarters fer officers in bad health; from*1847 to 1855 
it was a school; from 1860 to 1869 the male branch of the 
Lawrence Asylum was located in it; and it first became the 
Gt>vemment office in 1870. Between 1875 and 1877 J^e friace 
was greatly enlarged and the existing council chamber and clock- 
tower were built (the clock being put up in 1883) and in 188{^S4>, 
1899 and 1905 further considerable improvemente were made. 
The saluting battery just below it *was built in 1889-90 and the 
separate house for the Press in 1904. The old oak near the 
entrance stands within what was formerly Mr. Snllivan*8 garden, 
and very probably he planted it. No other trace of the garden 
survives. 

Qt)vemment House, which stands just above the Botanical 
Gardens already referred to in Chapter IV, was began in 1877, 
when the Duke of Buckingham was Governor. Up to 1876 there 
had been no regular residence for His li!zcellency, and late in that 
year two houses called Upper and I^ower Norwood (the former of 
which is now used as the Private Secretary's quarters) and also 
Garden Cottage, now the residence of the Surgeon to the Gov- 
ernor, were acquired for that purpose and added to and altered. 
It became clear however tliat the two bungalows could never 
provide suitable or sufficient accommodation, and in 1877 the 
present Government House was begun. It was first occupied 
in 1819, but was not really completed for some four years 
more. The eventual capital cost, including furniture^ was about 
Bs^ 7,80,000. The ballroom was added by Sir Arthur Havelock 
in 1900 and cost Rs. 60^000, and the main building and onthonse^ 
were provided with electric light in 1904 for about the tame sum. 

* OolMAmwml} « history, OoveronieDt PreM, M«drM, 19ue. 



OAZBTTSIB. 369 

The Army Head Quarters Offices began life as Bombay GasUe chap.XV. 
alias * t^ramjee's shop/ the place of basiness of a Parsi firm of Ootacamuno. 
general dealers well known for many years in Ootaoamnnd. After 
the death of the last surviving partner in this firm, the property 
was sold in 1882 to Gh) comment for Bs. 70,000 and the buildings 
wei^e converted into tho present offices (which were first occupied 
in 1884) and re-named Mount Stuart after the then Governor, the 
late Sir (then Mr.) Mountstuart Giant Duff. In 1889-90 and 
1892 the front of the building was renewed and ofcher improve- 
ments were carried out at a cost of Bs. 37,000. 

The foundation stone of St. Stepheu^sH^hurch ipts laid on the 
23rd April 1829 (the then King's birthday) by Mr. Stephen 
Rumbold Lnshington, the then Governor, and work on the super- 
structure was begun in the January following. The big beams 
and other tinibers for it were brought from Tipu Sultan's Li\ 
high palace at Seringapatam, which had been demolished. 
The pillars are of teak, coated with plaster and pointed to imitate 
<;tone. ^The building was consecrated on the 5th December 
1830 by Bishop Turner of Calcutta, who happened to be visiting 
this part of his charge at that time. He prea(;hed from the appro- 
priate text ^ The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for 
them, and the desert shall rej6ice and blossom as the rose.' The 
church was doubtless called St. Stephen's out of compliment to 
Mr. Stephen Lushington, who had taken immense interest in it 
from the first. Though orders had been given that the cost was 
not to exceed B«. 8,000, the expenditure up to 1831 was Bs. 24,000, 
all of which was borne by Government. The "Directors were horri- 
fied, and the Archdeacon, who had nothing to do with the matter, 
was called upon to explain and eventually, in 1835, was censured 
for * indifference to the public interests ' and ' neglect of duty.' 

A barrel organ was provided in 1841; in 1851 the gallery,'a 
clock and a bell were added — all three from private subscriptions ; 
in 1857 a porch was built and the compound improved ; in 1864 
a better organ was put in ; in 1877 Mrs. W. G. Mclvor gave a 
new. chancel in memory of her late husband and the present organ 
was procured at a cost of about £450 ; and in 1894 the peal of 
tabular bells was put up from subscriptions. 

The church and the pretty cemetery round it contain many 
tombstones of interest. The earliest in the church ( 1830) is that 
of Harriet Elizabeth, wife of Sir William Rumbold, Bart,^he 
builder of the Club referred to on p. 361. The oldest in the church- 
yard is to the memory of Major W. M. Robertson, who died in 
1825 and was buried in the little cemetery near Stonehouse which 



360 THI HILOIBU. 

CHAP. XT. was then in use ; bnt this stone was not actaallj erected until 1838. 

OoTACAMUND. Other graves worth mention are those of the Ber. William Sftwjer 
(1882)> tbe first Chaplain of Ootacamnndi who was appointed in 
1831; General William Staveley, Commander-in-C^ef of the 
Madras Army^ who died at Tippak&da in 1854 (it is said ' of 
heart disease, in a tn^nsit) ; Sir Henry DaviBon, Ghief Justice 
of Madras (I860), to whom Thackeray affectionately dedicated 
The Virginians; Colonel John Oaohterlony, B.E., whose Snryey 
Report of 1847 on these hills has so often been quoted in these 
pages (1863) ; Caroline Elizabeth, mother of Sir Arthur Harelock, 
Governor of Jladras from 1895 to '1900 (1866); and James 
Wilkinson Breeks, first Commissioner of the Nilgiris, in memory 
of whom the Breeks' school was started (1872). 

The foundation stone of St. Thomas' Church, onjthe borders of 
the lake, was laid on 1st May 1867. The building was con- 
structed in compliance with fervent local representations (which 
had begun so far back as 1853) that St. Stephen's was too small 
for the growing congregation, could not be enlargelksrithout 
difficulty, and was a long way from many of the houses in the 
station. It was apparently named out of compliment to Bishop 
Thomas Dealtry, who had taken th; deepest interest in it and to 
whose memory the west window was afterwards raised by hi^ 
widow. It was completed in 1870 at an outlay of Rs. 63,000 fof 
which Bs. 8,700 was the net cost of the site) and Government 
contributed about half of the amount. It was consecrated in th^ 
same year by the Bishop of Calcutta (the Bight Ber. Bob(>rt 
Milman) and opened for public worship (as a chapel of ease to 
St. Stephen's, under the same Lay Trustees) in April 1871. 
Government gave the present bell in 1878. 

The cemetery at St. Stephen's was closed in 1881, and burials 
now take place at St. Thomas'. Among the graves there aiv 
those of William Patrick Adam, Governor of Madras, to who^^e 
memory the fountain which formerly stood in front of the Collec- 
tor's office and is now at Charing Cross was erected (1881) ; Sir 
Frank Souter, Commissioner of Police, Bombay (1888) ; Oii\>tain 
Preston, who was drowned in the Kr6rmand river when out with 
Ootacamund Hounds (of which he was at one time Master) and to 
whose memory an obelisk stands at the place where the accident 
• occurred (1893); Lady Bliss, wife of Sir Henry Bliss, c.cxe., 
Member of Council (1898); and James Grose, c.t.B., Mem tier 
of (>>uncil with him, also in 1898. 

^ Kr. J. J. Coltoii*a Inscri^tims on iUdra§ tomU. 



\ The Library began as an appendage^to one of the local mosenmi OHAP. XV. 
whioh were ^Mtablished in yarioos districts in 1855 as feeders io Ootacamvnd. 
the Madras Mnseum ; and was at first quartered in a , knted ""^ 
boilding. In 1858 the idea of forming a regolar public Ubrarj first 
found expression and it was favoured by the authorities. In 1861 
the museum^ which had always been an insignificant affair, waft 
abolished, and the Government grant of Bs. 100 a month which 
had been made to it and the library together was continued to the 
latter, which by this time was located in a house near the existing 
building which had been purchased from public subscriptions. 
In 1864 Government presented the nnstitutio;i with a number 
of books which the amalgamation of the Haileybury College 
and India House libraries had rendered available. In 1867 the 
foundation stone of the ^ain portion of the existing building was 
laid with liliuch ceremony by the then Chief Secretary, Mr. A. J. 
Arbuthnot. The site, which had formerly been occupied by the 
travellers' bungalow, had been presented by Government. At 
that ^ne the institution possessed 4,000 volumes, 180 subscribers 
and a monthly income from subscriptions of lis. 575. The 
building cost over Rs. 30,000 and was opened in 1869. In 1875 
Government withdrew its monthly grant ; in 1878 the Library 
was registered as an Association under Act XXI of 1860 ; and an 
additional ' Silent Boom,' in which there was to be no talking, a 
room above it and a ladies' cloak room were added in 1899 at a 
cost, including furniture, of Bs. 9,700. In 1904 the Silent Boom 
was refurnished, provided with a fireplace and turned into a com* 
fortable sitting-room ; the room above it viras set apart in its place 
for those who desired absolute quiet ; ^nd other changes designed 
to render the institution more popular were agreed to and set in 
train. 

The house occupied by the Club was built in 1831-82^ at 
a cost of between £12,000 and £16,000, as a hotel by Sir 
WiUiam Rumbold, Bc^t. (a grandson of the Sir Thomas Bumbold 
who was Governor of Madras in 1778-80 and was created a 
baronet after Pondicherry capitulated to Sir Hector Munro in 
lV78) who with his younger brother had joined the great banking 
firm of WiUiam Palmer & Co. of Hyderabad, which at that time 
practically financed the Nizam. The building operation^ were 
superintended by one Felix Joachim (then Sir William's butler), 
who made enough out of them to construct the neighbc^nring 
house, Hauteville, on his own account. The place was opened as 
a hotel in 1838 and in the same year Sir William Bumbold died 

at Hyderabad and was buried there. *In 1884 the house wm 
<6 



I 
I 

i 



CfiAF.XT. lotad by tiid GoTOEBor-Geaerml, Loid W. Beatack, for Bs. 1^200 



SxrFrAdmm; ftfterwvrds Agmim beeaMoeitker alioM ora private 
l^ii<^^^rff ; and xa 1841 was soul to the origiaaton of the Ojiaca- 
mond Club. Dr. Baikia was the first perauaent Secretary of this. | 

The Ixae ol bedrooms to the east of the auua baildiD^ was added in I 

1863 at a cost of Bs. IG.O'M and the two-storeyed chambers east 
agaia <rf these in 1898 at aa oatiay of Bs. 22fi(Hi. la 1881 the j 

thea diiiiag-room was tamed into the preseat billiardoroom and 
the thai card end reading rooms were aisde into tiie present 
dining-room. T^ new card-room was %iiilt in 1899 at a cost 
of Hs. 7,400 and the separate annexe for ladies in 1904 at an i 

oatlay of Bs. 21,<J<>0. i 

The fiist beginning of the present Qyaikhsna Qab was the 
< Neilfi^eny Archery CSab ' started in 1869 by Mr. Bteeks, then 
Commissioner on the hills. This g^^w into the A.B.C (Arohery, 
Badminton and Croqaet) Clnb which in 1875 pat up the building 
on the Hobait Park, just below the brewery, whick is noi^nUed 
' the old psTilion. ' In 1882 the Oymkhana Club, which at the 
time represented little bat the racing and polo interests, was 
formed, and in 18'J2 the A.B.C. Club was amalgamated therewith 
and all the amusements thus came nnd^r the oontrol of one body. 
In 1896 the Oymkhana Clob was registered as a limited liability 
company ; and in 1893 the present paTilion or race-stand was 
completed at a cost of Ba. 27^90. The land on which it stands 
is the property of GoTemment and is leased to the Qab on 
certain stated conditions. 

The gronod in front o&ii — ^now ased as a raoe-ooorse, polo 
and cricket-gronnd and golf links — ^was until reoentiy part of the 
lake. This lake was made in 1823-25, and was doe to the 
initiative of Mr. SolltTan, the then Collector. It originally ran 
back even a little beyond the road which now goes from the 
market towards Bombay Honse at the top end of the race- 
coarse (hereabouts was a likely spot for snipe) and it was crossed 
in the middle by the Willow Bund— built in 1831 and so ! 

called because its edges are fringed with Indian willows-— which i 

piovided a short cut between the two sides of the station. It ' 

was oilginally suggested that the water of the lake should be 
utilised for irrigation down at Sigdr, at the bottom of the ghit, 
or even used for supplementing the supply in the Moy4r and the 
Oaavery,. but iu 1830 Ghovemment definitely declined to consider ! 

any such project. The bund of the lake breaohed in 1880, dere* 
loped ieaks in 1840 which were oaly stopped with mu6h trouble; < 



GisirniEB. 803 

and breaclied again in 1852 to snoh an extent that tke lake ran CBAF. XV.. 
qtdte dry. ... Ootacakvvd. 

Yeij soon after the construotion of the lake the upper part of 
it began rapidly to shallow^ owing to the deposit of silt My the 
stream which filled it> and became an unpleasant quagmire. 
Attempts to fill in a swamp there were made in 1868 in a desultozy 
fashion, but nothing systematic was done until the end of 1898, 
w^hen &8eines were thrown across the supply stream to assist the 
deposit of silt and the amount of this silt was increased by 
ontting away the sides of the main and feeder streams. Two 
years of these operatioits resulted in \^ery little, and at the end of ' 
1895 Government sanctioned a lakh of rupees for filling in the 
lake with earth cut from^ho higher ground around it. Labour 
proved difficult to get, and in 1897 the 4th (now 64th) Pioneers 
were brought up to carry out the work. ^ The ultimate cost was 
over two lakhs, and for this sum the whole of the lake above the 
Willow Bund was filled in, levelled and turfed, the new road at 
the back of the Gymkhana pavilion was formed and the tennis 
courts there were made. The pipe drains subsequently (1903) put 
down between the Willow Bund and the old pavilion cost anotiier 
Be. 28,000. The Hobart Park is now one of the most beautiful 
recreation grounds in India and the biggest in any hiU-station 
there. The race-course round it has a lap of a mile and a 
quarter. 

Sispira : Now an utterly deserted spot at the extreme south- 
western comer of the plateau. But when ^ the Sisp^ra road * 
from Ootacamund to the foot of the gh&ts below this comer was 
being made in 1833, and afterwards 90 long as it was still in use, 
this place was well known and much frequented, as it was a 
halting-point on what was then the main route from Calicut to 
Ootacamund. It stands just below a strikingly sheer cliff of rock 
at an elevation estimated to be 5,600 feet above the sea, and as 
it was the camp of fhe Pioneers who made the road it was at one 
time called Murraypet, after the Captain "W. Murray who was in 
fharge of the detachment. A sketch of it which forms the 
frontispiece to the second edition of Baikie's Neilgherrka shows 
that in 1867 a tiled bungalow stood there. Dr. Benza, whose 
enthusiastic description of M^karti Peak has been quoted abovCj 
was also greatly straok with the scenery round Risp&ra. He 
says ^ the view from the summit of the range, above wh^re- the 
bungalow was afterwards built — 

* M.J.L.S.,iT.881. 



864 THS miiOiBis. 

OBAP. XT. ' !■ xeaUy nutgnifioent, particularly fliat of the gigantic amphi* 
CNmcAiiinil). theatre to the right, the termination of the Kondaha on this aida.* « 
"^^ . • . The extraordinary ohasm called the Devil's Gap is situated 

nearl/*jn the centre of this semicircle .... The lower part of 
this chasm is nearly level with the road, which passes dose to it* 
He rocks forming its walls are inaccessible, and it is therefore diffi- 
oult to say what is the width of the gap ; bnt it may be about a 
hundred yards .... From the outside of the pillars formiiig' 
it we see^ jutting down towards the Malabar, two sharp ridges like 
balustrades to huge stairs leading to this gigantic doorway .... 
Perhaps the most picturesque view is that of the hills of Ualliallam 
[Malabar] ; . . , the rgd clouds horefing above and the blue 
firmament surrounding them form a scene of grandeur worthy of the 
pencil of Claude de Lorraine.' * 

He appends a sketch of the Devil's Gap ^ from the original 
in oils by Captain Barron.' • 

Later on a chattram was built beside the travellers' bungalow 
at Sisp&ra alongside the road. Both are now in ruins, bat for 
many years after they had tumbled down and the road^^hioh 
once led by them had become all but impassable from the jangle 
whioh had overgrown it they were still shown on the maps ; and 
a gruesome story is told of a traveller who attempted in eonae- 
• quence to get to Ootaoamond from the west ooast by this route. 

One of his two followers quickly succumbed to exposure to the 
driving rain and bitter cold of the monsoon ; and with the other 
he set out up the ghdt. The second servant ooUapsed soon 
afterwards ; but the traveller took him on his back and straggled 
oUi buoyed up with the hope of assistance and food when he reaohed 
the bungalow at the top. When he did at length arrive there, 
the only sign of the bungalow was its crumbling ruins, and the 
nearest human being was at Avalanche, miles further on. Ho 
managed to reaoh that place, still carrying his servant, but the 
latter had died on the way. 

Tl&nixi : Bix miles as the crow flies north-east of Ootacamuud 
on a commanding position overlooking Mysore. Is a thriving 
Badaga village of 1,248 inhabitantS| which is sappoeod to bp 
one of the oldest settlements of that caste on the plateau and 
now contains a station and church of the Basel Mission. In its 
hamlet Anikorai is the only * snake*stono' on the Nilgiris. It is 
perhaps ten feet long and one foot wide and all the villagers oaa 
say.abputit is that one fine day a snake there was suddenly 
turned to stone. 



GAZITTUtt. : 365 

GtoAL^R TALUK. 



QtDALifA talok consists of the Oachterlony Valley separately ,CHAP. XV. 
referred to below and of the three amsams (or parishes) of Gt^DAL^B. 
Gherankod, Monan^d and Nambalak6d, which are collectively 
known as the Nilgiri (or Soath-east) Wynaad to distingaish them 
from the Malabar Wynaad f nrther west and were transferred to 
the Nilgirisonly in 1 877* previous to 'vhich thejj formed part of 
Malabar district. 

The history of the Wynaad and the derivation of its name have 
been given in Chapter II. It has already (p. 6) been explained - 
that in all its physical aspects this tract differs totally from the 
Nilgiris proper. It is 4,000 feet lower and therefore hotter, and 
it gets a far heavier rainfall ; consequently its flora and fauna 
are quite unlike those of the plateau, its forests being almost 
internfinable sub-tropical jungle in which grow trees and plants 
unknown on the higher levels (a really beautiful garden could be 
formed of its wild flowers alone) and its animal, bird and insect 
life (not forgetting its leeches) beiog more in evidence and more 
varied. It is in short a botanist's Paradise and a naturalist's El 
Dorado. Moreover its crops are those of the low country, flourish- 
ing rice and ragi taking the place of the scanty korali and sdmai 
of the plateau ; its people are different, Malay^lam-speaking 
Chettis and Paniyans cultivating its fields instead of Badagas and 
Kotas ; the houses are mostly walled with plaited bamboo and 
roofed with tliatch with a sprawling vegetable marrow atop, 
instead oE being built of mud and red tiles ; and the land tenures 
are those of Malabar, with all the complications arising from the 
existence of janmam right, and so (see pp. 278-282) the revenue 
settlement in force differs altogether from that on the Nilgiris 
))roper. The Wynaad has seen more stirring times , too. H undreds 
of acres of it have been wrested from the jungle and turned into 
the» coffee estates and gold mines whose melancholy fate has 
been sketched on pp. 13-19 above ; but nearly all this land has now 
gone back to jungle again. Its indigenous cultivators are so 
listless that to stop further retrogression (the population is now 
only 75 to the square mile) it was suggested in 1894 Jbhat 
Badagas from the plateau (though they are far from being model 
agriculturists) should be encouraged to migrate thither and bring 
its waste kndls and swamps under cultivation. But the Badagas 



366 THE KXMlBUr. 

OHAP. X7. have tlie greatest dread of the Wynaad isTer and notlnag ivoold 
Q6dmxA%, indace them to go there. The suggestion of 1894 was magnified 
moref^Indico into a bazaar ramoor that fiadagas were to be 
orderod to go down ; and one ot them Yoioed the feelings of his 
caste-f ellowB when he wrote anxioosly to the Collector : * I have 
. heard that Badagaa are to be sent down to Wjnaad. I do not 
know why. Althongh oar throats be cut or we be shot we will 
not go (with prostratfons) . I beg and pray. The Badagaa are 
in fear at this ramoor. We cannot stand Wynaad. The fever 
is terrible. We shall die in one day if we go there. We waai 
to die here on^ the hilk.' Beautiful^ therefore, as it v^, and 
interesting as are its wild life and its many trees and flowera, its 
air of having seen better days makes the Wjmaad rather a 
melancholy tract. 

Chfeambidi : Twenty-three miles from &6dal6/on the great 
road to Yayitri, in the extreme western corner of the talnk. 
Contains a travellers' bungalow, a police^statioUi a post^ffioa 
and the chief market of the Ch^rankod amsam. It wa^>noe a 
great planting centre, and is aow the one and only place along the 
whole of this southern side of the taluk where any planting 
survives, a tea estate and factory being there. Mica has also been 
mined (see p. 18) on a small scale. * 

D6yAla : Ten miles from G6dal6r on the road to Ch^rambidi 
and Vayitri, and four beyond the head of the Kark^r ghit lead- 
ing down to Malabar. During the gold-boom of 1879-82 (see pp. 
13-19) it was an important mining centre and boasted an A.B.C. 
Club which held race-meetings and organised ' Canterbury 
Weeks,' a European pdl^ulation of over 300 (including many 
ladies), a post and telegraph office, a hotel and a hospital (two 
miles away on the road to Nelli&lam), while the hills round about 
it were studded with the bungalows of the European employ^ of 
the gold companies. It was styled ' the rising capital of South- 
east Wynaad ', and Professor Eastwick went as far so to identify 
it with the Biblical ' land of Havilah, where there is gold.' It 
has now dwindled to a hamlet of 495 inhabitants, but #till 
contains a post*office, police-station, chattram and travellers' 
bungalow. 

The natives sometimes call the place D^vjlak6ttai,* and 
9ay that the fort implied by this name existed just above the 
chaltram and belonged to a chief of the Veddas, who were the 
people who sunk all the scores of gold-mining shafts which still 
make the neighbouring jungles unsafe places for a walk. A legend 



GAZKTBIB. 867 

relates ^ that once the Earombran^d B&ja came ap from the CHAP. XY. 
Wynaad with manj soldiers to seize the gold whioh the Yedda GtukLtn. 
chief and his people had aocamalated, and that the latter, being 
better at mining than fighting, put aU their treasure in great 
copper pots and sunk it in the tanks near their various forts. 
One of these tanks was the little sheet of water now called the 
Sbfdikulam which lies hy the side of the road about half way 
between D^v^la and the top of the Earkfir gh^t ; and another 
was in a hollow immediately east of the bungalow of Woodbriar 
estate near Nellakdttai, which stands on the site of a Yedda fort 
formerly called Manank6ttai or Manera]c6ttai. 

The Eurumbrandd Blija, says the story, killed nearly all the 
Vedda people, but a few of them ran away and are still to be 
found in Mysore and the Nilambfir forests in .Malabar. The 
B^ja then gave the country to the V^lunn^var (also spelt ' War- 
naver ' and ' V&mavar ') of Nambalak6d|and went away. About 
a hundred years ago the Y^lunnavar tried to get the gold out of 
tbe Sh61ikulam. He did much p6ja ; all the people were feasted 
for thfee days ; a great tamasha was made. Then the Y^lunna- 
var got elephants and chains, and the chains were fastened to 
the great copper pot at the bottom of the tank. The elephants 
were beaten, all the people shouted and cried out, the priests 
prayed, and the top of the great pot appeared above the water. 
Then suddenly two chains slipped, the pot fell back, and nothing 
was left but the copper cover. A fearful storm of wind and rain 
began, the people fled ig their homes, and on that night the 
Ydlunnavar*s son and most of the people engaged in the under- 
taking died. The copper cover was kept for a long time at 
D^vilak6ttai and was afterwards taken to the Nambalak6d 
temple, where it is declared to have been seen by many people 
who were alive as late as thirty years ago. But no one has again 
dared to tamper with the Sh61ikulam, for. it is believed that 
whoever attempts to recover the gold will surely be killed. 

Perhaps this legend possesses some foundation of truth. It 
is at least widely believed. The lease of Woodbriar estate 
gTMited by the present janmi, the Nilamb6r Tirumulp^d, contains 
a stipulation that any treasure found in the tank there shall be 
handed over to the janmi ; and the Tirumulp^d refused an offer 
made by * one of the most acute and f arsighted Englishmen in the 
Wynaad' for the right to search for the gold in the Sh61ikulam. 
The tradition that the old mining shafts were made by a vanished 
people called the Yeddas is also most persistent, and is constantly 
recnrring in various connexions. 

« 

^ Mr. Broagk SmTth'i report on the WjuMd gold minei* 14. 



368 THB NILGIBIS. 

CHAP. XV. Gt&dalur : The head-qaarten of the talak ; lies thirty miles 
G^ALf ». by-road from Ootacamand and contains the building (ereeied in 

18M at a cost of Ks. 20,500 and added to in 1885 at an ontlaj of 

Rs. 6,660) in which the deputy tahsildar (who is also a district 
munsif) and the sheristadar-magistrate (who is also a sob-regis* 
^ trar) hold their oflSces ; a D.P.W. rest-house and a local fund 
travellers' bungalow ; Protestant and Roman Catholic chorches 
and cemeteries ; a hospital, a police-station, a post and telegraph 
office and 2,558 inhabitants. The name is said to mean ' junction 
village ' because the place is built at the junction of the thr€^ 
roads from Mysore, Oot^samund, and* Sultan's Battery in tho 
Malabar Wyne^ respectively. The public offices and a few of 
the houses stand in Bandipet and E6k^l, near this junctbn, but 
the better and more fashionable part of the village is built a mile 
away up the gh&t to tf^e hills, and recent epidemics of plague in 
the lower quarter (where also the water-supply is wretched) hare 
emphasized the preference for the4iigher site. 

Every Sunday a market is held in G6dal6r. As elsewhere in 
the Wynaad, Mdppillas from Malabar are the chief traders^here- 
at. It is not so important as it .was in the days when the Wynaad 
flourished, but it still supplies the Ouchterlony Valley and the 
• estates which survive. The Wynaad does not grow nearly enough 

grain for its own consumption and long strings of carts full of 
ragi come in weekly from Mysore territory. Numbers of these 
go on up the ghit to Naduvattam and Ootacamund, for though 
this is a roundabout route from Mysore it is preferred by the 
cartmen owing to the excessive ghtdients on the shorter road via 
the Sig6r gh^t. 

The Protestant churcif was designed by Colonel Morant, R.E., 
the architect of St. George's at Wellington and the chancel of All 
Saints', Goonoor, and was oonsecrat-ed by the Bishop of Madras in 
1889. The Protestant cemetery was partly consecrated by him in 
that year and partly in 1880. 

Madmnalai : A small village of 629 people which gives its 
name to the well-known Mudumalai forest. In Mandavakarai, a 
neighbouring hamlet, is an enormous tree, probably the big^st 
in all the Wynaad, under which lives a god called Bommadan 
or Bpmmar^jran who i«i worshipped by the Ghettis. Less than a 
mile south of it is a paved spot on which stand a lingaro and two 
Siva's bulls, and at Hulisakal ^ is a small Siva shrine of cut ston^ 

. 'Apparently ihe'Halikar of SeweU*! lUU of Antiquities, i» 825. The 
Hanomin there meot toned ii not to be foand. Tbo Siva ■hrine mtut be the 
Brihmaaioal temple Mr. Seirell plaoee under Modamalai. Th^ * tempTe with 
iiMorf^ione ' at *Chikkan61u' which he mentione cannot be trace<i. 



gjlzittker. 369 

Sach things are ancommon in the Wjnaad and are evidence that CHAP. XV. 
the place was formerly more thickly populated than now. Gth>AttJB. 

Nainbalak6d : About 5^ miles north-west of G6dal^r ,and 
the chief place in the amsam of the same name. Its temple to 
B^tar^yasvami (or Betakarasv^mi) is of-some local repute. The 
old fort from which it gets its name is now oveigrown with 
lantana. It was formerly the residence of the Y&lunnaTar ' 
referred to in the account of D^vala on p. 367. 

OiScial papers say that at one time the whole amsam belonged 
to certain ' Malarayens ' who, being unable to defend themselves 
from devastating bands of free-booters ^ sought the protection of 
the Kurumbrandd B&ja, who at last agreed to send his son 
Vilunnavar to rule over them on consideration of receiving seven 
granaries as his private property. About 1826 the place was held 
by one Kelukntti Ydlunnavar, who (if not actually half-witted, as 
was freely alleged) was so unfitted for his position that he fell 
into great financial straits. Certain land alleged to be his janmam 
property was sold in 1836 by order of the Wynaad district 
mansif and this afterwards passed to the Nilamb^r Tirumulp^d. 
The next year the Tirumulp&d obtained an assignment of all the 
rest of the Vdlunnavar's property, but the deed did not convey 
any janmam right. Kelukutti died in 1844 leaving only a sister 
named Subudra and her son. They were living at the time at 
Muttil, near GMalAr, on the charity of the frequenters of the 
temple, and there is much evidence to show that, like her brother, 
she was of unsound mind. The Tirumulpdd however soon 
afterwards induced her and her son to move to Nilamb6r, where 
the latter died in 1845. In 1853 the Tirumulpdd obtained from 
Subudra a deed making over her janmam rights in Nambalak6d 
amsam. She died in 1872. At the enquiry held in 1884-85 
into escheats in the Wynaad, Government after much discussion 
decided not to call in question the Tirumulpdd's claim to janmam 
rights thriiUghout the amsam. The Mudumalai forest had been 
previously (in 1863) leased from him for 99 years. 

N6llak6ttai : Ten miles north-west of Giidal6r on the road to 
Sultan's Battery. Contains a police-station . (two rooms of which 
are used as a travellers' bungalow) and a post and telegraph office. 

This and the Ouchterlony Valley are the only two places 'in the 
taluk where planting still flourishes, several coffee estates being in 
existence round about here, and a big tea estate and factory, at 
Ddvarsh61a, three miles nearer G6daliir. The legend regarding 
the tank in the fort which once stood on the site of the Woodbriar 
estate bungalow has already been referred to in the account of 
47 



370 THB.NILGIRIS. 

CHAP XV Devila. This fort occapied a most oommanding site ; the terraces 
G6daUe. cut in the hiU-side for it are still visible ; parts of its old walls, bmlt 

of red bricks much larger than those used nowadays, still stand 

behmd the bungalow ; and round about are fragmenta of sculp- 
tured stone which evidently belonged to temples. The tank ia 
now buried several feet deep in silt which lias washed down from 
, the hiU above it. Local accounts say that Tipu also made an 
effort to obtain the treasure supposed to be buried in it. 

Across the ravine to the west, the top of the ridge above the 
Mardmatti estate has evidently also been terraced for some 
fortification or other. ^ * 

Nelli&lamV About eight miles north-west of D^vdla as the 
crow flies. It is the residence of the Nellidlam Arasu (Urs), who 
has been recognized as the janmi of a considerable area in the 
MunanAd amsam, but is in reality a Canarese-speaking LingAyat of 
Canarese extraction, who follows the ordinary Hindu law of 
inheritance and is not a native of the Wynaad or of Malabar. 
Family tradition, though now somewhat misty, says that in the 
beginning two brothers named Sad&siva RAja Urs and Bhdjanga 
RAja Urs moved (at some date and for some reason not slated^ 
from Ummattfir (in the present Chimardjnagar taluk of Mysore) 
and settled at Malaikota, the old fort near Kalhatti referred to on 
p. 350 above. Their family deities were Bhujang^svara and 
TJmmattfir Urakdtti, which are still worshipped as such. They 
brought with them a foUowing of Bedars and Badagas, and there- 
after always encourdged the immigration to the hills of more 
. Canarese people. The village of Bannimara, a mile west of 
Kalhatti, is still peopled by Bedars who are said to be descendants 
of people of that caste who'came with the two brothers ; and to this 
day when the Badagas of the plateau have disputes of difficulty 
they are said to go down to NelliAlam with presents (kdnikai) in 
their hands and ask the Arasu to settle their differences, while at 
the time of their periodical ceremonies to the memory of their 
ancestors (manavalai, see p. 134) they send a deputation to 
Nellidlam to invito representatives of the Arasu to be present. 
The Arasu in more recent times persuaded some D^v&nga weavers 
to move to the Wynaad from Mysore, and they are now settled 
about two miles south-east of Nellidlam. They are the only people 
in this taluk who are weavers by caste, but they are now all 
cultivators by occupation. 

The commandant of the forces of the two Urs brothers, 
continues tradition, was named Budrayya (P Udaiya Biya) and 
built the fort now known as Udaiya Edya K6ta near K6nakarai 



d^^ETTEEB. 37l 

referred to on p. 333 above. Wlien at Malaik6ta^ Bhnjanga CHAP. XT. 
Bija Urs was one day invited by the then Niyar ohief of Nelli- Q^dal^r. 
alam to help him against his brother, who had turned hina out. 
Bhujanga did so with success ; so much so that he took 
NelHilam for his own and drove out the whole of the Nfiyar 
family. The brother who had called him in cursed the family, - 
it 18 said^ and declared that thenceforth it should always be on 
the brink of extinction ; and it is a curious fact that in recent 
^nerations the father has several times 'died when his only son 
was still quite a child. , 

Tipu Sultan's troops are said to have attacied both Malai- 
kota and Nelli^lam, and the mutilation of the images in the 
Vishnu temples at the latter place and at Ponn&ni (a mile to the 
east) is attidbuted to them. The then chief, another Sad^siva 
Baja Urs, is said to have submitted to them and helped them in 
an attack upou Nambalakod. When Tipu's men withdrew^ the 
chief of Nambalak6d fell upon Nelli^lam in revenge, and the 
then *i&asu was so hard pressed that he hurriedly despatched 
his pregnant wife and her handmaidens into the surrounding 
jungle and then, to avoid capture, committed suicide in front of 
the gate of his fort, which .was afterwards plundered by the men , 

of Nambalak6d. Such is the family tradition. It should however 
be mentioned that other accounts state that the family fled from 
Mysore State as late as the time of Tipu and settled in Nellidlam 
under the permission of the Pychy rebel referred to in 
Chapter II. 

In later years the history of the family becomes clearer, and 
it is evident that it owes its present position entirely to the action 
of Government officials. In 1858 Mr. (afterwards Sir William) 
Kobinson, then Collector of Malabar, obtained leave to take the 
property under the Court of Wards, since the last Arasu, who 
was the adhigari (village headman) of Munanad and had died in 
1856, had left only a mother of defective intellect and an infant 
son named Linga B^ja Arasu. The whole value of the estate 
was then put at only Rs. 20,000. About 1863 land in Wynaad 
began to be of value for coffee estates ; and, since the Collector 
had for some reason assumed that much of Munandd amsaqi was 
the janmam property of this family, the minor Arasu's income rose 
greatly. In 1868 he was sent to the Provincial School at Calicut, 
though previously a tutor on Bs. 4 a month had been considered 
sufficient. He attained his majority in 1871, but as the Collector 
considered that ' the boy's state of mental backwardness amounts 
to an infirmity sufficient to warrant his being still consideAd an 



872 THE KlLGIRlS. 

GHAP.XV. incapacitated proprietor,' the estate remained ander the Goart 
0^dal6b. nntil 1874, when it was handed over to the Arasn.^ 

l!his Linga Bi^ja Arasu committed suicide in 1887 on the 
death of his yoonger wife in childbirth^ and the Court of Wards 
again assiumed charge of the estate on behalf of his minor son, 
• Bhujanga Bdja Arasu. The latter died in 1890 when only three 
years of age and his father's sister's sons, Mrigendra B^ja Arasu 
{aUaa Bettiah) and Puttiah, became the heirs to the property. 
Litigation followed ,and the Collector was appointed Beoei ver of the 
estate. In December 1894, as the result of compromise decrees, 
the property was»handed 6ver to Mrig^ndm Bdja Arasu, subject 
to the life-interest in one half of it of Bavnramayya, Longa 
B^ja's first wife. He died iu 1896 aud his son, Chaodras^khara 
Bdja Arasu, who was born in 189i, succeeded him. He was 
educated in Mysore, and Linga K^ja's widow, BaVuraroayya, 
managed the estate as joint owner aud his guardian. He died 
in 1907 and Bavuramayya is the present proprietor. 

Nothing remains of the old fort of Nellidlam except traoes. of 
its ditch. It is said to have been levelled for growing coffee in 
1874 by Mr. Adolphus Wright. Just south of the village is a 
flat-topped hill called Ch^tur K6ttai Dinnai which from the 
steepness of its sides is almost inaccessible except on the east, aud 
on this are said to have been built two fortified granaries. 
Traces of the baildings aud the defences may still be made out. 

Oaohterlony Valley : As is mentioned on p. 2, this valley 
lies in a deep recess under the high western wall of the plateau. 
It is a well-known and important centre of coffee and tea growing 
and comprises nearly forty square miles [ot which over 7,000 
acres are planted up) aud contains a popalation of 5,265 persons. 

The boundaries of it will appear from the map in the pocket 
at the end of this volume. On the east its limit is practically the 
escarpment of the plateau ; but on the south and north the valley 
is geographically a continuation of the Malabar district and the 
Nambalak6d amsam respectively, and its boundaries on those 
sides were at one time bones of much contention. The Tirumul- 
p£d of Nilamb^r claimed that the Nambalakdd amsam, the janmam 
rights in which (he alleged) had been transferred to him by the 
Nambalakod Vdlunnavar's family (see p. 369), luoluded the Oach* 
terlony Valley and also the land on the plateau as far east as the 
Faik^*a river. Ou part of this land near Nadnvattam Govern* 
ment were at that period preparing to open their existing oinokona 

' A f oiler mooount of the mnttor will bo found in the reoordt of tho onqnirjr 
into Wynaad etohcaU iu ItiiU. 



GAZBTTEBB. 373 

plantations, and for this and other reasons thej altogether declined CHAP. XV. 
to accept the Tirumnlpid'n contention. Mr, Herbert