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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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m II mi III 1
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 Richardson, G^oiLti.
Depat7 Collector of the Wynaad, in 1863 held an enquiry and ""^
laid dDwn a bonndary between Narabalakod, Malabar, the plateau
and the Ouchterlony Valley which came to be known as
* Richardson's line/ Briefly, this started from the Paikara river,»
went westwards to a rock called Arata Pdra, thence to the Pdndi
river, down that to the crest of the ghlts, and back to Nilgiri
peak. In a suit between Q-overnment and the Pirumnlp^d in the
District Court of Calicut .in 1868 about the land at Naduvattam
(which G-overnment won) this line \^s an in^ortant piece of
evidence.
Q-overnraent were at first disposed to disallow the Tirumulpad's
claim to janmam rights in the Ouchterlony Valley, which lay
beyond and south-east of this line, respecting, none the less, any
titles obtained bond fide from him, in ignorance of the rights of the
case, by planters. But eventually, after some years' discussion.^
they decided in 1878 to abandon all claim to janroabhogam in the
Valley, and in 1888 ^ they admitted the Tirumnlp^d's janmam
rights there, Richardson's line being confirmed as the boundary
thereof.
• «
The Valley formed part of Malabar up to 1873, when it was
transferred to the Nilgiri district. Its revenue settlemtot was
made in 1 8H9 (see p. 282) on the principles already followed in
the ease of the Nilgiri Wynaad.
The Valley is named after Mr. James Ouchterlony, a brother
of the Col. John Ouchterlony, R.E., who made the 1847 survey of
the district and whose report has (^ten been quoted above.
James Ouchterlony was at one time a Judge of the Principal
Sadr Amitt's Court established at Ootacamund in 1855, and the
story goes that the possibilities of the Valley were pointed out to
him in 1845 by his brother,