NEILGHERRY HILLS.

Extent—Formation—Soil—Climate—Flora—Hill tribes—Todars—Antiquities—Badagas—Koters—Kurumbers—Irulas—English stations—Kotergherry—Ootacamund—Coonoor—Jakatalla—Government gardens at Ootacamund and Kalhutty—Mr. McIvor—Coffee cultivation—Rules for sale of waste lands—Forest conservancy.

The Neilgherry[399] hills, between latitude 11° 10' and 11° 32' N., and longitude 76° 59' and 77° 31' E., form the most elevated mountain mass in India, south of the Himalayas; the highest peak, that of Dodabetta, being 8610 feet above the level of the sea. They are isolated on three sides, and rise up abruptly from the plains of Coimbatore on the south, and from the table-lands of Wynaad and Mysore on the north and east, to a height of 6000 feet above the former, and 2000 to 3000 above the latter; from which they are divided by the broad ravine of the river Moyaar. On the west they are united with the Koondah range, which is a continuation of the western ghauts. The area of the Neilgherries contains 268,494 acres, of which 24,000 are under cultivation.

The formation consists of syenitic granite, with veins of basaltic rock, hornblende, and quartz, while, in some parts, half-decomposed laterite underlies the soil. The plateau is not a flat table-land, but a succession of undulating hills and intervening grassy valleys, with ravines thickly wooded, numerous streams, and occasional rocky ridges running up into fine mountain-peaks. The streams all go to swell the great river Cauvery, by its tributaries the Moyaar and Bowany; the Moyaar descending from the hills by a fine waterfall at Neddiwuttum, on the northern slope; and the Bowany flowing down between the Koondahs and Neilgherries to the south. The soil of the plateau is very rich, being formed by the decomposition of basaltic and hornblende rocks, mixed with the clayey products of the granite, and much decomposed vegetable matter. The latter consists of the grass killed down to the roots by the frost, washed in by the succeeding rains, and mixed with the subsoil, increasing its richness and depth season after season. The richest land is on the lower slopes, where there are accumulations of soil washed from the hills above:[400] and there are extensive deposits of peat in the valleys, which afford supplies of fuel. The chief defect in the soil is the absence of lime.

The temperature and amount of humidity vary according to the locality. At Ootacamund, 7300 feet above the sea, the means of the thermometer range from 42° to 68°, while in the two other lower and warmer stations of Coonoor and Kotergherry, about 6000 feet above the sea, the range is from 52° to 71°. The annual rainfall at Ootacamund is sixty inches, at Coonoor fifty-five inches, and at Kotergherry fifty inches. During the south-west monsoon, from May to September, the rain comes down in torrents at Sispara, and in the western parts of the Neilgherries, but their force is somewhat exhausted before reaching Ootacamund, in the centre of the plateau. At that station the rainfall, during the south-west monsoon, is about thirty-four inches; and the range of Dodabetta, which rises up like a wall, immediately to the eastward of Ootacamund, almost entirely screens the eastern part of the hills from the rains of the south-west monsoon, and there the rainfall is only twelve inches from May to September. During the portion of the year from October to April the western parts of the hills are comparatively dry, the prevalent winds are from the north-east, and the rains which they bring with them from the Madras coast do not extend farther west than the neighbourhood of Ootacamund. Kotergherry, and the eastern parts of the hills, receive the full benefit of the rains from the north-east monsoon, but they are not heavy, and the rainfall at Kotergherry, in that season, is thirty-eight inches. Ootacamund also gets some of the rain of the north-east monsoon (thirty-six inches), so that, in that central part of the plateau, there is a belt which receives a moderate supply of rain throughout the year. In January and December there are frosts in the night, and the extreme radiation which goes on in the valleys causes great cold at sunrise; but these frosts are confined to the valleys in the upper plateau, and they never visit the higher slopes, or the well-wooded "sholas."

The climates of the Neilgherry hills are the most delightful in the world; and it may be said of this salubrious region, with its equable seasons, what the Persian poet said of Kung, "the warmth is not heat, and the coolness is not cold."[401] On the open plateau, in the wooded sholas, and in the thick forests of the lower slopes, there is a great variety of beautiful flowering trees and shrubs; and the vegetation of the hills is both varied and luxuriant. First, in the brilliant splendour of its flowers, must be mentioned the tree rhododendron (Rhododendron arboreum), which is very common in all parts of the hills, either forming small thickets or dotted about on the grassy slopes. It grows to a height of twenty feet, with a gnarled stunted trunk, and masses of deep crimson flowers. In the "sholas" are the Michelia nilagiraca, a large tree, with yellowish-white fragrant flowers of great size; the Symplocos pulchra, with hairy leaves and snow-white flowers; the Ilex Wightiana, a large umbrageous tree, with small white flowers and red berries; the pretty pink-flowered Rhodo-myrtus tomentosa, the berries of which are called "hill gooseberries;" the Jasminum revolutum, a shrub with sweet yellow flowers; the Sapota elingoides, a fine forest-tree, with rough cracked bark, and an edible fruit used in curries; CrotalariÆ; BignoniÆ; peppers, cinnamon, a number of chinchonaceous shrubs, and many others.

In the open grassy slopes and near the edges of the wooded ravines are several Vaccinia, especially the Vaccinium Leschenaultii, a shrub with pretty rose-coloured flowers; the beautiful Osbeckia Gardneriana, with a profusion of large purple flowers; the handsome Viburnum Wightianum; a number of balsams (Impatiens of several species); the Gaultheria Leschenaultii in great quantities, a pretty little shrub with white flowers and blue berries; the Berberis Mahonia, with its glossy prickly leaves and long slender racemes of yellow flowers; and the bright little pink Indigofera pulchella; while the climbing passion-flower (Passiflora Leschenaultii) hangs in festoons over the trees, especially in the eastern parts of the hills. Among the more inconspicuous plants are the Gallium requienianum; the Rubia cordifolia;[402] the thorny Solanum ferox, with stem and leaves covered with strong straight prickles; the Girardinia Leschenaultii,[403] or Neilgherry nettle, a most virulent stinger; the tall Lobelia excelsa; a Justitia, with a blue flower, which entirely covers some of the hills; some pretty Sonerilas; several beautiful Ipomoeas and lilies; elsias; and the Hypericum Hookerianum, growing plentifully in the meadows, with large orange flowers; besides ferns, lycopods, and numberless small wild flowers in the grass and underwood.

Enjoying a delightful climate, well supplied with water, and with its gentle undulations of hill and dale in some places clothed with rich pasture, in others presenting woods of fine timber and beautiful flowering shrubs, the Neilgherry hills are eminently fitted for the abode of a thriving and civilized people. Yet for many centuries it would appear that their sole inhabitants were a strange race of cowherds, a people differing in all respects from their neighbours in the plains, and indeed from all the other natives of Hindostan.

These are the Todars, a race numbering less than a thousand souls, who now claim to be the original "Lords of the hills." In times so remote that no record of them remains there are still indications that the Indian peninsula was peopled by races of Scythic origin: and, when the Aryan warriors came forth with their Vedic hymns and grand old civilization from the fastnesses of Sind, they swept irresistibly over Hindostan, and formed as it were an upper stratum of the population. The Scythic element either mixed with, or became subservient to the Aryan in the plains, as the Sudra caste, while in the hill and forest fastnesses a few tribes remained isolated and independent. Such, possibly, may have been the origin of the Todars on the Neilgherries. The Brahmins, characteristically dovetailing every tradition and every race into one or other of their historical myths, declare that the Todars came from the north in the army of Rama, when he marched against the wicked Ravana; and that, deserting their chief, they fled to these hills. They themselves have no tradition of their origin, but believe that they were created on the hills.

They are certainly a very remarkable and interesting people, tall, well-proportioned, and athletic, and utterly unlike all other natives of India. They have Jewish features, with aquiline noses, hazel eyes, thick lips, bushy black beards, and immensely thick clusters of glossy hair cut so as to stand in dense masses round the sides of the head, a very necessary protection from the sun, as they never wear any other head-covering. The old men are very handsome, with long white beards and upright gait, looking like the patriarchs of the Old Testament, with their strongly marked Jewish features: but the expressions of the younger men are less agreeable to look upon. The women are very careful of their hair, which hangs down in long glossy ringlets; and both sexes wear nothing but a long piece of coarse cotton cloth, with two broad red stripes round the edges, worn by the men like a Roman toga, which sets off their well-shaped limbs to advantage, and exposes one leg entirely, up to the hip; and by the women so as to form a short petticoat and mantle. They never wash either their persons or their clothes from the day of their birth to the day of their death. They live in small encampments called munds, which are scattered over the hills, and consist of five or six huts, and a larger one used as a dairy. The families are in the habit of migrating from one mund to another, at certain seasons of the year; so that we often came upon a mund apparently abandoned. A Todar's hut is exactly like the tilt of a waggon, very neatly roofed, with the ends boarded in, and a single low entrance. They are generally surrounded by a stone wall, and the dairy, a larger and more important building, is always a little apart. The only occupation of this singular people is to tend their large herds of fine buffaloes; they live on milk, and on the grain which they collect as a due or goodoo from the other hill tribes, and pass the greater part of their time in idleness; lolling about and gossiping in their munds, or strolling over the hills. We passed through one of these munds, about a quarter of a mile from our hotel, almost daily, but I never remember having seen a Todar engaged in any occupation whatever.

The women become the wives of all the brothers into whose families they marry, the children being apportioned to husbands according to seniority. This pernicious custom is also common among the Coorg, and the Tiars of Malabar. The Todars, formerly, only allowed one female child to live in each family, the rest being strangled; but the authorities have lately interfered to put a stop to this custom. When a Todar bride is given away, she is brought to the dwelling of her husbands, who each put their feet upon her head; she is then sent to fetch water for cooking, and the ceremony is considered to be complete.

The German missionaries, who have had a good deal of intercourse with these people, say that they worship the "sacred buffalo bell," as a representation of Hiridea, or the chief God, before which they pour libations of milk; and when there is a dispute about wives or buffaloes it is decided by the priest, who becomes possessed by the Bell God, rushes frantically about, and pronounces in favour of the richest. Formerly there were seven holy munds, each inhabited by a recluse called palaul (milkman), attended upon by a kavilaul (herdsman); but three of these are now deserted, and the fourth is rarely frequented. The rest have a herd of holy buffaloes attached to them for the use of the sanctified occupants, and no women may approach them. The only religious festival of any kind celebrated by the Todars, and that scarcely deserves the name, takes place on the occasion of a funeral, when there is much dancing and music. The body is burnt, and buffaloes are slaughtered to go with the spirit, and supply it with milk. This is called the green funeral. A year afterwards there is another ceremony called the dry funeral, when forty or fifty buffaloes were hunted down, and beaten to death with clubs; but the Government has recently prohibited the immolation of more than two beasts for a rich, and one for a poor Todar. The burial-places are like gigantic extinguishers, twelve feet high, and thatched with grass. The bodies are burnt, and the ashes collected and put into chatties, which are deposited in the extinguisher. The Todars have no other ceremonies, care for nothing but their buffaloes, and leave prayers to the palaul in his lonely retreat, or to the palikarpal or dairyman of each mund, who covers his nose with his thumb when he enters the sacred dairy, and says "May all be well!"[404]

The Todar language is a very rude dialect of the old Canarese, and similar to that of the Badagas, another hill tribe. It is very poor in words conveying abstract ideas, as they have few notions beyond their buffaloes; their verbs have generally but one tense, and they express the future and past by means of adverbs of time.[405]

There are many ancient cairns and tumuli on the peaks of the Neilgherries, and it has been objected that they cannot be assigned to the ancestors of the Todars, because agricultural implements have been found in them, and these people never cultivate the ground. But it must be remembered that the Todars now extort goodoo or tribute of grain from the other hill tribes, and that it is their only food. It must be inferred, therefore, that, before they discovered this easy mode of procuring food, and previous to the arrival of these weaker agricultural tribes on the hills, the Todars must have been their own cultivators. The hill people attribute all ancient ruins, of the origin of which they know nothing, to the Pandus, the famous heroes of Hindu tradition; and all that can be said of these Neilgherry cairns is that they are probably the work of an unknown extinct race, who practised Druidical rites.[406]

We visited several of these remains of an ancient people. On the summit of the peak of Kalhutty, on the left hand of the road leading down the Seegoor ghaut to the Mysore plains, whence there is a grand view of mountain scenery, forest-clad slopes, and a wide expanse of country stretching away to the horizon, we found several old cairns. They were of great size, built of immense stones, and hollow in the centre. On another peak, called Ibex Hill, one side of which is a scarped cliff many hundreds of feet in height, overhanging the Seegoor ghaut, we also found two huge cairns, forming a circle about eight feet in diameter. There are many others in different parts of the hills, generally on the highest peaks, and iron spear-heads, bells, sepulchral urns with figures of coiled snakes, tigers, elephants, dogs, and birds on them, sickles and gold rings have been found buried under the piles of stones.

The Todars, as has been said, are the "lords of the hills," and not only all the other hill tribes pay them tribute, but the English Government also pays rent to them for the land on which the stations are situated.[407] But the agricultural tribe of Burghers or Badagas, who came to the hills several centuries after the Todars, and are subject to them, are by far the most numerous, numbering 15,000 souls, and occupying 300 villages. They are divided into eighteen classes or castes, the members of one of which, called the Wodearu Badagas, wear the Brahminical string, are proud and lazy, and inhabit five villages apart from the rest. The villages of the Badagas are scattered all over the plateau of the hills, and their land occupies two-thirds of its area. They are much darker, and not nearly such fine men as the Todars, wear cotton-cloth turbans and clothing much like other natives of India, and are very superstitious and timid; but they are industrious, though not so much so as the labourers who come up from the plains, and kind and affectionate to their women and children. The Badagas, though they possess herds of buffaloes, are chiefly employed in cultivation. Their crops consist of raggee (Eleusine corocana), the most prolific of cultivated grasses,[408] which is made into dark brown cakes and porridge; samee or Italian millet, barley, an amaranth called keeray, some pulses, mustard, onions, and potatoes. We often passed through the Badaga villages. The houses are built in a single row, with one thatched roof extending over so as to form a verandah, supported on poles. In front there is a hard mud floor, where the piles of grain are heaped up; and there is generally a Swami-house or temple, with a verandah in front supported by numerous poles, the walls and poles being painted in red and white stripes, the Hindu holy colour. Round the villages there are cultivated patches of raggee and samee, which they were reaping in December. In the centre of the fields there is a small threshing-floor, where we often saw the Badagas sifting the grain from the chaff by shaking it through sieves, and letting the wind blow the chaff away. A Todar was generally squatting near, like an old vulture, waiting for his goodoo. The Badagas belong to the Siva sect, their principal deity being Rungaswamy, whose temple is on the summit of the easternmost peak of the Neilgherries; but they also worship 338 other idols or Swamis, such as trees, streams, stone pillars, and even old knives.

Another hill tribe is that of the Koters, who occupy seven large villages called Kotergherry (cowkiller's hill). They are of very low caste, and work as carpenters, smiths, rope-makers, and potters, besides cultivating the ground. The Koters also dress and prepare buffalo-hides, and they are a squalid dirty race, living on the carrion they pick up on the road-sides. They number about five hundred souls, and are the artizans of the hills, repairing the ploughs, hoes, and bill-hooks for the Badagas.

The Kurumbers, another tribe, live on the slopes of the hills, in the most feverish places. They are a short miserable-looking race, and those called Mooloo or jungle Kurumbers are regular wild men of the woods, in no respect raised above the beasts of the forest. The others act as musicians and sorcerers to the Todars and Badagas.

Lastly, the Irulas live low down the slopes of the hills, perform the office of priests in the Badagas' temple on the Rungaswamy peak, and occasionally act plays from the life of Krishna at Badaga festivals.

These five tribes of Todars, Badagas, Koters, Kurumbers, and Irulas, appear for centuries to have had the exclusive enjoyment of the Neilgherry hills; though Tippoo Sultan of Mysore erected a fort at Kalhutty, half-way up the Seegoor ghaut, and another on the Hoolicul-droog, overhanging the Coonoor ghaut, which leads up from the Coimbatore plains. He is said to have used these strongholds for the detention of prisoners, and to enable his officers to extort tribute from the hill tribes. The Neilgherry hills were first discovered by two English civilians who made their way up to the plateau in chasing some Moplah smugglers.[409]

In 1820 Mr. John Sullivan, then Collector of Coimbatore, built the first house in Ootacamund, on the site of a Todar mund of the same name.[410] It is now used as the building for the Lawrence Asylum. The first sanatarium on the hills, however, was at Dimhutty, on the eastern side, and at the adjoining station of Kotergherry, but the former is now abandoned. The delightful climate soon attracted crowds of visitors from the burning plains; many houses gradually rose up on the grassy slopes round the lake which was formed at Ootacamund by bunding up one end of the valley, and the place rapidly became an important hill-station. A small native town and bazaar sprang up on the banks of the lake, a handsome church was erected, a club-house, and, most conspicuous of all, an immense Parsee shop kept by Framjee Nusserwanjee of Bombay. The roads are excellent, and planted with tall graceful Acacia and gum-trees from Australia, and many of the houses are surrounded by beautiful gardens and shrubberies. The most charming, perhaps, is that of the late Bishop Dealtry, called Bishops-down, whence there is a glorious view of the station on one side, and of the distant Koondah hills, overtopped by the sharp peak of Makoorty, on the other. Advantage has here been taken of a wooded shola to make pleasant shady walks, and cut vistas through the trees.

The warmer station of Coonoor is about nine miles from Ootacamund, at the head of the ghaut which leads down to the plains of Coimbatore. Here the scenery is far more beautiful than at the central station, as the wooded sides of the ghaut run up into a fine peak called the Hoolicul-droog, and the view extends far away over the plains. The houses are perched on the rounded tops of a range of hills, and there is a church with a fine tower, which is a great addition to the view of Coonoor from the surrounding eminences. A mile from Coonoor, in the direction of Ootacamund, is the military station of Jakatalla, the finest barracks I ever saw in any part of the world. It is well sheltered by high hills from the cold north winds to which Ootacamund is exposed, as well as from the south-west monsoon, and is in every respect admirably adapted as a sanatarium for soldiers and their families. It has been maintained that the children of Europeans cannot be reared even on the hills of India, though upon what grounds this extraordinary assertion is based I have not yet learnt. The strongest arguments against this idea are the fresh rosy cheeks and rude health of the boys and girls in the Lawrence asylum, and of the boys and young men at Mr. Pope's[411] and Mr. Nash's schools in Ootacamund, who present a striking contrast to the children on the plains. The bracing climate of the upper plateau of these hills appears to me to be perfectly well adapted for European colonists: it has all the advantages with none of the disadvantages of England, and there are no influences which can be detrimental to English constitutions. At the time of our visit a battalion of the 60th Rifles, and a number of convalescent soldiers from other regiments, were stationed at Jakatalla. The quarters for the men are built round a large quadrangle, with an upper story, and airy corridors for exercise in wet weather. Beyond are the married quarters for ninety couples, each with two comfortable rooms and a little garden; and there are also a hospital, library, schoolrooms, substantially-built skittle-alley with brick arches, fives-court, and swimming-bath. The officers are quartered in bungalows on the surrounding hill-slopes, or at Coonoor. It would be well if the whole of the European troops in the Madras Presidency were permanently quartered on the Neilgherry and other hills as soon as the railroads are completed. Many of the married men might be permitted to cultivate and settle on land of their own, with their families, subject to the condition of being liable to be called on to serve if required, and a sort of military colony might thus be formed. There is excellent pasture for flocks of sheep, wheat may be grown in any quantity, and there is not the slightest danger to Europeans in undertaking field labour.

The English settler on the Neilgherries will find English fruits, flowers, vegetables, and grasses, the introduction of which is mainly due to the exertions of Mr. William G. McIvor, the Superintendent of the Government gardens at Ootacamund, and now also Superintendent of Chinchona plantations in Southern India. This gentleman has been in charge of the gardens at Ootacamund since 1848, and unites zeal, intelligence, and skill to the talent and experience of an excellent practical gardener. Under his auspices the steep slopes of one of the spurs, which run off from the peak of Dodabetta, and overlook the cantonment of Ootacamund, have been converted into a tastefully laid-out garden, in a succession of terraces. Hampered at first by the interference of a useless committee, and with no assistance beyond that of an East Indian foreman and labourers from the Mysore plains, he has succeeded in changing the wild mountain-sides into a very beautiful public garden. Every point of view is taken advantage of with admirable taste, and numerous trees and flowering shrubs have been introduced from England, Australia, and other countries, while the native flora of the hills is fully represented. There are English roses and geraniums, ponds bordered by white arums, shady walks over-arched by trellis-work, tasteful vases filled with showy flowers, thickets of rhododendrons, hedges of heliotrope and fuchsia, fine clumps of tall spreading trees, and, from the upper terraces, between the leafy branches, there are glorious views of the Ootacamund valley, and of the finely broken range of the distant Koondah hills.

Mr. McIvor also has a small branch-garden at Kalhutty, about half-way down the Seegoor ghaut, leading to the Mysore plains, for raising fruits which require a warmer climate. This garden is self-supporting. A magnificent waterfall descends into a rocky basin close beside it, and the garden contains oranges of many kinds, shaddocks, lemons, limes, citrons, nutmegs, loquats, and plantains. On this spot the delicious chirimoyas, the seeds of which we brought from Peru, will hereafter ripen, and enable the people of India to taste the "masterpiece of nature."

European enterprise on the Neilgherries has hitherto been chiefly directed towards the cultivation of coffee, and there are several fine estates near Coonoor. On the 15th of November we set out from Ootacamund to visit them, and rode down the valley of Kaitee, where the house stands which once belonged to Lord Elphinstone, certainly not in a well-selected spot. It was originally chosen for a Government farm, which was given up, and the house was then occupied for a short time by the Governor of Pondicherry. Lord Elphinstone, when Governor of Madras, took a fancy to the place, erected a very substantial house, finished it handsomely, and frequently resided there. In 1845 the property was bought by Mr. Casamajor of the Civil Service, who established a school there for Badaga children, on the principle of paying them for coming, at the rate of 1 anna a day. On his death he left it to the Basle Evangelical Missionaries, by whom it is now occupied. They have schools, and labour amongst the Badagas, but as yet with scarcely any success.

The stream which drains the Kaitee valley forms a very beautiful waterfall down the face of a cliff into the Karteri valley, where there is a small coffee estate worked by a Frenchman; and, after crossing a range of hills, in parts thickly wooded, and in parts covered with a shrubby Justitia with a blue flower, we reached the coffee plantation of Hoolicul,[412] owned by Mr. Stainbank. The highest part of his estate is 5700 feet above the sea,[413] and here he has twenty-five acres planted in rather poor soil. Below his house there are about forty-five more acres planted, down the steep slopes of the hill, some of the bushes in very good bearing. They are thick, as he is against pruning the branches, saying that when covered by leafy branches the fruit ripens by degrees, and consequently requires less labour in picking. The estate has passed through several hands, and the oldest trees were planted seventeen years ago. Mr. Stainbank expects eventually to get fifty tons of coffee off this estate, in the year. An acre will occasionally yield twenty-five hundredweight.

The view from the house is very fine. The plantation slopes away by a very steep descent, and in the distance are the Lambton's Peak range of mountains, and the wide plains of Coimbatore.

Leaving Hoolicul, we again descended into the ravine of Karteri, where the river passes close under the steep face of the hills on which the station of Coonoor stands, and on the slopes of the opposite mountains there are several coffee estates. Mr. Dawson, a son of the landlord of the hotel at Ootacamund, has 100 acres planted; but the most extensive estate, on the steep slopes overlooking the ghaut leading down into the Coimbatore plains, belongs to Mr. Stanes. He has 200 acres planted with 250,000 trees, up the precipitous sides of the mountain, facing east, and protected from the excessive rains of the S.W. monsoon. The elevation above the sea is upwards of 4800 feet. On the summits of the mountains above this estate Mr. Stanes has induced the Todars to form two cattle crawls, whence manure is washed down to his plantation. The trees are planted in rows, 6 to 8 feet apart, and regularly topped and pruned, so as to admit the sun to ripen the fruit on every branch. They are from 4 to 6 feet high, and planted in holes 20 inches deep by 18; the young plants being brought from a nursery, where seedlings are raised. The trees are generally in full bearing in the third year. After the berries are picked, and brought in baskets to the godown or warehouse, the pulp or fleshy part has to be removed. The berries are placed in heaps in a loft, above the pulper, looking bright and red like ripe cherries. They are then sent down a shoot, into which a stream of water is conducted, and are thus washed into the pulper. On Mr. Stanes's estate this machine is worked by a water-wheel, but generally it is turned by hand and a fly-wheel. The pulper is a roller covered with a sheet of copper, made rough like a nutmeg-grater. The berries fall on it as it goes round, but there is only room for the seed to pass, so that the pulp is squeezed off, and carried away by a stream thrown off by the water-wheel, while the naked coffee drops on the other side. The seeds are still covered with glutinous matter, to remove which they are well washed in a cistern, the inferior ones floating, while the good ones sink. The coffee-seeds are then laid out on the barbecus, square platforms of brick plastered with chunam, with sides a foot high; where they dry in the sun for about three days, and are afterwards stored in the godowns.

It is estimated that an acre of jungle on the Neilgherries may be cleared for 200 Rs., including all expenses. The coffee-seedlings, from the nursery, may be planted out in seven months, and they will yield a first crop in three years. Coffee-seeds are 5 Rs. a bushel, and that quantity will rear 10,000 plants, covering 10 acres. One acre ought to yield one ton, when well cultivated, selling at Calicut, uncleaned, for 4 annas the pound. In three years the estate ought to pay 10 per cent. on the capital expended, if well conducted; the next year the gross profit should increase to 60 per cent., and afterwards to 100 per cent. A good dwelling-house will cost 4000 Rs.; the pulping-house, machinery, and godowns, 4000 Rs. more. Carpenters get 20 Rs. a month, bricklayers 15 Rs., with 2 annas a day batta for coming out of the town, and common labourers 4½ Rs.

The Neilgherry planters have great advantages in the way of means of conveyance from their estates to Calicut and Beypoor, their ports of shipment. The coffee is carried down the Coonoor ghaut on pack-bullocks to Matepoliem, and thence in carts along a good road, by Palghatchery, to the sea-coast. Generally the coffee from the Neilgherry estates is bought by Mr. Perry and Mr. Andrews at Calicut, in rather a dirty state. They have garbling-machines for clearing away all remaining dry pulp, and removing the outer coat from the seeds; and they make their profit by shipping the coffee and selling it in a clean state fit for European use. Neilgherry coffee has an excellent name in the London market.

Europeans, on the Neilgherries, hold land by a puttum or grant from Government, leasing it in perpetuity, so long as the assessment is paid, which is fixed at 1 R. per acre of coffee-land, levied after the third year. By the resolution of the Madras Government, dated August 5th, 1859, the terms on which waste lands can be purchased were regulated. These orders apply to all the regions in Southern India which are suited for coffee or chinchona cultivation. It was resolved to sell outright the fee-simple of all land used for building, and of waste land in the hills, without reservation of quit-rent, and with an absolute and indefeasible title, sold to the highest bidder at an upset price, at twenty times the amount of yearly quit-rent or land-tax. A title-deed will be given under the seal of the Government, declaring the absolute title of the holder, free from all demands on account of land-revenue, with full powers to dispose of the land at pleasure, but not exempting it from payments for municipal purposes. Other parties, however, claiming a previous right in the land, will be free to sue the holder in the Civil Courts, up to a certain time, so that it will be necessary to make careful investigations on this point before purchasing. When the land-tax is not redeemed, Government will issue permanent title-deeds, reserving a quit-rent, and the holder will be free to redeem the tax, on the same terms, at any future time.

With regard to labour on the Neilgherries, there used to be abundant supplies of coolies from Mysore and Coimbatore, but they have recently fallen off, owing to competition on the railway works. Mr. Stanes was paying his labourers 4½ Rs. a month, and women 3½ Rs. He told me that he was particular always to pay every labourer himself, and to be very kind to them, by which means he never found any difficulty in procuring labour. Some of the planters get the services of Badagas, and even of some Kurumbers in the picking-time, but the hill tribes are not generally willing to work on the coffee plantations. There are fifteen coffee estates on the Neilgherry hills.

But the oldest coffee-district in Southern India is Wynaad, a forest-covered plateau about 3000 feet above the sea, which adjoins the Neilgherries on the north. In this district there are upwards of thirty coffee-plantations, some of them, such as that of Messrs. Campbell and Ouchterlony, near the ascent to the Neilgherry hills, being very extensive.[414] There is a great rainfall in Wynaad during the S.W. monsoon, and the crops are very abundant; but at the same time the coffee is not so good as that grown in drier situations, such as the Neilgherries near Coonoor, though the yield is greater. Most of the available land is already taken up. The labour is derived from Mysore, whence the coolies come, often from distances of sixty or seventy miles, returning to their families when their wages are paid. In 1860 the tax on coffee-estates in Wynaad was fixed at 2 Rs. an acre on land actually planted, to be imposed in the third year, at which time the trees are in bearing.[415]

The export trade in coffee, from all the hill-districts of Southern India, was, in 1859-60, as follows:—

In connexion with the clearing of forests for coffee-cultivation, it is imperative that due attention should be paid to the preservation of valuable timber, and the conservancy of the belts of wood near the sources and along the upper courses of streams, so as to ensure the usual supplies of water, and to retain a due amount of moisture in the atmosphere. For the superintendence of these important measures, together with other duties, Dr. Cleghorn has been placed at the head of a Forest Conservancy Department in the Madras Presidency. He strongly urges that the high wooded mountain-tops overhanging the low country should not be allowed to be cleared for coffee-cultivation, lest the supplies of water should be injured.[416] "The courses of rivulets," he says, "should be overshadowed with trees, and the hills should therefore be left clothed for a distance of half their height from the top, leaving half the slopes and all the valleys for cultivation. Immense tracts of virgin forest in the valleys of the Koondah hills are eminently suited for coffee-cultivation. The clearing should only be allowed from 2500 to 4500 feet, this being the extreme range within which coffee planted on a large scale is found to thrive."

There are still thousands of acres of uncleared forests, at suitable elevations, well adapted for the growth of coffee, in the cultivation of which the English capitalist would make large and rapid profits; yet it is not many years since the first coffee-plants were introduced into these hills. Coffee now forms an important item in the exports from the Madras Presidency. There is every reason to hope that the bark from quinine-yielding chinchona-trees may also become one of the valuable products of the hills; and in the following chapter I propose to give an account of the selection of the sites for the first experimental plantations.