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 woodedsholato 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 cultivateand 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 shrubbyJustitiawith a blue flower, we reached the coffee plantation ofHoolicul,[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 theTodars 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 thegodownor warehouse, the pulp or fleshy part has to be removed. The berries are placed in heaps in a loft, above thepulper, 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 thebarbecus, square platforms of brick plastered withchunam, 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 aputtumor 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, declaringthe 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 isnot 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:—
Quantity.Value.From the ports of Malabar7,35,19,26lbs.7,35,177RsFrom the ports of Canara5,13,36,358,66,644From the ports of Tinnevelly23,36,9323,387From the port of Madras8,15,89,742,49,84620,87,82,2818,75,054
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 thereforebe 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.
SELECTION OF SITES FOR CHINCHONA-PLANTATIONS ON THE NEILGHERRY HILLS.
The Dodabetta site—The Neddiwuttum site.
Inselecting sites for chinchona plantations in the Neilgherry hills we had to compare the climate and other conditions of growth which prevail in the chinchona forests and openpajonalesin the Andes with any similar localities which might be found in Southern India. For the first experimental sites, it was of course important that the resemblance, as regards elevation, temperature, and humidity, should be as close as possible; but there was every reason to hope that, under cultivation, these plants, like most others, would adapt themselves to conditions of soil and climate extending over a far more extensive area.
It was necessary to fix upon two sites in the first instance, one at the highest point at which chinchona-plants were likely to flourish, for the species from Loxa and others growing at great elevations, and as an experimental plantation; and another in a lower and warmer position for the plants ofC. succirubra,C. Peruviana,C. micrantha, and the treeC. Calisaya. The highest point at which these plants will flourish, and the greatest exposure they will bear without injury, are the most favourable conditions for the formation of quinine; while, if thesholasin the upper plateau of the Neilgherry hills should prove to be adapted for their growth, their cultivation might be indefinitely extended in a climate suitable for English settlers.
Previous to my arrival on the hills Mr. McIvor had selected a site for the highest plantation in a wooded ravine orsholaat the back of the hills which rise above the Government gardens; and, after a careful examination, I came to the conclusion that it was well suited for the growth of the hardier species, and for the experimental culture of all the kinds which have been introduced into India. It has been named the "Dodabetta" site, from the peak, the highest point of the Neilgherries, and 8640 feet above the sea, which rises up immediately behind it.
With regard to the species for which I considered the Dodabetta site to be suitable, it will be well in this place to recapitulate the circumstances under which they grow on their native mountains.
The shrub variety ofC. Calisaya(lat. 13° to 15° S.) flourishes in openpajonales, quite exposed, at elevations from 5000 to 7000 feet above the sea, and in April and May I found the mean temperature to be 60⅓°, minimum 55°, and range 17°. TheC. nitida(lat. 10° S.) grows at similar elevations, but we have no exact information respecting the temperature and humidity. The varieties ofC. Condaminea(lat. 4° S.) flourish at heights from 6000 to 8000 feet above the sea, where the mean range is from 45° to 60°, in a moist climate, and in exposed but always dry situations; and one kind, theC. crispa, the seeds of which have been received in India and Ceylon, grows in a deposit of peat, 8000 feet above the sea, in a temperature falling as low as 27°.[417]TheC. lancifolia(lat. 5° N.) is found at 7000 feet above the sea and upwards, where the annual range is from freezing-point to 75°, in an exceedingly moist climate. The rainy season lasts for nine months, when the constant rain is only interrupted in the day by interchanging sun-rays and fog-clouds. In the dry season cold clear nights follow days in which a warm sun penetratesthrough the fog, which almost constantly lies on the damp foliage of the forest.[418]Mr. Cross mentions that he saw trees ofC. succirubraon his way to Loxa, growing at elevations of from 8000 to 9000 feet above the sea.
The site, in the Dodabetta ravine, slopes down from 7700 to 7600 feet above the sea, yet, from local causes, it is several degrees warmer than the station at Ootacamund; and the temperature agrees with that of the species of chinchona-plants described above. The annual temperature of the peak of Dodabetta, of Ootacamund, and of the warmer station of Kotergherry, are given on the following page.
The Dodabetta site, being four or five degrees warmer than Ootacamund, throughout the year, has a temperature, on the whole, somewhat warmer than the lofty regions where the species of chinchona grow, for the cultivation of which this position was selected. The elevation above the sea exactly corresponds, and the amount of humidity is about the same. The ravine is full of fine trees, with a variety of exposures, the general aspect being north-west; a clear little stream flows through it; and, in most parts, the soil consists of a rich loam four or five feet deep. Outside the wooded ravine there are tree Rhododendrons, Berberis, Gaultherias, lilies, Lycopodia, and brake-ferns, scattered about on the grassy slopes; and the character of the scenery and vegetation very closely resembles that of thepajonalcountry between the valleys of Sandia and Tambopata in Caravaya, where the shrubCalisayaflourishes. The site is protected by rising grounds from the cold northerly winds, and the colder breezes blowing over it from ridge to ridge prevent the warm air in the ravine from rising, so that the temperature became warmer as we ascended through the wood, and in the highest part there were orchids and pepper-vines hanging on the trees.
The analogy between the flora of the Dodabetta ravine and of the loftier parts of the chinchona region was another point which influenced my decision. Within the ravine there are nine species of chinchonaceous plants, namely—
Hedyotis Lawsoniæ.Canthium umbellatum.Hedyotis stylosa.Grumilea elongata.Lasianthus venulosus.Grumilea congesta.Coffea alpestris.Psychotria bisulcata.Coffea grumelioides.
These are mostly ornamental pretty shrubs, from six to eight feet high, with clusters of white or cream-coloured flowers. The other genera of which the wood is composed are as follows:—Vaccinium,Myrsine,Symplocos,Ilex,Michelia,Sapota,Isonandra, andCinnamonamong the trees;Eugenia,Myrtus,Jasminum,Osbeckia,Sonerila,Solanum,Viburnum, andAcanthusamong shrubs;Lonicera,Passiflora,Rubia, andpepper-vinesamong the climbers; with an undergrowth ofLobelia,Begonia,Convolvulus, orchids, and ferns. TheOsbeckiasandSonerilasrepresent the melastomaceous plants, the constant companions of chinchonæ in South America.
It was no small advantage that this excellent site for a chinchona plantation was close to the Government gardens, and that it would thus be under the constant supervision of Mr. McIvor. It receives a supply of moisture during both monsoons, and is, therefore, as good a position as could have been selected on the higher plateau of the Neilgherries, though there are manysholaswhich will be found equally well adapted for the growth of the hardier chinchonas. These precious plants will, it is to be hoped, before very long, form large plantations on all parts of the hills, and become one of the most important products of the Neilgherries. In the mean while Mr. McIvor, the Government Superintendent, using the Dodabetta site as an experimental plantation, will be enabled to demonstrate the successful results of chinchona culture, and to raise thousands of plants for the supply of private enterprise.
The most extensive operations must, however, necessarily be carried on at much lower elevations, where theC. succirubra, the species richest in febrifugal alkaloids, will flourish best, and where vast unoccupied forests afford space for plantations on a large scale. A northern aspect is the one best adapted for the vigorous growth of trees on the Neilgherry hills, and we, therefore, proceeded to examine the forest-covered slopes overlooking the table-lands of Wynaad and Mysore, for a site for the lower chinchona plantation. We started from Ootacamund early one November morning, and rode across the central plateau of the hills, consisting of rounded grassy undulations, intersected by woodedsholas. In some of the hollows the streams had formed large swamps, where there were extensive deposits of peat. The traveller's bungalow of Pycarrah, the first on the road towards Wynaad, is ten miles from Ootacamund, on the banks of a river of the same name. Several huge boulders of syenite obstruct the stream and cause it to foam noisily round them, and the wet stones were covered withPodostemads, herbaceous branched floating plants, with the habit of liverworts. We saw several otters playing in the water, and peering at us from behind the rocks. Six miles beyond Pycarrah is the bungalow of Neddiwuttum, on the edge of the rapid descent into Wynaad, and the road descends from the upland slopes through a jungle where the ferns first appear, and maiden-hair, ceterach, and other ferns grow by the roadside. Some garden marigolds from England had been planted near the Neddiwuttum bungalow, and they had spread themselves in masses over the adjacent slopes.
The tract of forest land which we came to examine is close to the bungalow, and from the grassy hill above it there is a glorious view of Wynaad, and of the plains of Mysore, stretching away to the horizon. Here the mountains sink abruptly down to the Wynaad table-land, and the Moyaarriver thunders down in a long waterfall, divides Wynaad from Mysore, and, flowing through a deep gorge to join the Bowany in Coimbatore, eventually swells the waters of the great river Cauvery. The land available for immediate occupation comprises about 400 acres of uncleared forest on the mountain slopes, at an elevation from a little over 6000 to a little under 5000 feet above the level of the sea, and with a mean temperature about 8° warmer than that of Ootacamund.
I selected this site for a plantation ofC. succirubra,C. Calisaya,C. micrantha, and the very delicateC. Peruviana, because, with a good supply of water, and a deep rich soil on a base of decomposing laterite and syenite, it had a suitable elevation above the sea, temperature, and amount of humidity. The information we possess on these points, with regard to the above species, is by no means complete; but it is sufficiently exact to enable us to form a correct opinion. Mr. Spruce gives the following details respecting the climate of the region ofC. succirubra, in latitude 1° 40´ S. The zone of the "red bark" is from 2450 to 5000 feet above the sea.
From the 1st of June to the 31st of December is the dry season in the "red-bark" region, when the days are usually sunny in the early morning, and mists generally begin to form as the sun declines; while after the autumnal equinox there are heavy rains and thunder-storms. In the wet season the early part of the day is foggy, and there is heavy continuous rain during the afternoons and nights. In the region ofC. Calisaya, from 13° to 16° S. lat., and from 4000 to 6000 feet above the sea, the dry season lasts from April to the end of August. April and August are showery months. May is also showery, but clear in the forenoons, and the mean temperature during the first half is 69°, mean maximum 71½°, and mean minimum 62½°. June and July are hot dry months, with little rain, a bright hot sun in the day, but cold clear nights. In September the rains begin, increase in October, and pour down incessantly from the beginning of November to the middle of March, with very hot, damp days and nights. We have no detailed information respecting the region ofC. micranthaandC. Peruviana, species which flourish in 10° S. lat., from 4000 to 5500 feet above the sea. From May to November the sun shines powerfully, yet heavy rains fell from day to day in June and July 1860, and it was not until August that the days were clear and bright. At Casapi, in this region, where a register was kept, it rained during half the days in the year.[419]From November to May is the rainy season, and sometimes the rain pours down for six or seven days without intermission.[420]
The Neddiwuttum site, being about 8° or 10° warmer than Ootacamund, has a temperature exactly similar to that of the forests where the above species of chinchonæ flourish. Its elevation above the sea is also the same as that of the chinchona forests. It is true that Mr. Spruce gives the extremeupper limit of the "red-bark" region at 5000 feet; but Mr. Cross saw that species growing at an elevation of 8000 feet; and the great importance of cultivating this species at the highest possible elevation is demonstrated by Mr. Spruce's observation that the bark of trees growing low down and near the plains is by no means so thick as that of trees which flourish in a loftier and more temperate climate.[421]The Neddiwuttum site is within the limit of the region which receives both monsoons. Though protected to some extent from the south-west, it receives a full share of the rains during the summer, and is also supplied with moisture by the north-east monsoon, coming across Mysore between October and December. During the remaining months it is visited by mists and heavy dews in the nights until the south-west monsoon again commences in May. It will probably be found that these species of chinchonæ will bear a much drier climate than we at present suppose; and I have no misgivings that the amount of humidity at Neddiwuttum will not be amply sufficient for their successful cultivation. The only person who has visited this site since its selection, who is capable, through personal knowledge of the South American chinchona forests, of forming an opinion, is Mr. Cross. It is exceedingly satisfactory to find that he not only approves of it for the cultivation of plants of the "red-bark" species, but that, from the superior depth and richness of the soil, he considers that they are likely to thrive even better than in their native forests near Limon, on the eastern slopes of Chimborazo.
In the Neddiwuttum forest, among other plants, I found theHymenodictyon excelsum,[422]wild yams, coffee-plants, cinnamon, pepper-vines,Andromedas,Osbeckias, wild ginger, aBalanophrawith a scarlet flower, and abundance of orchids and ferns. On the edge of the forest there was a little hut, merely afew branches covered with grass, and leaning against the trunk of a tree, with some empty honeycombs lying about. It was the habitation of a family of Mooloo Kurumbers, a wild race who live in the forests, and run away in great terror when any one approaches them. The establishment of the plantation will soon make them alter their haunts from the neighbourhood of Neddiwuttum.
The magnificent view from this point embraces a great part of Wynaad. Far below there was a small coffee-estate, its bright green contrasting with the more sombre hues of the surrounding forest; and more to the left, though out of sight, is the extensive plantation which, together with a tract of forest on the slopes of the Neilgherries, is owned by Messrs. Ouchterlony and Campbell.
After passing the night at Pycarrah, we started next morning to examine another site further to the eastward, and overlooking the plateau of Mysore. We crossed several ranges of grassy hills, with streams in the intervening valleys flowing through thickets of tree rhododendrons, with the gorgeous crimson flowers just beginning to bloom,Osbeckias, and aLasianthuswith a beautiful glossy leaf. The hills were dotted with a St. John's-wort with a bright orange flower (Hypericum Hookerianum). We soon reached the edge of the plateau, overlooking the low country, and looked down on the wide plains of Mysore, with some Neilgherry peaks in advance of us, and a valley between, where there was bright green cultivation, and crimson patches of amaranth, surrounding the Badaga village of Choloor. Between the place where we stood and the Choloor valley there were some fine patches of forest on the steep hill-slopes; but they did not offer the same advantages as Neddiwuttum for a first experimental chinchona plantation. This side of the hills is drier, the soil poorer, and water is less abundant, though it is nearer Ootacamund, and both labour and supplies are moreeasily procurable. Returning to Ootacamund we rode up to a Todar-mund, where something unusual had evidently occurred. About thirty Todars were walking in a line through the forest glades below, and several jackals were prowling about in the broad daylight. We afterwards heard that a huge tiger had killed one of the Todar buffaloes that morning, and retreated into thesholaon the edge of which we had just had luncheon. They expected him to come out at sunset for his supper.
We continued our excursion to the summit of the Kalhutty peak, overlooking the Seegoor ghaut, whence several fine tracts of forest-land slope down; but Neddiwuttum was decidedly preferable in every respect to all the localities which we examined on the northern side of the Neilgherries, and to the eastward of that site. The part of the hills on the south, towards Coonoor and Kotergherry, was out of the question on account of the summer drought, as it is completely screened from the south-west monsoon by the spurs from the Dodabetta peak; and the forests towards the Sispara ghaut, being too far west to receive moisture from the north-east monsoon, were not so good as Neddiwuttum, at least for a first experiment.
When the success of the chinchona culture on the 400 acres of the Neddiwuttum plantation is fully established, the experiment may then be extended to the east and west, both by Government and through private enterprise; and these precious barks may be expected to yield remunerative profits to European speculators, while they will at the same time confer an inestimable blessing on the native population.
Everything, however, depends upon the method which is adopted for the cultivation of the chinchona-plants in the experimental plantations; and, in a future chapter, I propose to give a detailed account of the course of events, as regards the chinchona-plants on the Neilgherry hills, up to the latest date.
JOURNEY TO THE PULNEY HILLS.
Coonoor ghaut—Coimbatore—Pulladom—Cotton cultivation—Dharapurum—A marriage procession—Dindigul—Ryotwarry tenure—Pulney hills—Kodakarnal—Extent of the Pulneys—Formation—Soil—Climate—Inhabitants—Flora—Suitability for chinchona cultivation—Forest conservancy—Anamallay hills.
Coonoor ghaut—Coimbatore—Pulladom—Cotton cultivation—Dharapurum—A marriage procession—Dindigul—Ryotwarry tenure—Pulney hills—Kodakarnal—Extent of the Pulneys—Formation—Soil—Climate—Inhabitants—Flora—Suitability for chinchona cultivation—Forest conservancy—Anamallay hills.
Inthe end of November I set out from Ootacamund, by way of the Coonoor ghaut and Coimbatore, with the intention of examining the suitability of the Pulney hills in Madura for chinchona cultivation. The Coonoor ghaut, on the southern side of the Neilgherry hills, leads down into the plain of Coimbatore. The road is good, though much too steep ever to make a convenient means of carriage traffic, and the scenery is exceedingly fine. The deep gorge has forest-covered mountains on the left, and a grand range of cliffs on the right, crowned by the bold peak of the Hoolicul Droog. There are few districts in India without some local tradition respecting the five Pandus,[423]the great mythical heroes of ancient Hindoo history, and the Hoolicul Droog is not without one. It is said that the fort on the summit of the Droog was inhabited by arakshior giant named Pukasooren, who levied a tribute on the people of the plains, in the shape of a cart-load of provisions daily. When he had eaten the provisionshe swallowed the driver, and kicked the cart down again. Bhima, the impersonation of strength, when passing through this part of the country, volunteered to act as driver, had a desperate encounter with the giant, and killed him. The dying Pukasooren cursed the whole country over which the shadow of the mountain fell during the day, and it has ever since been the abode of a deadly fever. It is certain that the jungles at the roots of the hills are the most fever-haunted districts in India, and I rode rapidly through this belt of forests, and along a road bordered withcana-fistulaandsappan-trees,[424]to the village of Matepoliem, on the banks of the river Bowany, and five miles from the foot of the ghaut.
Matepoliem is twenty-three miles from the town of Coimbatore, and I rode this distance on a Neilgherry pony in the early morning. The road is perfectly straight, with an avenue of shady trees along the whole length, and good bridges over the dry sandy water-courses. The soil appeared to be poor, partly waste, and partly cultivated withcholum(Sorghum Vulgare[425]),lablab,[426]and sesame.Cholum, or great millet, is much cultivated in the peninsula, and used as food in the shape of cakes and porridge, where rice is scarce or too expensive. It grows to a height of five or six feet, and cattle are very fond of the straw, which contains sugar, but it soon exhausts the soil, and two crops are never taken off the same land in succession. There are two villages on the road between Matepoliem and Coimbatore, called Karamuddy and Goodaloor, in both of which there is achoultryor native bungalow, and in the latter an English post-house. At Karamuddy there is a very picturesque temple, and onthe roadside I passed several horses of earthenware, votive offerings by the potters to their god. Under many of the trees there are images of the elephant-headed, pot-bellied god of wisdom, Ganesa, anointed with ghee, and adorned with garlands of flowers.
The streets of Coimbatore consist of long rows of red-tiled, mud-walled buildings, with no windows, and overhanging eaves supported by wooden pillars, under which there are raised platforms where the people sit and talk. In peeping in at the doors, I could never discern any article of furniture in the dark obscurity of the interiors, but they generally looked clean and well swept. The houses of the English officials are about a mile from the town, generally surrounded by park-like compounds, but the trees and grass thrive badly in the shallow sandy soil. Outside the town there are two very large tanks, one nearly a mile long, which irrigate some rice-fields. The view is very pretty, with these extensive sheets of water in the foreground, the cupolas of temples rising above the trees beyond, and Lambton's Peak with the blue line of the Neilgherries in the distance.
Some exertions are being made at Coimbatore, both by Protestant and Roman Catholic missionaries, and about sixty natives attend the little chapel of the London Mission Society. The Bible is very properly not admitted into any of the Government schools, and, strange to say, educated natives often inquire why this is not done, and why Christians are ashamed of their Shaster. But in schools unconnected with the Government the study of the Bible is enforced like any other class-book, and there are upwards of forty Brahmin youths in Coimbatore who habitually take it home to learn, with their other lessons, and never make the slightest objection. Mr. Thomas, the Collector, felt very strongly the great importance of educating the women, and a girl-school has been set on foot, after much difficulty. At present theinfluence of the women, and all women have influence, is for evil. The men, to maintain their superiority, dislike the women to know anything, and the head official of the cutcherry at Coimbatore, who is a Brahmin, dare not let his friends know that his wife can read and write, though this accomplishment makes her a more useful and agreeable companion. The women, generally, are treated like slaves by their husbands. They are never allowed to eat at the same time, except on the wedding-day, and must walk behind their husbands on a journey, generally carrying a child on their hips; yet I have seen the man carrying the child, and at least taking turn about, and in other respects they always appeared to be on good terms with each other.
At Coimbatore I bought abandyor country cart of the simplest construction, with two wheels, no springs, and a hood of matting spread over curved canes; and started, with relays of bullocks posted at intervals of fifteen miles. This mode of travelling is inconceivably slow, the rate being about three miles an hour, and it was near sunset before I reached Pulladom, a village twenty-two miles from Coimbatore. The road is nearly straight, and planted on both sides with trees of stunted growth, owing to the shallowness of the soil. It was market-day at Pulladom, and people were sitting in rows, before piles of cotton cloths, rice, and dry grains; while an old Tahsildar, in spectacles and snow-white garments, was holding a court under a verandah. In strolling about I came upon the huge idol-car belonging to the village, on heavy wooden trucks. The carvings on its sides were very elaborate, with elephant-headed gods at the angles; but it is only dragged out on very great occasions, and will require new trucks before it is moved again.
All this country round Coimbatore produces much cotton, and cloths are manufactured in great quantities, which supply garments, such as they are, for the people of the plains, aswell as for the hill tribes of the Neilgherries. The native cotton is of two kinds, calledoopum-paratiandnadum parati.[427]The seed of the latter is sown broadcast, in the same field withcholumandcumboo.[428]After the grain is cut, the ground is ploughed between the plants four times, and in the next year the cotton yields a small crop in July, and a larger one in the following January. After the third year the field is manured and cultivated with grain for two years, cotton being again sown when the third crop of grain has been reaped. Thisnadumcotton is very little cultivated in the Coimbatore district. The chief product is theoopum, the best indigenous cotton, raised, in rotations of two years, withcumbooandcholum.
Theoopumcotton is raised on the black soil,[429]an adhesive black clay, while the little Bourbon cotton that is cultivated is grown on red soil. It is picked very carelessly, and the bales are so badly pressed that those which I passed in carts on the road looked as if they would sink in like a feather-bed, if any one sat upon them.
Much pains have been taken by the Government for a series of years to improve the method of cultivating cotton in India, and to introduce American and other species; and very large sums of money have been spent on experiments. Bourbon cotton was cultivated in Coimbatore as early as 1824; and in 1842 Government cotton-farms were established for the growth of New Orleans and Indian plants, both in the black and red soils, under the able superintendence of Dr. Wight, the eminent botanist. In 1849 these experiments were abandoned.
The great importance of the question of cotton supply from India has been long felt, and never more so than at the present time. To meet the requirements of the English markets numerous and costly attempts have been made during a course of years to introduce the American species, which produces a much longer staple than the indigenous Indian kind. Yet American cotton has not hitherto been raised so as to yield a profitable return, excepting in the province of Dharwar, in the Bombay Presidency. The success in this instance is chiefly to be attributed to a suitable soil and climate; but also, in no small degree, to the energy of Mr. Shaw, a former Collector.
Great attention has been paid to the nature of the soils, while less importance than it really deserves has been attached to climate, though climate, and mainly one element of climate—the moisture of the atmosphere—is an essential condition in the successful culture of American cotton. In travelling southward from the latitude of Bombay the climate becomes gradually moister, and at 300 miles there is a very decided change. The American cotton-plant has a very different constitution from the Indian; it cannot stand so much drought, and the conditions required for its culture are an equable and moderate supply of moisture through all the stages of its growth. These conditions are fulfilled in the Dharwar country, which retains a considerable quantity of moisture in the air during the cold season, when other parts of the Bombay Presidency are intensely dry. Wherever this is the case, as in Sind, Guzerat, Broach, and Ahmednuggur, the American plant will not yield a remunerative crop. The indigenous plant is able to endure this dry season well, because it is a native, not of the peninsula, but of the arid country of Sind and part of the Punjab, where it grows wild.
If careful hygrometrical observations were taken throughout the year in the various cotton districts, the results mightbe compared with similar observations taken in Dharwar; and thus the localities may be ascertained where the American cotton can be advantageously cultivated, so far at least as this depends on the amount of moisture in the atmosphere. The supply of aqueous vapour in the atmosphere, at any period of the year, diminishes as we recede from the coast; but, having once found a centre where the American plant can be profitably raised, in Dharwar, it is advisable to work from that centre, especially in a south-eastern and southerly direction. This spread of the growth of American cotton has already taken place to the eastward of Dharwar, to a considerable extent. The people in the Bellary district, and in neighbouring parts of the Nizam's territory, have for some years grown cotton from American seeds, and value it more highly than their native species.
In Coimbatore, where scorching hot dry winds parch up the plains during part of the year, and where the rainfall varies so much in different seasons,[430]sometimes being thirty inches, and at others only seven inches, it is perhaps doubtful whether it will ever answer to cultivate American cotton on a large scale, yet excellent samples were obtained from cotton raised on the farms, under the superintendence of Dr. Wight. The attention of Sir William Denison, the present Governor of Madras, has been chiefly directed to the improvement of native cotton, by increasing the length of the staple, and lessening the coarseness of the fibre. It is a well-established fact that "the best seeds make the best breeds,"[431]andSir William Denison proposes to select those seeds to which the largest fibres are attached, to be used for the next crop, and so on in each successive season, the minimum length being increased every year. He believes that, in this way, a permanent addition may be made to the length, and possibly to the fineness of the fibre of the native cotton, which might thus ultimately be able to compete in the English markets with its American rival. Mr. Haywood, the Secretary of the Manchester Cotton Company, on the other hand, strongly urges that attention should be given to the improvement of American cotton. Well-directed efforts in both directions will doubtless be rewarded.
I left Pulladom in the night, and arrived at the large village of Dharapurum in the following morning, a distance of twenty-eight miles. Dharapurum is on the banks of a small river, where there are rice-fields and cocoanut-trees; for wherever there is the means of irrigation, rice is always cultivated. Great quantities of cows and calves swarm along the roads, and in the open spaces of the village, where there are some fine spreading peepul-trees (Ficus religiosa), one of the sacred trees of the Hindus. It has a peculiarly shaped cordate leaf, with a long narrow acumen one-third the length of the leaf, and yellow flowers; and it is venerated from a belief that the god Vishnu was born amongst its branches. Potters' horses, and images of the elephant-headed Ganesa, were placed under the trees, the objects of worship by the villagers, who make offerings of ghee and flowers to them. Literally "an idol under every green tree."
After leaving Dharapurum the road becomes very sandy, and passes over a bleak open country covered with low bushes, on the frontier between the Coimbatore and Madura collectorates. A range of mountains bounded the view to the south. A slow jolting journey of thirty miles brought me to the village of Pulkanooth in Madura.Cholumandlablabwere cultivated in the surrounding fields, and from the top of a ridge of rocks overhanging the village there is an extensive view of open country covered with wavingcholum, and bounded by the broken outline of the Pulney hills. Near the village there is the ruin of a square brick fort, with bastions at the angles, entirely overgrown with bushes. One of the happiest signs of English rule is to be found in the number of ruined forts scattered over the country, once the lurking-places of brutal robbers who extorted half the crops from a wretched peasantry, whose descendants now reap the fruits of their labour in peace.
In taking a walk near Pulkanooth I encountered a marriage procession. First came a man with a drum, then two more with a gong of skin stretched on wooden hoops, then a man with a large game-cock under his arm, then a bullock led by a woman, then four women covered with bracelets and anklets, then a pony ridden by a boy about twelve, with nothing on but a red turban and gold necklace and bracelets, with a little girl about five in front, whom he clasped round the waist; then more men and women, another drum, and lastly a small boy mounted on a large cow. They appeared to have come from a distance, as they stopped to rest under a peepul-tree, by the road-side.
Another night journey took me to the town of Dindigul, a pretty little place at the foot of an isolated mass of primitive rock, whose perpendicular sides are crowned by a dismantled fort, said to have been erected in the days of Dupleix and French ambition, and to have been occupied and long held by Hyder Ali of Mysore. Here the plains are chiefly covered withcholumandcumboo; and between the town and the rock there is a grassy esplanade, a grove of cocoanut and betel-palms, and a neat little temple to Ganesa. Troops of young girls were drawing water from a tank near the esplanade. Their slight graceful figures, supporting chatties ontheir heads, were perfect models of beauty; but they had black ugly faces, flabby ear-lobes, and large studs stuck in their noses. To be admired their backs must be turned.
The Tamil people, who inhabit this part of India, are an exceedingly black and ugly race, and the Brahmins are the only people who have any pretensions whatever to fair skins. On the whole the peasantry in the country between the Neilgherry and Pulney hills appeared to be tolerably well off, and the country was well cultivated, considering the unpropitious climate and poor soil. As is well known, the people in this part of India hold their land by what is called theryotwarrytenure, which is a settlement for the land assessment with each individual ryot or cultivator, without the intervention of any zemindar or renter. The land is made over to the actual cultivator, who is regarded by the Government as the proprietor of the soil, and the arrangement for the payment of land-tax is made directly with him, while he receives assistance by remissions of assessment in unfavourable seasons, and cannot be ejected so long as he pays his dues.
The land is classified as irrigated and un-irrigated, and then according to its different degrees of fertility; and this settlement is permanent so long as the land remains in the same condition. The Collector of each district makes an annual tour of inspection, calledjummabundy, to ascertain the extent to which the Government demand ought to be reduced, owing to particular circumstances of season; but in ordinary times the duty of collection is intrusted to the Tahsildars or native officials, and their subordinates the Sheristadars. These officials, who visited me in the villages through which I passed, appeared intelligent respectable men, and all the younger ones talked English fluently.
Sir Thomas Munro, who was Governor of Madras from 1818 to 1827, established theryotwarrysystem, and since his time the conditions on which the ryots hold their land havebeen made lighter and more advantageous. In 1837 it was enacted that there should be no increase of land-tax on account of the growth of more valuable crops; in 1852 it was ordered that no ryot should pay an additional tax on account of improvements made by himself, causing an increased value;[432]and, during Lord Harris's administration, considerable reductions were made in the land-assessment in nearly all the Madras collectorates. These reductions, independent of the boon conferred on the people, have been attended by the most successful results, in an increasing revenue, and in the extension of the area of cultivation over lands which were formerly waste.
Dindigul is about forty miles from the foot of the ghaut leading up to the Pulney hills, and relays of bullocks were posted for me every seven miles, with a man running in front of the cart with a blazing torch. Passing through the village of Periacolum, round which there are many large tanks and extensive rice cultivation, we reached the jungle at the foot of the Pulney hills at early dawn. The path, which is only practicable for ponies and pack-bullocks, leads up a ravine for half the distance, and then corkscrews up the steep sides of the mountain. The range looks very imposing from the plain, but not equal to the Neilgherries at the foot of the Coonoor ghaut. After resting under a clump of trees I commenced the ascent on foot, driving an unhappy sheep before me, which was to be sacrificed on the summit, where, at this time of the year, there are no residents, no market, and no means of procuring any supplies.
The ascent is exceedingly beautiful, but the undergrowth is thick grass, and the vegetation is not nearly so luxuriant as at similar elevations on the Neilgherries. The trees are chieflyLeguminosæ, and at an elevation of 3000 feet chinchonaceous plants commence, amongst which I observed theHymenodictyon excelsum. At 6000 feet the steep ascent is covered with long grass, and trees are confined to sheltered hollows and ravines. After reaching the plateau it is necessary to scale a second steep grassy slope before arriving at the settlement of Kodakarnal, which is 7230 feet above the level of the sea. Kodakarnal consists of eight houses, built along the crests of undulating hills, and one of the inner slopes is clothed with a wood of fine trees and tree-ferns, from which the Tamil people have named the settlement.[433]Round the houses there are gum-trees.Acacia heterophylla,Cassia glauca, fruit-trees, and hedges of roses and geraniums as at Ootacamund. The houses belong to the officials of the Madura district, the American missionaries, a Mr. Clerk of Madras, and the French priest of Pondicherry, who come here to recruit their healths, and for short intervals of holiday and relaxation.
Mr. Ames, the Sub-Collector at Dindigul, had kindly given me the use of a house which he shared with Mr. Levinge, the Collector of Madura. It has a pleasant garden, whence there is a glorious view of the Madura plains, with their numerous tanks glittering in the sun; and close to the house a torrent of deliciously cold water babbles over huge boulders of rock, and finally leaps in long falls down the face of the cliffs, making a noise at night like the roar of the sea. The house was in charge of a very original old native of low caste, with a large family, named Chenatumby, who is a tolerable gardener, and cultivates his own patch of potatoes. Chenatumby is a devoted Protestant, feels a conscientious horror for the idolatry of the Roman Catholics, and intends to bring up his eldest son as a half-caste, this honour being conferred on him by the simple process of attiring him in a hat and trousers. Old Chenatumby acted as a guide in my walks over the hills, and was very useful.
The Pulney[434]or Varragherry hills, like the Neilgherries further north, branch out in an easterly direction from the main line of the western ghauts. United to a portion of the Anamallay range at their western end, they stretch out into the Madura plains for a distance of fifty-four miles, with a medium breadth of fifteen, and an area of 798 square miles. On the south they rise very abruptly from the plains, presenting, near their summits, a perfect wall of gneiss; but on the north and east they slope down in a succession of broken ridges. The Pulneys are divided into two parts: a lower series of hill and dale to the eastward, called Mailmullay or Kunnundaven, averaging a height of 4000 feet, and covering 231½ square miles, where there are extensive tracts of forest, some cultivation, and several villages; and a loftier region to the westward 6000 to 7500 feet above the sea, with undulating grassy hills and mountain-peaks, the highest of which, Permanallie, attains an elevation of 8000 feet.
The formation is gneiss, interstratified with quartz, and traversed by veins of felspar; and the rock is generally decayed to a considerable depth on the plateau, and disintegrated so as to form a gritty clay. In the eastern part the soil is a light reddish loam; but on the western and loftier half it is very poor, being a heavy black peat several feet thick, with a stiff and plastic yellowish clay as a sub-soil. The rains on the Neilgherry hills have the effect of mixing the decaying grass with the decomposed rock, and a rich soil is thus formed; but on the plateau of the Pulneys this operation does not appear to take place, the one becoming a black peat, and the other a stiff clayey subsoil. These remarks,however, only apply to the interior valleys, for on the outer slopes, overlooking the plains of Madura, there is plenty of good soil, and magnificent forests clothe the mountains at the foot of the perpendicular walls of gneiss which form the southern ridge of the Pulneys.
The climate of the Pulneys, as regards temperature, very closely resembles that of the Neilgherries. At the time of my visit, in the end of November and beginning of December, the season was very late, though there were thick mists and showers of rain every afternoon. This is the time of the north-east monsoon, and the streams swell to torrents after every shower. During the first two months in the year it is very cold, and the ground is often covered with frost on the upper plateau. In March there are light showers of rain, which increase during April and May, and continue, with strong westerly winds, until October. Thus the Pulneys are within the influence of the south-west monsoon.[435]In June and July, the warmest months, the thermometer never falls below 50°, nor rises above 75°; and the westerly winds, with occasional rain, continue during August and September.
The eastern part of the Pulneys, called Kunnundaven, and Poombary, the principal village to the westward, are inhabited by people of the Kunnuver and Karakat Vellaler castes, numbering about two thousand of both sexes. The villages are chiefly on the lower Pulneys, and one which I visited, called Vilputty, was surrounded by terrace cultivation of mustard, garlic,raggee, andkeereeor amaranth. The people also cultivatelablab, limes, oranges, and plantains; and I heard that in one or two villages there were small coffee-gardens. Many low-country natives are also settled on the Pulneys, chiefly men outlawed from their castes; and in the more inaccessibleforests are the Poliars, a race of timid wild men of the woods. Chenatumby told me that they have no habitations of any kind, but run through the jungle from place to place, sleep under rocks, and live on wild honey and roots. The women run with them, like wild goats, their children slung in rows on their hips. The Poliars occasionally trade with the country people, who place cotton and grain on some stone, and the wild creatures, as soon as the strangers are out of sight, take them and put honey in their place, but they will allow no one to come near them.
The undulating hills and valleys of the interior plateau are covered with an aromatic grass (Andropogon), which grows in large coarse tufts, like theStipa ychuin Peru; and it is not until the young tender shoots come out that it affords good pasture for cattle, of which there is a small herd on the hills, belonging to American missionaries and others. The grassy slopes are dotted with tree-Rhododendrons, Gaultherias, Osbeckias, Lobelias, theHypericum Hookerianum, and brake ferns. This upper plateau is admirably adapted for the growth of English fruits and vegetables. In Mr. Levinge's garden there were bushes of Fuchsias, Daturas, roses, and geraniums; and behind the house grew peach, apple, plum, and loquot-trees, strawberries, potatoes, green peas, and artichokes.
Where there are springs or watercourses on the higher range, there are generally fine wooded "sholas" facing inwards, and very extensive tracts of forest on the outer slopes; but the timber, especially teak and black-wood, has been very extensively cut by the people of the hills. I examined asholacalled Minmurdi-karnal near Pattoor, on the south side, another between that and Kodakarnal, and two others, and observed trees of the following genera:—Michelia,Cinnamomum,Dodonæa,Millingtonia,Myrsine,Monocera,Symplocos,Bignonia,Crotalaria,Passiflora,Osbeckia,Jasminum,Hedyotis,Lasianthus,Canthium, andHymenodictyon. Tree-ferns abound near the streams, and in some of the jungles there were trees of enormous size. Early one morning I went with Chenatumby to see the "pillar-rocks," three miles to the westward of Kodakarnal. They consist of grand perpendicular cliffs descending from the grassy heights, with their bases clothed with forest. Two of them are separated by fissures from the main cliff, and have the appearance of gigantic columns. It was altogether a most magnificent sight, with volumes of fleecy clouds rolling up from the low country, and occasional peeps of the far-away plains and glittering tanks through their folds.
The natives have long been in the habit of recklessly felling the most valuable timber, and acres of finesholaused to be annually destroyed to make clearings for plantain and cardamom groves. For the latter, however, only the small trees and underwood are burnt on the Pulneys, the larger trees being left standing. But this wasteful destruction of timber has recently been checked by the authorities, and in 1860 Mr. Spershneider was appointed as overseer of the Pulney forests, with a small staff, to prevent the reckless cutting of timber, and to mark, from year to year, the trees which arrive at sufficient maturity, and are fit to be felled.
I came to the conclusion that in several of the woodedsholasthe chinchona-plant might be cultivated with advantage, theC. Condaminea, and other species which thrive at great elevations, on the upper plateau, and theC. succirubrain Kunnundaven. Mr. Levinge, the Collector of Madura, takes an interest in the experiment, and Mr. Spershneider would be willing to superintend the chinchona plantations; so that, when the undertaking is in a sufficiently advanced stage on the Neilgherry hills to enable Mr. McIvor to distribute plants for cultivation in other parts of India, a number might advantageously be sent to the Pulneys. I understand, too, that it is in contemplation to form a Company for the cultivation of coffee on these hills, in which case it is to be hoped that the extension of the growth of chinchona-plants will be advanced by private enterprise, from motives of humanity as well as with a view to successful commercial speculation.[436]
I did not visit the Anamallay hills, to the south of Coimbatore and westward of the Pulneys, as no planter was as yet established on them, and a considerable time must elapse before they are prepared for the introduction of the chinchona-plant. At the time of my visit no bold clearer of jungles had ventured to invade the domains of the conservators of forests on the Anamallays.
Dr. Cleghorn reports that these hills are under the influence of the south-west monsoon, though not so much so as the Koondahs at Sispara: but I do not find that he gives any detailed account of the amount of moisture in the atmosphere during the winter. The soil is described as deep and covered with rich pasture, streams of water are numerous, there are table-lands 6000 to 7000 feet above the sea, and very fine timber in the ravines. The three hill-tribes, called Kaders, Poliars, and Malsars, trade in cardamoms, turmeric, ginger, honey, wax, resins, soapnuts, and millet. Dr. Cleghorn considers that, from the extent of forest, the resemblance of the flora to that of Ceylon, and the altitude, the Anamallays are suitable for the cultivation of coffee on a large scale, and for colonization of small communities of Englishmen.[437]In thiscase they are also adapted for the growth of chinchona-plants, and their introduction, which will of course be simultaneous with the settlement of Europeans, will be the more beneficial because the lower slopes of the Anamallays are the haunts of fevers. The quinine-yielding trees will confer blessings on those whose duties or interests oblige them to frequent the forests of the Anamallays, while their cultivation will be a remunerative speculation to the settlers on the upper plateau.