250 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XV. 



ing the Cardamom Hills with an average height of 4,500 feet ; (2) the 

 Kanan Devan Hills or high range, more open in character and with 

 an average height of 6,500 feet ; (3) the low country except the extreme 

 south ; (4) the low country about and within twenty miles of Capo 

 Comorin. 



The First District. 

 The chain of hills for the first half of its length, that is from Cape 

 Comorin to the Achankovil Gap, rises rather abruptly from the level of 

 the low country and consists merely of a single ridge with outlying 

 spurs. Its average height is 4,100 feet, and only two of the peaks- 

 reach 5,000, Agastia being 6,200 feet, while Mahindragherry is 5,500. 

 The first forty miles of the range from Cape Comorin are known as 

 the Ashambu Hills and include the second of the two peaks mentioned. 

 The next part is not known by any general name, but includes Agas- 

 tia (6,200 feet), Chimunji (4,800 feet) and Ponmudi, a grass hill (3,500 

 feet high). It ends at the Ariankavu Pjiss 1,210 feet high. About eight 

 miles further north is the Achankovil Pass about 1,470 feet high ; a 

 strong ridge 2,000 feet to 3,000 feet separates the two valleys. From 

 base to summit the hills of this part of the range are covered with a 

 dense growth of evergreen forest, and there is very little grass, in fact 

 it only grows on some of the outlying spurs and on the more exposed 

 ridges. In some instances, too, land which had been under forest and 

 had been cleared for coffee cultivation is now overgrown with grass. 

 From the Achankovil Pass the ridge gradually rises and widens till it 

 forms at an elevation of 3,100 feet, a tableland of forest which stretches 

 for about fifteen miles and is known as the Panthalam Hills. Its charac- 

 ter then changes, and there is instead of continuous forest a grass- 

 covered plateau with scattered patches of forest at about the same 

 elevation ; this district is known as Pirmerd, and here there are many 

 tea estates. This plateau extends some forty miles to the Cardamom 

 Hills. These are clothed again with forest, and there is a continuous 

 chain of cardamom gardens. It is a most beautiful part of the range, 

 as all the grand old forest trees are left standing and only the under- 

 growth and smaller trees are cleared away, so that you can walk for 

 miles in more or less open forest and can see for a considerable dis- 

 tance on either side of the path. It is a great place for birds, and one 

 of the few where the great Black Woodpecker is commonly seen. In 

 the Assambu Hills the rainfall is from 80 to 100 inches, at Ponmudi 

 it is 180, and at Pirmerd it is over 200. All over this part of the 



