314 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[October i, 1882; 



on llie High Ranges of Travancore." For several 

 years afterwards he and other sportsmen were in the 

 hiibii of resorting to these high ranges for bison and 

 ibex shooting', wliich was, and is still, to be had there iu 

 great excellenc". 80 it came to pass, as has been tlie 

 case with so uinny planting districts in the world, that 

 the lands that attracted the sportsman by-aud-bye 

 came to be desired by the planter, who now hangs up 

 his riti" and telescope in the corner of his bungalow 

 which he has built among his cincliouas and his tea 

 bushes . 



The salubrity of the tract made it desirable as a 

 place of abod-!. Twenty years ago, no one thought 

 about coudamineas and pubescens, and the tea industry 

 was af. a discount in India. So these high ranges, 

 with their magniticent forests, were let alone as being 

 at too high an elevation for coffee, and it was not untd 

 the cinchona mania set in strong (about 5 or 6 years 

 ago) tliat the forests at 6,000 and 7,000 feet were sought 

 after. 



The tract of uplands known as the Kannan Devau 

 Hills, now the property of the North Travancore Land 

 Society, lies between the Anaimali HUls of Coimbatore 

 and the Pnlney Hills of Madura, connecting those two 

 ranges, like fin elbow-joint, in uninterrupted sequence 

 of elevation. Thus, a charming expedition can be made 

 from Kodekaual on the latter mountains along a 

 mountain path into the Kaunan Devans, 9s far 

 asthe ilbow-joint at Munaar, and thence north into 

 Michaels valley in the Coimbatore Anaimalais, de- 

 scending to PoUachy, which is within a night's journey 

 of the Madras railway. The expedition from Kode- 

 kanal to Micl}aer8 Valley could be done in about ten 

 days' easy marching. February is the time to choose. 

 The whole journey lies along grassy plateaux and val- 

 leys and over shoulders of bills, with hardly an inch of 

 jungle and between 5,000 and 7,000 feet above sea- 

 level. The cold is considerable at night, and frost 

 could be lound in many of the valleys. 



The possessions of the Society, including forest 

 and grass laud, rocks and mountains, are taken to 

 exceed 100,000 acres iu extent, and there is, per- 

 haps, 30,000 acres of virgin forest within the bound- 

 aries. On the west, the forest runs from 5,000 

 feet down to 750 feet above sea-level, and it is 

 on that side unbroken in extent, the rainfall there 

 being upwards of 120 inches per antmm. The further 

 east we go, the higher the country beeomes, culmin- 

 ating in several lofty mountains over 8,000 feet high, 

 the slopes and valleys of which are now clothed with 

 dense sholas, now open grass, accordiug to the expos- 

 ure, and .a shelter from the S. W. & N. E. monsoons — 

 120 inches, 100 inches, SO inches — marking the gradual 

 arrest ot the western monsoou as we get east of 

 those giaut liiUs which bar its advance. Among 

 these hills, on the plateaux, in and along the ele\ ated 

 valleys, lie the souices of a branch of the Roryar 

 and of the Amravati, a feeder of the Kftvari, The 

 plateaux, where the Amravati rises, is within the 

 Society's boundary. General Douglas Hamilton first 

 visited and described this place. This is acuiions place 

 — a Inrge and wide plateau of grassy downs, .some 

 miles iu area, 7,000 feet above sea level ; iu the midst 

 of this is a lagoon, ted by the drainage of the swamps 

 at the foot of the downs. This lagoon is about a 

 mile long, and several feet deep, full of the purest 

 water in the world, banked back by a ledge of rock 

 over which the excess water pours into another tortu- 

 ous lagoon, which is also banked up by another 

 ledge of rock, down over which the water pours in 

 a cascade several hundred feet deep into Turner's 

 Valley. There it pursues its course, meandering along 

 a channel fringed with the most lovely rhndodondron 

 trees, which in January aie in full bloom, till 

 it falls over into the Calliar Valley and then 

 into Anjinad and so u.i to the Coimb.itore dis- 

 trict. Soma attention has recently been directed 



to a hill-station in South Travancore, which may be 

 good enough in itself, but for a true hill smatarium 

 the place is Hamilton plateau. Without any doubt, 

 it is the finest place in South India for a hilltovvn, 

 and, if the Maharaja of Travancore desires to found 

 such a town, I hope he will call for information 

 concerning Hamilton plateau before he commits 

 himself to some contracted minor elevation on the 

 Asamboos. Its extent, its eceuery, the lovely walks 

 that could be constructed to the top of Anaminudi 

 8,800 feet, to the top ot Kanthamallai 8,100 feet, 

 Vagawunai S.OOO feet, with its lagoons, its waterfalls, 

 its rhododendrons, wanting but a few plantations of 

 trees such as have been successful on the Neilgheries 

 to screen it during the S. W. monsoon, are certain 

 to ensure its being taken up some day when it be- 

 comes accessible to the arteries of communication. 

 The Society, however, have fixed their headquarters 

 at Devicolum on the southern edge of their territory, 

 because of its proximity to the plains of tht Madura 

 district, with which it is connected by a bridle- 

 path 20 miles long to the town of Bodenaiknur 

 16 miles west of Pereacolum, the headquarters of a 

 Tahsildar and 26 miles from the S. I. R. station of 

 Ammanaiknur, which is a night's run from Tuticorin. 

 Devicolum, where there is a post-office, is 6,000 

 feet above sea-level, and here the Society have clear- 

 ings over 300 acres in extent, and within 2 and 3 

 miles private estates are being opened, all of cin- 

 chona officinalis raised from Dodabetta seed. To those 

 who understand such matters, it will be sufficient 

 to say that the two-year old cinchona is from 5 

 feet to 8 feet high and the same number ot inches 

 in circumference, while one-year old plants are 3 

 feet and 4 feet. The total number planted out in 

 the clearings must be over 7 lacs : IJ lacs 2-year 

 old, 2^ lacs 1-year old and 3 lacs just planted. 

 Here also are a few of the so-called pubescens which 

 rear their heads high above their condammean brethren. 

 There seems to be no difficulty about coolies ; kan- 

 ganies come up from M'ldura and Tinnevelly with 

 gangs ; contractors for felling and picking are abundant 

 and not- more evasive than the raco is in other centres 

 ot planting enterprize ; and carpenters find their way 

 across from Cochin and stay up readily enough till 

 the monsoou bursts. Virgin forest land in this Devi- 

 colum district is now selling at 30 to 40 rupees an acre. 

 Besides the Devicolum district thfre are three others 

 where operations hive been commenced either by 

 the Society or by private plauters. The three dis- 

 tricts are Alanjmied on the east, adjoining the 

 Pulneys, where there is a large tract of forest some 

 6,000 to 7,000 feet high. 



The rainfall is somewhat less at Alanjimed than at 

 Devicolum, but the fine mountain Karrincolnm over 

 8,000 feet high arrests a great deal ot moisture-laden 

 clouds, which oond'uses into rain along its slopes, 

 and has caused a very excellent forest growth. There 

 is a fine plateau on the summit ot this mountain, 

 higher I sutpect than any plateau ot extent in South 

 India. It abounds with water, two or three very 

 considerable streams falling down over its sides into 

 the valleys below. It is well worth visiting, and 

 occasionally a good suddle-back may be found along 

 with the herd of doe ibex which the Society rigor- 

 ously preserve on th'S mountain. 



From Devicolum au excellent bridle-path some 

 miles long leads to Alunaar, where the Society have 

 opened 170 acres of forest laud in tea, coffee and 

 cinchona. This is all two years old. The cinchona 

 (officinalis) is of good growth, and there is a promis- 

 ing show of berries in the coffee bushes, while the 

 tea bushes are already yielding a virgin crop. The elev- 

 ation on this side is 4,800 feet and here the unbroken 

 forest commences which clothes the whole western 

 edge of the Kannan Devans. The cardamom is indigen- 



