29(1 



PRELIMINARY NOTES OX A RECENT BOTANICAL 

 TOUR TO THE HIGH WAVY MOUNTAIN 



(S. INDIA). 



BY 



E. Blattek, S. J., AND Pkof. F. Halldekg. 



Early this year we asked Major Gage, the Director of the Botanical 

 Survey of India, to suggest a spot which was not known botanically. It so 

 happened that he was just touring in S. India, looking out for land suitable 

 for cinchona plantations, and he had visited the higher levels of most moun- 

 tains of S. India. He advised us to pay a visit to the High Wavy Moun- 

 tain, provided we were ready t<> rough it. As to the latter point there 

 was not the slightest reluctance on our part: but before we start on a 

 tour, we always like to know, at least approximately, the geographical 

 [lositiou of the country to be visited. So far we knew we had to go south ; 

 Lut this was about all. We consulted the Imperial Gazetteer, but the 

 High Wavy Mountain was not to be found, and the sheets of the Atlas 

 volume are not on a sufficiently large scale to contain many of those multi- 

 syllabic names of the Tamil language. We procured the latest Survey 

 maps of S. India, and on one of them we came across the name of the High 

 Wavy Mountain. But the contours were not given. There was only a 

 blank space with the following words printed in it : " High W^avj' Mountain, 

 forming the source of the Shurly, overrun with dark impenetrable forest." 

 That much at least was sure that the mountain in question was situated 

 in the south-western corner of Madura District, on the frontier of Travan- 

 core. We expected more detailed inforjuation from the District Gazetteer 

 i)f Madura ; but we were sadlj' disappointed. The essence of all the infor- 

 mation derived from it may^ be expressed in the Gazetteer's own words : 

 •• The High Wavy is the least known part of the hills of Madura, and is 

 infested with elephants." If Major (iage had not indicated the route we 

 had to take, 1 am afraid we should still be in search of the High W^avy 

 Mountain. We left Bombay at the beginnuig of Ma^^ accompanied by 

 Mr. Almeida, Assistant Professor of Biology at St. Xavier's College, who 

 was expected to pay special attention to the ferns, Mr. Prater of the Bom- 

 bay Natural History Society who was sent as collector for the Mammal 

 Survey, and Mr. Vakil who intended to collect the fungi and lichens of 

 that area. In Madras we made a last attempt to get a good map of the 

 country we were to examine. All we were able to i^rocure was the Madura 

 District map (without hills) for the use of touring Officers. AVe continued 

 our railway journey down to Amraayanj'^akkauur, perhaps better known 

 under the name of Kodaikanal Koad Station. Here we bought oar provisions: 

 a sack of rice, flour, salt, pepper, cofl'ee and sugar. We had to do (iO miles 

 in a bullock cart before we could expect to reach Kambam, a small town at 

 the foot of the High Wavy. Our road first went due west to Perij'^akulam, 

 a town south of the Palni Hills. From there we entered the Kambam 

 Valley in a south-western direction, walled in on both sides by high pre- 

 cipitous mountains. To the right we had the continuation of the Palni 

 Hills, the so-called Cardamom Hills, and to the left the Varushanad and 

 Andipatti Kange, an outlier of the Western Ghats. We did the journey in 

 '24 hours, without a break. We were not sorry when we arrived at Kam- 

 bam and M'ere allowed to have a day",s rest at the Forest Hanger's Office, 

 which Mr. Jackson, the Conservator of Forests, had kindly put at our 



isposal. 

 To the east of Kambam a beautiful waterfall is visible in the upper third 

 <>f a high mountain. This was pointed out to us as the river that drains 

 the High Wavy. At last we had got a glimi>se of the mountain that nobody 



