112 THE NKIL(iHKilI!IKS. 



in the shape of china, ghxss, cutlery, and kitchen 

 utensils. Living at Bangaloi-e is not expensive, and 

 the hire of a carriage and pair, including coachman 

 and groom, is only 150 rupees per month. Every 

 morning I strolled down to the Botanical garden, 

 which seemed to produce fresh flowers with a mar- 

 vellous rapidity, and it was impossible to tire of those 

 shady avenues of palms and other fine trees, or of the 

 pretty hedges of scarlet hibiscus. Besides, there is 

 quite a menagerie of wild beasts in strong iron cages, 

 from a rhinoceros and lion, down to a little kingfisher, 

 which I liked to watch during feeding time. 



The Neilgherries (Nilgiris, new spelling) or Blue 

 Mountains, are now reached in comparative comfort, 

 and it is only the latter portion, the climbing to the 

 summit of the gorge, which has to be done on a pony, 

 on foot, or in a palki. Although there are nearly a 

 dozen hotels at Uty, besides a great number of 

 bungalows nestling among tree-covered terraces, there 

 is difficulty in securing a bed during the hot season, 

 unless ordered beforehand. These hills are situated in 

 northern latitude 11,30° and longitude 11°; they are 

 a nearly isolated granite group of triangular shape, with 

 its base, about forty miles long, facing the Malabar coast, 

 and of an average breadth of fifteen miles, connected 



