Chap. XXI. SISPARA GHAUT. 355 



height of about fifty feet, with handsome spreading branches, 

 and pinnate leaves. The timber is very valuable ; it is exten- 

 sively used in Bombay for making beautiful carved furniture, 

 and planks are sometimes obtained four feet broad, after the 

 sap-wood has been removed. In consequence of the in- 

 creasing price, Dr. Cleghorn, the able and energetic Conser- 

 vator of Forests in the Madras Presidency, has caused a 

 number of seedlings to be planted at Nellamboor ; and 

 plantations have also been formed in N. Canara and Mysore. 



The occasional openings in the forests, at turns in the 

 road, afforded us views of the mountains below us covered 

 with the richest vegetation, and of the rice-fields of 

 Malabar stretching away to the faintly indicated blending 

 of sea and haze on the horizon ; which almost equalled 

 in beauty the finest parts of the eastern Andes. From 

 about 1000 to 5000 feet above the sea the jungle is 

 covered with innumerable leeches, which eagerly fasten 

 on their prey, whether men, horses, or dogs, and make a 

 journey through this region, in the wet season, exceedingly 

 disagreeable. Within this leech-zone there is a consider- 

 able clearing called Walla-ghaut, planted with coffee, which 

 is in a ruinous and abandoned state, chiefly owing to the 

 difficulty of inducing labom'ers to venture among the leeches. 

 As we continued the ascent, the scenery increased in mag- 

 nificence, the views became more extensive, and there were 

 mountain-tops crowned with glorious forest trees far below 

 us. At 6000 feet mosses appear, then lilies, brambles, and 

 wild strawberries, and occasionally we crossed noisy little 

 streams overshadowed by the trees. We reached the Sispara _ \ 

 bungalow, on the summit of the ghaut, 6742 feet above the 

 level of the sea, late in the afternoon. 



The Sispara ghaut takes the traveller from the tropical 

 plains to the temperate climate of the hills, where the face of 

 natin-e is entirelv changed. Here the hills are covered with 



2 A 2 



