384 SITES FOR CHINCHONA PLANTATIONS : Chap. XXITT. 



The most extensive operations must, however, necessarily 

 be carried on at much lower elevations, where the C. suc- 

 cirubra, the species richest in febrifugal alkaloids, will 

 flourish best, and where vast unoccupied forests afford space 

 for plantations on a large scale. A northern aspect is the one 

 best adapted for the vigorous growth of trees on the Neil- 

 gherry hills, and we, therefore, proceeded to examine the 

 forest-covered slopes overlooking the table-lands of Wynaad 

 and Mysore, for a site for the lower chinchona plantation. 

 We started from Ootacamund early one November morning, 

 and rode across the central plateau of the hills, consisting of 

 rounded grassy undulations, intersected by wooded sholas. In 

 some of the hollows the streams had formed large swamps, 

 where there were extensive deposits of peat. The traveller's 

 bungalow of Pycarrah, the first on the road towards Wynaad, 

 is ten miles from Ootacamund, on the banks of a river of 

 the same name. Several huge boulders of syenite obstruct 

 the stream and cause it to foam noisily round them, and 

 the wet stones were covered with Podostemads, herbaceous 

 branched floating plants, with the habit of liverworts. We 

 saw several otters playing in the water, and peering at us 

 from behind the rocks. Six miles beyond Pycarrah is the 

 bungalow of Neddiwuttum, on the edge of the rapid descent 

 into Wynaad, and the road descends from the upland slopes 

 through a jungle where the ferns first a23pear, and maiden- 

 hair, ceterach, and other ferns grow by the roadside. Some 

 garden marigolds from England had been planted near the 

 Neddiwuttum bungalow, and they had spread themselves 

 in masses over the adjacent slopes. 



The tract of forest land which we came to examine is close 

 to the bungalow, and from the grassy hill above it there is 

 a glorious view of Wynaad, and of the plains of Mysore, 

 stretching away to the horizon. Here the mountains sink 

 abruptly down to the Wynaad table-land, and the Moyaar 



