458 JOURNEY FROM BOMBAY Chap. XXVIT. 



CHAPTEE XXVIl. 



THE MAHABALESHWUR HILLS AND THE DECCAN. 



Journey from Bombay to Malcolm-penth — The Mahabaleshwur Hills — The 

 village and its temples — Elevation of the hills — Formation — Soil — 

 Climate — Vegetation — Sites for chinchona-plantations — Paunchgunny 



— Waee — Its temples — The babool-tree — Shirwul — The village system 



— Village ofiScials — BaiTa balloota — Cultivators — Festivals — Crops and 

 harvests — Poena — The Bhore ghaut — Return to Bombay. 



The districts best adapted for the cultivation of chinchona- 

 plants are those in the southern part of the peninsula, at 

 suitable elevations, which receive moisture from both mon- 

 soons. The Neilgherry hills are the centre of these hill 

 districts, and as we advance further from that nucleus in a 

 northerly direction the rainfall from the south-west monsoon 

 becomes heavier, while the climate of the winter, when 

 easterly winds are blowing, increases in dryness. In 14° N. 

 lat. the hills of Nuggur sink down into the plains of Dharwar, 

 and from that point to the Mahabaleshwur hills in 18° N. 

 there are few parts of the western ghauts which attain a 

 sufficient elevation for the successful growth of chinchona- 

 plants.^ 



The Mahabaleshwurs, however, are upwards of 4000 feet 

 above the sea, and it was therefore possible that they might 

 present localities suitable for chiuchona cultivation. In 

 February 1861 I started from the Mazagon bunder, at 

 Bombay, in a bunder-boat, for the pm*pose of examining 

 these hills, and, crossing the harbour, coasted for a short 

 distance along the shores of the Concan, and then sailed up 



' In lat. 15° N. the western ghauts are not more than 1100 feet above the 

 sea. 



