V 



16 



MANUAL OF THE NILAGIRI DISTRICT. 



CHAP. II. 



GeneraI/ 



DeSCRIPTIOJ' 



Stations. 



Ghdts and 

 Hill Passes. 



-K<5tagiii 



The stations are Ootacamand, Coonoor, Wellington, and 

 Kotagiri. Full particulars regarding them will be found in a 

 later chapter. I would, however, here remark that the station of 

 Kotagiri, strictly speaking, is not a civil station, as for magis- 

 terial, revenue, civil, and police purposes it is an appendage of 

 Coonoor. 



The Passes to the Hills, of which six deserve notice from their 

 importance, have generally followed, though far from closely, the 

 tracks which were in existence long before Europeans visited the 

 Hills. Of the six Passes, two, viz., Coonoor and Kotagiri, are on 

 the east or south-east angle of the plateau, and terminate at 

 Mettapollium in the Coimbatore District, a small town situate to 

 the south of the Bhavani river, and the present terminus of that 

 section of the Madras Kail way which branches off at Pothanur 

 in the direction of the Nilagiris. It is 94.2 feet above the sea. 

 At the north-west and south-west angles of the plateau are the 

 Gudalur and the Sisapara or Kunda Ghats, the former communi- 

 cating with Wainad and the northern portion of Malabar, the 

 latter the direct route to Calicut. On the north, communicating 

 with Mysore and Bangalore, is the Segur Pass. On the souths 

 the now almost deserted passage known as the Melur Pass. 



Of the lines above mentioned the Coonoor (new), the Gudalur 

 (new), the Kotagiri (new), and the Segur ghdts are open to wheel- 

 traffic. I proceed to give a more detailed account of each. 



There are two lines of road, known as the Old and New Ghdts. 

 The Old Ghat was the first road cut by Government for the 

 ascent to the Hills. It was completed in 1822 — a Corps of 

 Pioneers having carried out the work. Originally it started 

 from Srimugai, a village on the Bhavdni, two or three miles to the 

 north of Mettapollium. Its destination was the early sanitarium 

 at Dimhatti, above Kotagiri. The distance from Srimugai to 

 Dimhatti is reported to be sixteen miles ; from thence to Oota- 

 camand by the nearest track eleven; in all twenty-seven miles. 

 This line was originally much used by persons proceeding to the 

 Hills from the southern and eastern districts of the Presidency, 

 but was finally deserted by through-passengers after the comple- 

 tion of the Coonoor Pass. Subsequent to the opening of this 

 line the point of departure was changed from Srimugai to the 

 Bhavani bridge near Mettapollium. The lower portion of the 

 ascent was up a spur of the Hills, which stretches out a consider- 

 able distance into the plain towards Mettapollium, and then up 

 the south side of the gorge of the Erkad river. The ascent was 

 generally easy, until within the last few miles of Kotagiri. 

 The New Ghdt,— which was aligned and constructed by Major 

 Morant, R.E., District Engineer, the work having been begun in 



