MANUAL OF THE NILAGIRI DISTRICT. 



19 



Coimbatore. There was also another path more direct to CllAP^lI. 

 Coimbatore from Sundapatte. The pass reaches the summit of general 

 the ghat below the hill called Siindabetta, not far from the De scripti on. 

 village of Melur. It is little used now except by the hill people ; 

 but at one time there was a good deal of passenger traffic by it, 

 the road across the plateau to Ootacamand being good. It 

 was also once much used by tobacco-smugglers. The abandon- 

 ment of this line was probably chiefly due to the rapid growth in 

 public favor of Coonoor, both as a resort for invalids and as a 

 good field for coffee cultivation. There was also another ghdt to 

 the west of this, known as the Tallapoya Pass. Leaving the low- 

 land at a point on the Bliavani some distance above Siindaputte, 

 it reaches the plateau near Melkunda. It appears to have been 

 used solely by the hill people. 



This pass, which was begun in 1832 and completed in 1838, the — Sisapdraor 

 pioneers being employed for the work, was once used as the 

 tappal ^ line between Ootacamand and the West Coast. It was, 

 however, finally abandoned, owing to the severity of the climate of 

 the Kiindas. It was traced by Lieutenant LeHardy, the tracer of 

 the Coonoor Ghdt. The pass begins at Sholakal in Nellambur 

 at the base of the Hills, ascends through a wooded ravine for a 

 distance of eleven miles and a half to the crest of the Kundas 

 at Sisap^ra (6,742 feet above the sea). From this point to 

 Ootacamand the distance is thirty-one miles and a half ; from 

 Sholakal to Wiindiir ten miles, and from thence to Arriakod, on 

 the Beypur river, fourteen miles and a half. The gradient in parts 

 is very steep. The view from the head of the pass, with the tower- 

 like Sisapara rock on the right, is perhaps the grandest on the 

 Hills. There was formerly a bungalow at this spot, but it was 

 burnt down some years ago, and has not been rebuilt. 



Ootacamand is the centre of the road system of the district. Plateau 

 From it branch roads to the several ghdts already described, but °* ^' 

 of these the roads to the Coonoor and Segur Passes only are 

 metalled and suitable for heavy traffic at all seasons of the year. 

 The road to Giidalur is only metalled in parts, though bridged 

 throughout. The road to Sisapara wasforraei^ly traversable by carts 

 as far as the Avalanche, but is no longer so. The road to Kotagiri 

 crosses Doddabetta and follows a spur of this range until it reaches 

 the main road leading from Kotagiri to Coonoor. In its present 

 state wheeled vehicles cannot traverse it, and carriages have to 

 make a circuit by Wellington. Besides the roads mentioned 

 there is a driving road from Ootacamand to Devashola on the 

 south, whence an extension, more or less complete, to Kateri on 



Tost. 



