20 



MANUAL OF THE NILAGIEI DISTRICT. 



CHAP. II. 



General 

 Descripi'ion. 



tlie eastj and Temale ^ Estate on the south. Another road, though 

 not complete, leads in the direction of the country to the south 

 and east of the Avalanche. 



Half way between Coonoor and Ootacamand a road strikes ofEl 

 to Kateri on the south, whence branch three lines, — the first 

 traverses the Kolakambe coffee district, a second runs along the 

 southern escarpment of the Drug range, the third leads down the! 

 Kateri Valley to the Coonoor Ghdt. These roads are all suitable 

 for wheeled traffic, but are not bridged throughout. Moreover, 

 the Drug road, though sanctioned, has not yet been completed. 

 A road connecting Melkunda with Kateri is also projected. 

 Coonoor and Wellington are connected with Kdtagiri by a good 

 road bridged throughout. There is an extension to the Kodanad 

 district to the north. The road to Gudalur crosses the Paikare 

 river by a good bridge with masonry piers. It was constnicted 

 in the year 1857. At the summit of the range, two or three miles 

 from Paikare a road branches away to the north, communicating 

 with coffee and cinchona estates on the slopes to the east of the 

 Paikare Falls. 



The following table gives the trunk and subordinate lines of 

 district roads, with mileage — these lines are marked in the plane 

 map attached. Over and above these roads the whole plateau is 

 traversed in every direction by a network of paths connecting 

 village with village, or these with the main road lines. Except 

 in a few precipitous localities they may be used as bridle-paths : — 



Roads — Trunk and District. 



' i.e., God's hill. Td or tdvan (Tarn.) God, and malei, a hill. By some the 

 name is pronounced Taimale, i.e., the hill of the mother goddess— Durga or 

 Bhavani— from tai (Tarn.), mother. 



