38 MANUAL OF THE NILAGIRI DISTRICT. 



CHAP. IV, from 8 to 9 degrees at Ootacamand, and from 12 to 15 degrees at 

 PART I. Wellington throughout the year, in the middle of the day, as 

 Cli™, &c. against 28 degrees in London. 

 ^, , As already stated a vast amount of diligent inquiry has been 



Thermomet- -^ /> i i rrn • x-u 



rical and bestowed on the meteorology oi the plateau, ihe scientmc 



barometrical ^^lue, however, of such observations is by no means commen- 



observations. ' ' -,•,■,•, , 



surate with the labor bestowed thereon, as they were not 



conducted on system, or carried on with identical or relatively- 

 adjusted instruments. To supply this defect in accordance with 

 the expressed wish of the Honorable Court of Directors, the 

 Madras Government, during the reign of the Marquis of 

 Tweeddale, allotted funds for the establishment of an Observatory. 

 Doddabetta The summit of Doddabetta^ was chosen as farthest removed from 

 Observatory, (jigt^rbing local conditions affecting the air currents and temper- 

 ature, &c., and in 1846 a plain binck-building was erected there. 

 Instruments were provided from England for the new institution, 

 which was placed under the general control of Mr. T. G. Taylor, 

 the H. C. Astronomer, Madras, with an Assistant or Writer, and 

 a Lascar on the spot. Observations were begun in 1847 and 

 continued till May 1859. The observations, however, were 

 published till 1855, but I have seen those for the first three years 

 only. A discussion on the results will be found in a paper by 

 Colonel Sykes, f.r.s., in the Philosophical Transactions of the 

 Eoyal Society, Part II, 1850. This experiment eventually 

 proved a failure from various causes. The thermometric obser- 

 vations are not to be relied on, but those of the atmospheric 

 pressure and rainfall, though not accurate, are, Mr. Pogson informs 

 me, less open to suspicion. 

 Wellington Some years after the closing of the Doddabetta Observatory, 



Observatory, another was established at Wellington under G.O., 27th August 



1866, and is in the charge of the Cantonment Surgeon. 

 Meteorologi- The following comparative tables exhibit the thermometrical 

 cal tables. ^^^ barometrical conditions of Ootacamand, Wellington, and 

 K6tagiri : — 



* About 50 miles from the sea on the west and 240 on the east. 



