48 MANUAL or THE NlLAGIRI DISTRICT. 



CHAP. IV, The principal station, Ootacamand, is about 7,400 feet above 



PART II. the level of the sea. It is situated in the centre of the Nilagiri 



Physical and range, and from its elevation it is the coldest of the stations. It 



Medical ^g located in an extensive valley, which permits of the free course 



' ■ of the winds, and which is suflficiently inclined to allow of good 



Station of natural drainage from every part of it. It is enclosed on all sides 



Ootacaman . ^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^ ^^ ^ ^^^^^ range of hills. In the west centre of 



the station an artificial lake has been formed. Its western posi- 

 tion and its unsheltered western aspect expose it more than 

 either Coonoor or Kotagiri to the force of the south-west mon- 

 soon, which is broken only by the Kundas, situated about 15 

 miles off. 

 Sanitary The Sanitary condition of Ootacamand is defective. It has now 



of'theitotion ^een occupied for fifty-five years, during the last twenty-five years 

 " of which successive Medical Ofiicers have not failed to point out 

 dangers from the neglect of sanitation. For several years past the 

 Municipal Commission, established in 1 868, has been doing much 

 towards checking the evils resulting from previous neglect, but 

 the funds at their disposal have not been sufficient to carry out 

 sanitary works of any magnitude, such as a drainage system, or 

 adequate water-supply. It says much for the natural salubrity 

 of the station that it has so long remained comparatively free from 

 serious endemic disease, but the experience of the famine year 

 shows that a similar immunity cannot be calculated upon for the 

 future. For years past the occurrence of occasional cases of 

 typhoid fever of local origin point to the likelihood of further 

 serious results from neglect of sanitary laws. 

 Water-supply The chief water-supplies of Ootacamand are brought by open 

 of Ootaca- channels from tolerably pure sources situated at a considerable 

 distance from the centre of the station, but it is obvious that water 

 conveyed through a town by this means must be liable to pollution 

 in a variety of ways. It should therefore be invariably boiled and 

 filtered before use, but it would be better if water for drinking 

 purposes were pi'ocured from some of the numerous spinugs. 

 The water of the lake at Ootacamand is not likely to be used fur 

 domestic purposes by Europeans, but it is well to repeat that, 

 being the receptacle for all the natural and artificial drainage of 

 the station of Ootacamand, including the native bazaar, its water 

 must be polluted in no ordinary degree. 

 Climate. The climate of Ootacamand for the greater portion of the year 



is decidedly salubrious. The air is pure and bracing, and has 

 a sensible effect in exhilarating the spirits and increasing the 

 disposition to exercise. Inconvenience is seldom experienced 

 under great or unusual exertion, and languor or lassitude arc 

 never felt as in the sultry plains of India. 



