280 



MANUAL OF THE NTLAGIRI DISTRICT. 



Recent 

 History. 



Mr. John 

 Sullivan's 

 exploration 



CHAP. XII. During the five years that followed I have not been able to 

 trace any special notes on the Nilagiris^ but with the year 1818 

 began the history of the European occupation and colonization 

 of the plateau. 



Early in 1818 two gentlemen ^ on a few weeks' leave visited 

 the hills for ' shikar ;' they ascended apparently by the old 

 Devanaikenkota path by Tenad and Kil-Kotagiri, south of Ranga- 

 sdmi^s Peak, having slept a night en route near some Irula villages, 

 still existing. They proceeded to Kotagiri, and on their return 

 to Coimbatore, having " surprised their friends by the account 

 they gave of it, particularly of the extreme coldness of the 

 climate,'' a party was formed, who set out to repeat the tour on 

 the 2nd January 1819. A long account of their tour will be 

 found in the letter to the Editor of the Government Gazette, 

 dated 30th January 1819, printed in the appendix. Of this 

 party Mr. John Sullivan, Collector of Coimbatore, appears to 

 have been one, and it is to the energy and enthusiasm of this friend 

 of the native that we owe the final colonization of the hills. 

 Mr. Sullivan, Mr. Thomas informs me, ascended by a narrow hill- 

 path used by Irulas, and pitched his tent in the sheltered valley of 

 Dimhatti near Kotagiri. He soon returned to Coimbatore, but 

 again ascended the hills in May in company with the celebrated 

 naturalist Leschenault de la Tour, who was completely restored 

 to health by a residence here of a few months. 



Mr. Sullivan, with characteristic energy and consideration for 

 the people, in his first letter to the Board of Revenue, dated 6th 

 March 1819, requests that a rough survey of the lands may be 

 made, as " the inhabitants are extremely anxious to have their 

 lands measured, under an idea that they are paying more than 

 they ought to do.-" He incidentally remarks that surveyors had 

 been sent to this tract " commonly known by the name of 

 Neilgherry Hills " in 1800-1, but that " owing to the extreme 

 inclemency of the climate" the surveyors were frightened, measured 

 not an acre, and contented themselves with " making an estimate 

 of the quantity and quality of the land, and fixing the old 

 rates of teerwa upon it," ^ which, he adds, were " extremely 

 favorable to the ryots." Rupees 800 was the estimate for the work, 



^ Mr. E. B. Thomas, for many years Collector of Coimbatore, and whose 

 personal acquaintance with the hills extends back to 1827, informs me that their 

 names were Kindersley and Whish, Assistants to the Collector of Coimbatore ; hnt 

 I have not found the names mentioned in contemporary papers. In Jervis's book 

 these names appear, but he states that they ascended in pursuit of a Poligar who 

 had maltreated bis ryots, and sought to escape the strong arm of the law in these 

 hills. Another account is that they followed smugglers.— (Baikie.) 



2 He gives the revenue of the hills for twenty years ending 1819, which will 

 be found in Chapter XIII. 



