282 



MANUAL OF THE NILAGIRI DISTRICT. 



Recent 

 History. 



CHAP. XII. sufficient to prevent the escape of any person working under the 

 officer." His enthusiastic faith — a faith which succeeding years 

 have proved to have been well founded — in the climate, which he 

 tells us elsewhere did more to restore him to perfect health than 

 a voyage to the Cape, finds expression in this letter. 



" There is no Asiatic or African climate known to us (with the 

 exception of that of the Nepaul mountains) so cool and equal throughout 

 the year as the Neilgherries, and I have no doubt, when the road is 

 made accessible and a medical man is stationed there, these mountains 

 will become the general resort for invalids instead of the Cape and the 

 Isle of France." 

 And further : 



*' My own mind is strongly impressed with the important results 

 which may follow from the discovery of this country as affording an 

 excellent asylum for invalids, both ofiB.cers and soldiers. * * * It is 

 literally true that out of the sun heat is not known on the mountains in 

 any one month of the year. The soil is remarkably fertile, wheat and 

 barley are already cultivated, and many of the European fruits grow 

 wild and only require culture to attain perfection." 



This latter prophecy has not been fulfilled, and even Mr. SuUivan 

 had some fear that his readers would hold his fancy more lively^ 

 than it ought to have been in the picture he had drawn, and so 

 appeals to other gentlemen to bear him out. 



Sir Thomas Munro, who had just succeeded to the Governorship 

 of Madras, approved Mr. Sullivan's suggestions, anticipating 

 " much advantage from the acquisition of an accurate statistical 

 knowledge of that district,^' but, with his known economy, declined 

 to sanction Rupees 26 for an English writer. 



Space will not permit of my giving M. Leschenault's account 

 of the Hills, but as he was the fii*st botanist who visited the 

 mountains, I cannot refrain from quoting at length his monograph 

 forwarded with a collection of Nllagiri plants to the Madras 

 Literary Society. 



" La collection des plantes que mon ami et moi avons recueilMes 

 sur les montagnes de Nilgerret, renferme plus de 200 especes, parmi 

 lesquelles un grand nombre de nouvelles. Nous avons pense que la 

 Society Litteraire de Madi'as recevroit avec interet quelques echan- 

 tillons de ces plantes. Le temps que j'ai ete oblige de donner a leur 

 recolte, et a leur preparation, ne m'a permis que de les examiner 

 rapidement. Je manquerois des livres, et des moyens de comparaison 

 necessaires pour fixer definitivement leur place, aussi je me suis 

 contente le plus souvent de reconnoitre le genre j'ai donne avec reserve, 

 quelques noms ne pouvent etre que provisoires, car j 'ignore si les 

 plantes auxquelles je les ai donnees n'ont pas ete nommees par MM. 

 Roxburg, Rotteler, Bnchanan, Blein, et Heyne, dont les recherches, 

 sur d'antres montagnes de la peninsule, sont anterieures aux mienne, 

 mais dont je ne connois point les herbiers. 



M. Lesche- 

 nault's 

 remarks. 



