286 



MANUAL OF THE NILAQIRI DISTRICT. 



Recent 

 History. 



Mr. Sullivan 

 opens out 

 roads. 



CHAP. XII. In this year (1823) Mr. Sullivan obtained a grant fi*om Govern- 

 ment of 5,000 rupees to complete the road across the range to the 

 Wainad by Glidaliir, " thus completing the communication between 

 the eastern and western coasts," rendering the Nilagiris " easily 

 accessible to all persons approaching them from the sea." He 

 also obtained permission to repair the communication with Mysore 

 by the Gajalhatti Pass. In the following year he succeeded in 

 obtaining a grant of Rupees 6,500 for opening out the Karkoot 

 (Karkur) Pass, which had been suffered to fall into decay after 

 the capture of Seringapatam, and to repair the line connecting 

 the pass with the Mysore frontier, which had originally been 

 constructed by Tippu Sultan, making it practicable for wheel 

 traffic. The opening of the road to the West Coast led to the 

 importation of large supplies of grain, '' thus affording timely 

 relief to the market on the eastern side during this season of 

 scarcity." In the following year (1824) Mr. Sullivan thus sums 

 up the benefits the people had derived from his measures : — 



" The whole produce of the hills was formerly carried down upon the 

 backs of the natives for the person who rented it from the Govern- 

 ment. The rent was a rigid monopoly/ and the demand upon the 

 ryots undefined. Under this system the province and population 

 were rapidly declining. Since the road was made the lands have been 

 measured, assessed with money-rents, a regular ryotwari system 

 introduced, and all the produce is now sold on the hills and carried 

 down to the low country upon bullocks. Although these changes 

 have been attended with a very considerable reduction of the public 

 revenue, yet such is the demand and competition tor the valuable 

 products of the hills, and such the comparative facility of transferring 

 them in all directions, that the loss will very soon be covered by 

 increased cultivation." 



During the following two years little progress appears to have 

 been made in inducing the Government to establish a sanitarium 

 on the plateau, though Mr. Sullivan states he had long endeavoured 

 to impress on the Government the great advantage which might 

 be derived from the Nilagiris, being of opinion that " the judicious 

 expenditure of thousands here would lead to the saving of lacs." 

 But he had not been idle. It was about this time that the 

 Ootacamand Lake was formed and many of the roads about the 

 station cut. He built the house, and laid out the garden and 

 grounds of Bishopsdown, then called Southdowns, having leased 

 his houses at '' Stonehouse" and gardens to Government for 460 

 rupees a month. Dr. Haines and Captain Macpherson also 

 began to build, the one about the Club Hill, the other on the 



Ootacamand 

 laid out. 



' The renting system appears to bave been introduced here, as in other parts 

 of Coimbatore, in 1807. 



