MANUAL OF THE NIlAGIRI DISTRICT. 287 



western slopes of Elk Hill. But towards the close of the year CHAP. XII. 

 1826^ Sir Thomas Munro — clarum et venerahile nomen — crossed r^^t 

 the hills on his return from a tour through the southern History. 

 districts. He seems to have well appreciated them, remarking gjr Thomaa 

 that " no description hitherto given of them had done justice to Muuro's visit. 

 the subject." He died at Bellary a few months later, and though 

 he marked out no policy for the hills, he ordered Mr. Sullivan 

 to report thereon. This report he submitted in September 1827. 

 It contains a long account of the climate. It states that in 

 Ootacamand there were then seventeen houses for Europeans, 

 ten of which were private property unconnected with Government; 

 that at Kotagiri there were five bungalows, these being occupied 

 by private families. 



"Roads," he writes, "have been made in all directions about the 

 settlement of Ootacamund, so that invalids may take either horse or 

 palanquin exercise with almost as much facility as in the low country . 

 A fine piece of water has also been constructed, on which boats are 

 beginning to ply. A subscription has been set on foot for a public 

 reading-room. Ootacamund, in short, is gradually approximating to 

 a state of comfort and civilization." 



But the times of indifference to the Nilagiris were at end when Mr. S. R. 

 Mr. Stephen Rumbold Lushington succeeded to the Grovernorship Lushmgton's 

 of Madras three months after Sir T. Munro's death. Within thirty 

 days of his assuming the government, we find a long series of 

 questions addressed to the Ootacamand Station Committee, ^ 

 composed of Mr. Sullivan, Dr. Haines and Captain Macpherson. 

 From the answers to these queries, dated 27th November 1827, we 

 learn that Government were in possession of four bungalows, 

 accommodating ten bachelors and three families, upon which 

 Government had spent 20,000 rupees, having received as rent 

 above 3,000 rupees, and that forty or fifty Government officers 

 had been accommodated in them ; that there were four private 

 bungalows available on rent at Ootacamand — one at Rallia, between 

 Ootacamand and Kotagiri, and three at the latter place; — that 

 Government had already advanced Rupees 32,000 to these gentlemen 

 to build private residences, and that thirteen bungalows were being 

 constructed by them ; that " demand for accommodation " by 

 intending visitors " was incessant ; " that Mr. Sullivan had 

 tendered his house, Stonehouse, with the garden to Government 

 as a hospital for 100 soldiers, but that the project had fallen 

 through, and that, consequently, he had made over the garden, 



• It was in this year that two letters to the Bengal Harlcaru by Philanthropes 

 appeared, containing the first philosophic account of the Nilagiri tribes. 



* Their powers were undefined, and I have not been able to trace the minute 

 of their appointment. 



