MANUAL OP THE NtLAQIRI DISTRICT. 297 



surpassed in any region of the globe," rnd desired that " similar CHAP. XII. 

 statements of expense incurred at what are denominated the t> 

 sanitaria of Bengal and Bombay " might be called for, as he had History. 

 met with " no persons so deeply and so gratefully impressed with 

 the superior benefits of the Nilgiris as those who visited the 

 hills from Bengal and Bombay.'' 



Mr. Lushington left the Hills, not to return, in August 1832, Mr. Lushing- 

 but on leaving, with thoughtful consideration for " subordinate ^^""-'^ depar. 

 ranks of the service," he placed the bungalow and gardens, 

 which he had himself purchased at Dimhatti ^ from the Mission 

 Society, on trust in the hands of the Collector of Coimbatore and 

 of the Commanding Officer for the use of such free of all charge. 

 The bungalows accommodated six families. 



If it was a Civilian Collector, Mr. John Sullivan, who was the 

 first to bring the Hills prominently to notice and to test their 

 value in respect of climate and of soil, it was a Civilian Governor 

 who first made them the permanent abode of Europeans, and 

 placed their reputation as a seat for sanitaria and as a field of 

 European enterprise almost beyond dispute. He seems to have 

 created an enthusiasm in the hill country and its people which 

 found expression in several works, such as Baikie's, Harkness' 

 (Secretary to the Royal Asiatic Society), Jervis', and in other 

 brochures ; in fact the Nilagiri literary era belongs to his reign, 

 though the works were not published until shortly after his retire- 

 ment in the time of his successor Sir Frederick Adam. " It will 

 be the glory of Mr. Lushington's Government," writes Captain 

 Limond in June 1832, " without extravagant hyperbole, that 

 he introduced Europe into Asia, for such are his improvements 

 in the Nilgiris." Ag-ain : " The Coonoor and Koondah ghats 

 (his own special works) will be to all succeeding times 

 monuments of his beneficence and wisdom. * * * No power on 

 earth can keep down the approved and tried celebrity of the 

 Nilgiris. In the process of time they will become one of 

 the noblest colonies in the known world. In future history 

 Mr. Lushington will be recorded as their illustrious, enlightened, 

 and early benefactor. * * * The Nilgiris were comparatively 

 unknown before his day." And yet such is the absence of 

 interest in the history of them displayed by Englishmen in 

 this country, that probably not one in ten of the present residents 

 have the vaguest notion of the debt they owe to this Civilian and his 

 coadjutors. But the too bright hopes of these enthusiastic pioneers 

 were destined soon to be overshadowed, though not quenched, by 

 the rough lessons of experience. 



A note on the climate of Dimhatti will be found in the appendix to Jervis. 



38 



