MANUAL OF THE NILAGIRI DISTRICT. 395 



The Nllagiris are now occupied by Europeans chiefly for the CH. xvin. 

 purpose of growing shrubs yielding articles of export ; they are „ ~~ 

 resorted to for a portion of each year by the Madras Govern- 'vvu\m 

 ujent and by European visitors mostly from Madras and Banga- ^^'"f"^^ 

 lore ; and nearly all food-supplies, building materials, and other Railway 

 necessities of life are imported from the adjoining low-lying districts, sc*"'!^"^ 

 mainly from the one on the eastern side. Hence the means by 

 which all tliis traffic can best be served becomes the most impor- 

 tant question relating to the Nilagiris. A glance at the map 

 clearly shows that the inlet and outlet for all the district traffic 

 is the railway terminus at Mettapollium. This is by far the 

 nearest point of ingress and egress to the district, and it is the 

 point towards which all the Nilagiri traffic now converges. Now 

 Mettapollium is a station on the branch line which leaves at 

 Pothanur the main line of the Madras Railway ; and this main line 

 runs across the Indian peninsula from Madi-as on the east to 

 Beypur on the west coast, being connected with lines to Bombay 

 and Allahabad. The extension of this branch along the arterial 

 line of the district up the Coonoor Pass to Coonooronthe east, and 

 thence through Ootacamand, its centre, to Neduwattamon the west, 

 is that of which the Nilagiri Disti-ict at present stands most in 

 need. Statistics collected in 1874- show that the total charges on 

 the annual traffic between Mettapollium and Coonoor amounted to 

 . £44,000 ; that this traffic had been increasing during the previous 

 seven years at an average rate of 11 per cent, per annum ; and 

 that it had doubled itself within the previous ten years. Hence 

 it is probable that a railway between Mettapollium and Coonoor, 

 costing under half a million sterling, will return a paying dividend. 

 There is only one system of mountain railways which will 

 perfectly serve all the passenger and goods traffic, and which 

 can be constructed between the above places for that sum. This 

 is the rack-rail system of M. Riggenbach, a Swiss Engineer. He 

 has offered to construct within four years a railway between 

 Mettapollium and Coonoor. He undertakes himself to raise the 

 necessary capital, which he estimates at £400,000. He requires 

 Government to grant him, free of charge, all the land required 

 for the line, and to guarantee him from the opening of the line 

 and for the first ten years thereafter an interest of 4 per cent, 

 per annum on only one-half of the outlay if the net receipts, 

 after deducting all expenses, do not reach that figure. He pro- 

 poses to construct the line between Mettapollium and Kalar (the 

 foot of the Coonoor Pass) on the ordinaiy system, and that 

 between Kaldr and Coonooronthe rack- rail system, with a gradient 

 of one in eight. His system has extended over the Continent, 

 where eight lines and thirty-two locomotives are at work. The 

 Government of Madras are disposed, it is understood, to favorably 



