TOPOGBAPHT. 53 



where it is crossed by the great road to Ootacamund by the 

 Coonoor Pass. 



The surface of the table-land on the summit of the hills 

 is much undulated, and presents various characteristics in 

 the different divisions. The only circumstance common to 

 the whole is, the occurrence of swamps, of various extent, 

 in the valleys formed by the undulations. The soil in these 

 swamps is of considerable depth, and very rich ; in some it 

 forms large beds of peat bog, from which Ootacamund is 

 abundantly supplied with an excellent substitute for coal. 

 The vegetation on the surface, however, is generally luxuriant, 

 and they are always traversed by a stream of water, which, 

 after percolating through them, issues forth as clear, pure, 

 and as fit for use as if just taken from the spring. Nothing 

 like miasm or exhalation exists in or near these swamps ; 

 as a proof of which, Todarmunds or villages are frequently 

 found in their immediate vicinity, and the nature of the 

 vegetation is entirely different from that which characterizes 

 swamps in the low country. 



The Koondahs, towards the W. or Malabar side, rise very 

 suddenly from the plains below, and terminate in immense 

 rocky precipices, presenting some of the grandest and most 

 romantic scenery to be found in the world. This is particu- 

 larly remarkable at the junction of the Nedimulla hills with 

 the range of the Koondahs, properly so called. The outline 

 of the summits forms an immense circular basin, bordered 

 with precipices, every where perpendicular, in many places 

 overhanging, and of such a height, that a stone dropped 

 from the edge, will in many places descend at least 6000 

 feet, at one bound, before reaching the bottom ; the crests of 

 the rocks being at the same time broken into the most 

 irregular and fantastic forms. A minute examination of the 



