APPEI^'DII, 



Appendix, No. IX. 



Extracts from Captain J. Ouchterlony^s 3femoir sulmitted to 

 the Madras Government in 1847 ; as noticed in the list of 

 puhlications annexed* 



The Neilgherries, or rather the plateau formed by their summits, are 

 ]by no means densely wooded, the forests occurring in distinct and 

 singularly isolated patches, in hollows, on slopes, and sometimes on the 

 very apex of a lofty hiU, becoming luxm'iant and extensive only when 

 they approach the crests of the mountains, and run along the valleys 

 into the plains below. This absence of forest in a region in which, 

 from its position between the tropics, from the abundance of moisture, 

 and from the great depth and richness of the soil, the utmost luxuriance 

 in this respect would be looked for, is very remarkable ; and leads me 

 \,o conclude, that vast tracts of primeval forest land must have been 

 cleared to make room for cultivation, at no very distant period. 



Owing to the great elevation, at which the inhabited summit of the 

 Neilgherries stands, and the consequent rarefaction of its atmosphere 

 aided doubtless, in some degree, by the beneficial influence of the luxu- 

 riant vegetation which clothes them, the district, although distant only 

 11 degrees from the Equator, enjoys a climate now famed for its great 

 salubrity, and remarkable evenness in its seasons, with a temperature 

 which falls, in the coldest month of the year, to the freezing point, and 

 seldom in the hottest, reaches 75° in the shade. In stating this, I of 

 course refer to the general circumstances of temperature which prevail, 

 for seasons have ot course occurred during which, from particular at- 

 mospheric causes, the mercury may have risen occasionally above this 

 estimate. 



The coldest season is during the months of December and January, 

 and the hottest about April and May, though this latter season is not 

 so certain, depending mainly upon the character and time of setting in 



* A copy of this Memoir has been presented by the Editor to the 

 Ootacamund Library, and it is weU deserving of perusal by all visitors 

 to the Hills. 



