214 The Hunting Grounds 



diversity of appearance than that round the Neil- 

 gherries. The tall feathery bamboo contrasts most 

 delightfully with the stately teak, ebony, blackwood, 

 and other gigantic trees of the primeval forest, where 

 the air, being confined, is generally close and suffocat- 

 ing. The surface of the ground is everywhere thickly 

 strewn with decayed leaves or dead branches, and 

 underneath the trees may be seen the green of young 

 seedlings which spring up by thousands during the 

 rains, but for the most part pine and die, being 

 deprived of light and heat. 



The climate on the tableland is about the finest in 

 the known world exempt alike from the extremes of 

 heat and cold, it realizes as near as any land " eternal 

 spring," for its great elevation (8000 feet above the 

 level of the sea) tempers the heat generally felt in 

 these latitudes, and gives the air a pureness and 

 bracing elasticity peculiarly grateful to Europeans 

 after a lengthened sojourn in the scorching plains; 

 indeed if cloudless skies, continual sunshine, and 

 pleasant weather were the only essentials to human 

 happiness, the Neilgherries would be the most likely 

 place to seek it of any that I have yet met with in 

 my wanderings over land and sea. 



In its peculiar style of beauty nothing can exceed 

 the scenery of the hills. Stupendous peaks, groups 

 of gigantic forest- trees, hanging woods and foaming 

 cascades, alternate with clumps of rhododendrons, 



