CHAPTER IX. 



THE NEILGHERRY HILLS. 



The "Blue Moimtains." — A Natural Eden. — Physical Aspect. — The Coonoor 

 Pass. —Beauty and Grandeur. — Climbing up to Paradise. — Ootacamund. — 

 Products of the Hills.— The Worst Hotel in India.— A Hunt in the "De- 

 lectable Mountains." — Above the Clouds. — The Todas. — A Remarkable 

 People. — Their Negative Qualities. — Phenomenal Laziness. — The " Pau- 

 laul " and the " Paulchi." — Physique of the Todas. —Dress. — Polyandry, 

 or Plurality of Husbands. — Betrothal, Marriage, and Divorce. — Infanticide. 

 —The Toda Hut.— The Mund.— The Toda Buffalo.— Little Game but 

 Splendid Scenery. — A Cloud Scene. — An Empty Bag, but no Regrets. 



A RIDE of three hundred miles in a southwesterly direction over 

 a hot and dusty level plain almost as barren as a brick-yard, and in 

 places of a brick-red color, brought us to Coimbatore, from whence 

 a branch line leads up north twenty-five miles to the village of 

 MettapoUium, near the foot of the Neilgherries. Between Metta- 

 pollium and the foot of the Hills, lies the Bhowani River and a 

 level belt of luxuriant tropical forest six miles wide, a dense, shady 

 jungle of bamboos, palms, ferns, and forest trees. Reaching the 

 end of this dehghtful road, we leave the carriage and start to ride 

 on horseback up the Coonoor Pass, while our light luggage is cai • 

 ried by coolies.* 



The Neilgherry Hills (or " blue mountains " — all mountains are 

 called "hills" in India) rise very abruptly from the low, level 

 plain of Southern India, into a lofty, triangular table-land of an 

 average height of about seven thousand feet above the level of the 

 sea. Except on the north, where a narrow, elevated ridge joins it 

 to the Western Ghauts and the table-land of Mysore, this lofty 

 plateau is completely isolated — a gi-een and smiling garden in a 

 parched and thirsty plain. In general shape it is a right-angled 

 triangle of which the base is to the north, facing Mysore ; the per- 

 pendicular extends fi'om north to south and faces the Malabar Dis- 



* There is now a mountain railway up to Coonoop. 



