THE KEILGHERRY HILLS. 95 



plains to spend the hot months and repair constitutional damages — ■ 

 most of which may be traced to the cui'se of the East Indies — 

 " brandy-and-soda." 



The Coonoor Pass "winds up one side of a deep, rocky gorge 

 which is furrowed straight down the steep mountaiu side from top 

 to bottom, widening and deepening as it goes. On one hand the 

 steep side of the ravine rises up beside us almost Hke a wall, while 

 on the other it descends precipitously from the roadside far down 

 to the bottom of the gorge where the Karteri Eiver, a mountain 

 torrent, goes dashing downward over its rocky bed. All the way 

 up, the road is shaded by forest trees which everywhere cover that 

 side of the ravine with a dense green mantle, and from time to 

 time we cross cool and shady httle glens of the most romantic de- 

 scription, where little mountain streams, whose moist banks are cov- 

 ered with exquisite ferns, go tumbling dovrnward over gnarled 

 roots and mossy stones. 



Every now and then a turn in the road gives us a clear view 

 across the gorge to where a lofty precipice looms up a thousand 

 feet or more, and looking backward we see the hot plain we have 

 just quitted stretching out far below us like a vast, unruffled sea 

 of brown and green. The higher we ascend, the cooler becomes 

 the air, and vegetation takes on a rank and luxuriant freshnesa 

 which contrasts so strongly with the region we have just quitted, 

 that we seem to have chmbed up out of a fiery hell into a cool, 

 shady, and well-watered pai'adise. 



But every rose has its thorns. The " pony " I rode (which was 

 fm-nished by the Madi-as Canying Co. at an exorbitant price) was 

 a wretched, half-starved, and wholly worn-out beast which it seemed 

 a sin to ride. At every step it threatened to collapse, hke the fa- 

 mous " One-Hoss Shay." It was the first time I ever bestrode a 

 skeleton, and tried to make it walk. The exjDeriment was not a 

 success, for about every two rods my pony skeleton insisted upon 

 stopping, and, at the end of the second mile, I dismounted and 

 walked on, leaving my fiery, untamed steed standing in the middle 

 of the road with his head down, a prey to his own gloomy thoughts. 



Two miles farther up a " fresh (!) pony" awaited me. It was a 

 sHght improvement upon the first one, having been fed only a week 

 previously ; but the fault of this noble animal was that he wanted 

 to stop, and would stop every few minutes, to look at the scenery. 

 After three miles I abandoned him also as a derehct, and finished 

 the ascent on foot. The pass is nine miles long, and at the top we 



