THE ANIMALLAI HILLS. 125 



I soon found that I had reached a perfect hunter's paradise, the 

 ideal "happy hunting ground" which is the heaven of our North- 

 American Indians, where all good braves go when they die, where 

 game is ever abundant, and there are no white settlers nor Indian 

 agents. The slope of the Animallais is a succession of high hills 

 and deep ravines, lofty peaks or ridges, and broad valleys, every- 

 where covered with lofty virgin forest. Some portions of the range, 

 those commonly termed the "higher ranges," which lay along the 

 boundary between tho Coimbatore District and Travancore, are 

 very lofty. The highest peak has an elevation of eight thousand 

 eight hundred and thirty-seven feet, and is the highest land in 

 India south of the Himalayas. Around Toonacadavoo there were 

 high, rocky precipices for the wild goats, thick bamboo jungle and 

 marshes for the elephants, grassy glades and fine open forests for 

 deer and bison, rugged, rocky hill-sides for bears, and dense patches 

 of underbrush for the sounders of wild hog. The tiger needs no 

 particular kind of jungle, for where other game is, there will you 

 be sure to find him also. Thus are we able to account for the pres- 

 ence of so many large animals in the same locality. 



The forest camp is situated very nearly in the centre of the 

 Government Leased Forest, which is composed mainly of mighty 

 teak trees (Tectona grandis), blackwood {Dalbergia latifolia), the 

 "vellanaga" {Conocarpus latifoliu^), "ven-gi" (Pterocarpus marsu- 

 pium), and the common bamboo [Bambusa arundinacea). Near the 

 foot of the hills, I noticed a tree {Salvadora Indica) which somewhat 

 resembles the weeping willow, and also the Euphorbia antiqiiorum. 



There are two strongly marked seasons upon the Animallais, 

 the wet and the dry. The former is during the monsoon rains, from 

 June or July to November or December, when the streams and 

 marshes are full of water, grass is abundant, and the forest has 

 taken on the growth and freshness of spring. During this season 

 the force of the Forest Service is engaged in cutting down teak 

 trees, hewing out their trunks, hauling and " slipping " them down 

 the mountain side, to be floated down to Calicut, and there takeij 

 charge of by H. M.'s Navy to be used in ship-building. Teak is 

 impei-vious to the attacks of the white ant and the ship-worm, which, 

 with other good qualities, renders it a very valuable timber. 



The dry season begins at the end of the northeast monsoon, 

 usually about January' 1st, and continues six months. Then the 

 leaves fall in the deciduous forest, which becomes open and bare, 

 the streams dry up, and the forest is usually swept by fire. The 



