TROUT CULTURE ON THE NILGIRIS 



BY 



Colonel Molesworth,, CLE., C.B.E., V.H.S., I.M.S., and 

 J. F. Bryant, M.A., F.G.S., I.C.S., 



Collector of the Nilgiris, 

 (late Senior Scholar in Natural Science at Clare College, Cambridge). 



( WUh a map and two 2)lates.) 



The Nilgiris consist of an oval, grassy, undulating plateau about 20 miles; 

 across and about 7,000 feet above the sea. Occasional peaks rise to 8,000 feet or 

 more. The western margin is marked out by a relatively elevated tract, the 

 Khundahs, which falls away steeply, often precipitously, towards Malabar. 

 About midway, the plateau is crossed from North to South by another high range 

 of hills, the culminating point of which, Dodabetta, is 8,640 feet above sea-level. 



Shielded by the Khundah and Mukerti Range from the heavy rainfall of the 

 Wynaad, cool and cloudy weather is the rule rather than ths exception, even in the 

 Summer season. Without the grandeur of the Himalayan gorges or the majesty 

 of eternal snows, the Nilgiris have a soft beauty of their own, recalling to the Eng- 

 lishman the undulating contours of his own western hills. The pedestrian can. 

 strike a bee-line over hill and dale, withersoever his fancy leads him, unimpeded by 

 any obstacle mere serious than an occasional peat-bog or a brawling hill stream. 



Rainfall : — There is a rapid decrease in the rainfall as we travel from West 

 to East. At Naduvattam and in the Khundahs it is above 100 inches, at Paikara 

 it is 78 • 23 inches, whilst at Ootacamund it is 48 • 35 inches. 



This distribution is not without its influence upon pisciculture. The rainfall 

 at Ootacamund is too small to be of much use and as a general rule it may be laid 

 doAvn that the fishing improves as we go West or South-west into the area of 

 maximum precipitation. Hence the most prolific streams are the Billithada- 

 halla and the Pirniund in the Khmidahs. 



The Eastern half of the plateau, depending as it does on the North-east rather 

 than the South-west Monsoon, possesses no streams of importance and is compara- 

 tively useless from a piscicultural point of view. 



Tempeeattjee : — The mean temperature of the year is 55" at Ootacamund, 

 that of May, the hottest month, being four degrees above this and that of January, 

 the coldest, only seven below it. But the daily range in the clear weather which 

 usually prevails in January, February, March and April may be as much as 31 

 degrees in the 24 hours (Blanford). It is in these months that the trout embryos 

 develope, and it is in these months that they are most susceptible to sudden 

 changes of temperature. 



Streams : — The larger streams in the Khundahnad and the Todanad fall in 

 cascades over the sides of the plateau into the Moyar on the North and the Bha- 

 vani on the South. In the North we have the Mukerti, the Krurmund, the Mekod 

 or Parson's Valley Stream and the Yemmakal. Excellent trout streams in them- 

 selves, and protected by waterfalls from the incursions of carp, they stand out ini 

 sharp contrast to the Pykara in which carp predominate at the expense of the 

 trout. The southern group consists of the Billitaddahalla, the Pirmund and the 

 Thayar Shola streams on the Khundahs, and the Avalanche and Emerald Valley 

 streams which by their union form the Khundah River. Here again the upper 

 waters are the best, and trout which will rise to a fly disappear as we go down- 

 stream. 



In all these rivers, beautifully clear water, slightly stained by peat, is the rule 

 rather than the exception. Long stretches of relatively deep, still water mark the 

 prevalence of soft gneissose rocks. Where bands of Charnockite intrude, we 



