NILGHIEI HILLS. 213 



with the great mass of the hills 1)y ridges of much less elevation. 

 These ridges terminate to the South West in a low spur project- 

 ing from the South Western corner of the Neelgherries, and forming 

 a portion of the great watershed of the Indian Peninsula. This hill 

 tract, extending from the foot of the Neelgherries to the neighbourhood 

 of Palghat, is covered with a dense jungle through which the villages 

 of the Erulars are sparsely scattered, and which abounds in wild 

 ElephantSj Tigers, Bears, Nilghai, Sambur, and such animals as are 

 only found in the wildest jungles of the Peninsula. 



The Great Western escarpment of the Kundahs (a name given to the 

 South Western portion of the Nilghiris) extend- 



Great Western escarp- 

 ment, ing from Sispara to Makurty Peak, or rather to the 



head waters of the Pykara river immediately below Makurty, completes 

 the circuit of the Hills. There is perhaps no scene in Southern India 

 more grand and imposing than this gigantic escarpment. Rising abruptly 

 from the low jungle covered plains of Malabar, to the lofty surface 

 of the Koondah plateau, an elevation of nearly 8000 feet, it presents an 

 apparently almost precipitous hill fade covered with dense jungle, fur- 

 rowed but not broken up by the innumerable hill torrents which course 

 down its surface, and glisten like silver threads amid the dark green 

 foliage of the forest. It would seem at first sight perfectly inaccessible 

 from the plains below, and such it is throughout the greater portion of its 

 extent. It is only at Sispara that with considerable engineering skill, 

 a road has been constructed, forming a communication between the 

 hills and the low country of Malabar, and it is from this road that the 

 finest view of the escarpment is obtainable. 



To pass now to the description of the plateau. As might be in- ' 



ferred from the preceding, a great difference in the 

 Neelgherry Plateau. 



character of the scenery is perceptible on ascending 

 from any of the hill ghats to tlie surface of the hill country, a change 

 due, partly to the different aspect of the vegetation, but principally to 



