CHAPTER II. 



PEELIMINAET KEMAEKS 

 BY THE ATJTHOE OP THE OBiailfAl WOEK, 



On entering upon tlie perusal of tliis chapter, the reader 

 is requested to advert to the intimation given in the pre- 

 ceding, of the Editor's intention "to incorporate all the 

 information he has collected during his late visit ; and to 

 modify Dr. Baikie's remarks, and the ohservations of other 

 writers, accordingly." Bearing this in mind, any apparent 

 anachronism wUl be intelligible, and the worthy Doctor 

 exempted from imputations for which the Editor is re- 

 sponsible ; with this caution, he is now introduced, to speak 

 for himself. 



—Before proceeding to give a detailed description of the 

 Neilgherries, it will probably be interesting to the general 

 reader, and still more to such invalids as propose paying 

 them a visit for the restoration of their health, to be pre- 

 sented with a condensed view of the principal peculiarities 

 of their climate, situation, &c., which have occasioned their 

 being selected as a place of resort for Europeans. 



The Neilgherries, then, are situated in the S. of India, 

 within the Madras Presidency, and between the 11th and 

 12th degrees of N. latitude and 76th and 77th degrees of 

 E. longitude, on the confines of the Provinces of Coimbatoor 

 and Malabar. They are joined to the table-land of Mysoor 

 by a narrow neck of land, but are completely isolated on 

 every other side, and rise abruptly from the plains to the 



