1838.] 



Topographical Report on the Neilgherries. 



109 



Of reptiles, there are frogs of two kinds, one amphibious, in- 

 habiting chiefly the land, having scarcely any web between its claws, 

 and the other apparently limited to the land, and dwelling much in 

 trees, the extremities of whose toes are provided with a sucker, with 

 which it can attach itself to any surface however perpendicular or 

 «mooth, as a pane of glass. This frog makes a loud, sharp, metallie 

 gound, like the blow of a small hammer on an anvil. Tiiis sound is 

 often taken for the note of a bird, and is not disagreeable. There are 

 but two kind of snakes usually seen, a pea-green, slender snake, about 

 two feet in length, and an inch in circumference ; and a short thick 

 snake, about a foot long, resembling a large worm, envelo[)edin scutse ; 

 its head and tail resemble each other being round and blunt. Neither 

 kind have venomous fangs. Of insects, there are not many of any kind; 

 the hills are free from all the ant-tribe, black, white, and red ; a solitary 

 musquito is sometimes seen, but it is rarely in motion, and appears as 

 if it had been carried by the wind, and, being numbed by the cold, rests 

 on a pane of glass, where it may sometimes enjoy the warmth of the 

 Sun. Occasionally the flying glow-worm illuminates the night with its 

 phosphorescent lamp. Fleas arc numerous in houses^ but may be looked 

 on more as the produce of dogs, which are admitted to the houses, 

 than the indigenous produce of the place. 



There are no diseases peculiar to the Neilgherries, and very few or. 

 dinary complaints originate on the hills. Among the prisoners in the 

 jail, ephemeral fever arises, from exposure to cold and wet, when out 

 working, and consists merely in heat of skin, quick pulse, and head-ache, 

 which are easily relieved by an emetic and aperient, and avoidance of 

 the exciting causes. Chicken-pox appeared among the convicts, and 

 after running a mild course of six days they recovered ; only one symp- 

 tom appeared which is not noticed in medical works, viz. pustules on 

 the tongue, protruding, like enormous red papilloe, through a thick 

 white coat of fur on the surface. When this disease appeared in the 

 jail, it was also epidemic among the natives in the station. No small- 

 pox, measles, or scarlatina, have appeared since my arrival, nor are re- 

 corded as having been seen previously. Vaccination is performed 

 from virus obtained in the adjoining zillah of Coimbatore, because it 

 cannot be maintained here, as there are no vaccinators on the hills. 

 Two instances of bilious remittent fever are recorded as having occurred 

 at Kotagherry, without previous exposure to malaria in the low 

 country, one about seven years ago, and the other this year; both 

 cases v;ere fatal. In the latter there were at first regular paroxysms, 

 with distinct intermissions, but after the third day there was no inter- 



