44 The Neilgherry Mountains. [No. M, 



the residences of Europeans are too widely dispersed along the slopes 

 of the valley in which the station is situated, to admit, at present, of 

 its further extension. So rapidly however is the number of houses 

 increasing and keeping pace with the increased resort of Europeans 

 to these Hills from almost all parts of India, while at the same time 

 a consequently augmented demand for supplies for the European 

 community is daily drawing more native merchants and traders to 

 the place as permanent settlers, and thus swelling the size of the ba- 

 zaars beyond all bounds, that before long the term *' town" will not be 

 inappropriately applied to the whole settlement, while that of " can- 

 tonment" will be transferred to the valley of Jukatalla where the Eu' 

 ropean barracks are about to be built. The houses of the European 

 inhabitants of the settlement are for the most part substantially built ; 

 the walls are usually of burnt brick set in clay, and pointed or plas- 

 tered with lime, roofs of tiles, or puckka terraced, and rarely of 

 thatch, while all the timber work of the roof, doors, floors, &e., &.C., is 

 of teak, which is brought at a great cost up theSeegoor pass from the 

 forests on the borders of Mysore. There are however many excellent 

 and durable descriptions of house building timber to be procured on the 

 Hills at one quarter the cost of teak ; but a prejudice exists against 

 their use, because roofs constructed with Hill grown timber have, in 

 some instances, been found to decay with great rapidity ; and hence 

 its employment has been condemned by builders, who have overlooked 

 the real cause of its decomposition, which is its being put together 

 and covered in before it has been sufficiently seasoned. As an instance 



Much good timber for efficiency, if attention is paid to this impor- 



ng to Ob- tant point, and the wood properly selected, I 



tained on the HvUa. r » r r j » 



ich g( 

 buildi 

 lined on the HvUa. 



may mention that the present survey office has 

 a roof, made entirely of jungle wood cut on these Hills, which has 

 been standing more than 20 years, and which on a recent examina- 

 tion was found to be perfectly sound. All other building materials 

 (except lime) are procured on the spot, abundance of tolerably good 

 brick clay being found in every part of the Hills. 



Bricks and tiles very The bricks and tiles made are, however, very 

 inferior, but this is owing to the wretched way 

 in which the clay is worked and moulded. A labourer mixes a little 

 water with it with a mamotie, treads it for a few minutes with his 

 feet, and then pronounces it tempered, and carries it to the moulder 

 without further preparation. Bricks can be contracted for in Oota- 



