82 



The Neilgherry Mountains, [No. 34, 



" Shoolooroo,'* and westward of Mootenaad and the Seegoor pass, (vide 

 B sheet of Map) ; one in Meykenaad in the fortress, the ruins of which 

 are now called " Hoolicul Droog" situated on a lofty ridge'overlook- 

 ing the Coonoor pass, and a third in Parungenaad in a fort the site of 

 which is still pointed out near Kotergherry and called '* Konagerry," 

 though no vestige of a fort remains now recognizable. Their tradi- 

 tions state that at this time, in consequence of disputes between the 

 Burghers and Kothers regarding their respective boundaries, a gene- 

 ral settlement of their lands took place under the auspices of the 

 three chiefs, when the lines of demarcation were definitively fixed ; 

 and though only by oral indication, in consequence of the ignorance 

 of reading and writing which then, as now, prevailed, the limits of 

 the territory of each tribe were so distinctly identified, that ever 

 since, up to the present time, no disputes about them have ever been 

 known to occur. 



^. , .„ , What became of these three chiefs cannot be 



Hvder All}' lays the 



Hill people under cruessed from their traditions : but it seems pro- 



contribution. ^ ^ ^ 



bable, that Hyder Ally, having sent emissaries 

 to lay the Hill people under contribution, had his attention called to 

 the value of the territory, both as a producing district and as a strong 

 post, from which he might harass his enemies in Malayalum and Ooim- 

 batore. He accordingly appears to have seized upon two of the 

 three forts which commanded the passes to those countries, viz., 

 Hoolicul Droog and Mullaycotta, and having deepened their ditches, 

 heightened their walls, and otherwise strengthened them, he put strong 

 garrisons into them, which both controlled the Hill tribes, and observ- 

 ed and harrassed the kingdoms below them. This tradition is borne 

 out by the present appearance of these two forts, which although par- 

 tially ruinous, yet retain sufficient evidence of comparatively modern 

 occupation, while the third (Konagerry) has become entirely oblite- 

 Taxation by Hyder. ^^'^^^ Hyder the System of taxation must 



first have commenced on the Hills, and the im- 

 posts levied, both by him and by his son Tippoo, on the mountaineers, 

 must have been very severe. Old inhabitants, who have a clear re- 

 collection of those times through the tales of their fathers, and an im- 

 perfect one through their own retrospect, state that whole villages 

 used to be despoiled of their year's grain and fodder by Hj^der's of- 

 ficers, who made incursions continually amongst them, and forced the 

 villagers to carry their own plundered property down the face of the 

 Hills to Danaikencotta, where the Mysoreans had a strong fort and 

 an extensive magazine. Hence to the Hill tribes the overthrow of 

 Tippoo, and the transfer of their territory to the East India Comp'ftny, 



