The mean annual temperature of Ootacamund is 58° to 68°. The annual range is considerable, being equal in some years to 38°, the highest observed temperature in the shade being 77°, and the lowest 39°. The mean daily range is 17°. The hygrometrical state of the atmosphere varies from intense dryness (from January to May) to saturation, with moisture, during the monsoon, and evaporation is in almost direct ratio with the dryness of the air. January, February, and the half of March are uniformly fair, clear, and dry. The nights are very cold, and hoarfrost is almost always to be found in valleys and sheltered situa tions towards morning, disappearing as the sun ' acquires power. The air in the shade is always cold, but the rays of the sun are very powerful. Rain seldom occurs before the end of March, when the air becomes milder, and there are generally a few heavy showers. April and May are mild, pleasant months, with frequent heavy showers and thunderstorms. In June the S.W. monsoon sets in ; in general 10 or 14 days later than on the Malabar coast. At first the rain is pretty con stant and heavy, but during the whole continu ance of the monsoon, that is, till the middle or end of September, there are frequent intervals of I most delightful weather. October is an uncertain month, being occasionally blustery and showery, very fine and dry, according as the N.E. monsoon occurs, early or late. November is showery and unpleasant, but after the occur rence of some heavy fogs in the early part of December, the frost sets in, and the weather becomes dry, cold, and bracing. The seasons are subject to great fluctuations, almost as much so ' as in Europe. The climates of Kotagherry and Coonoor are considerably milder than that of Ootactunund, and there is also sonic difference in the seasons, the S.W. monsoon being com paratively light at both these stations, while the N.E. is heavier.
The Neilgherries had been traversed by a party of pioneers under Captain Bevan and Dr. Ford in 1809, and wero partially surveyed under the direction of Colonel Morrison in 1812. About the year 1819, they were ascended by 1%lessrs. Whish and Kindersley in pursuit of a band of smugglers, and their report led to Mr. Sullivan establishing himself there, and ultimately to their being selected as a convalescent station. The remains of two forts are still to be seen, each of which was used as a state prison, and was occu pied by a small garrison in the time of Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan. The Neilgherries have been occupied since 1826, and European settlers are now established in some numbers. In 1881 the population was 91,034. The mountain races, Badaga, Irular, Kotar, Kurumbar, and Todawar have hamlets and villages in different parts of the hills, but the European stations are Ootacamund, Wellington or Jackatalla, Coonoor, and Kota gherry. Ootacamund has no accommodation for troops. Wellington is almost exclusively a military station. Kotagherry is 16 miles and Coonoor 10 miles distant from Ootacamund. Dim hati is between Kotagherry and the Orange Valley.
Ootacamund is picturesquely situated in the basin formed by the central chain of Dodabet, from which two considerable spurs run in a semi circular direction to the west, and completely enclose it on all sides except the W.N.W. On the subordinate hills and interjacent valleys, houses are perched at the summit or sheltered in the nooks, and the terre-plaine of the valley is advantageously occupied by a long narrow lake, formed by an artificial dam, which closes it to the west, and retains all the waters of the basin. Kotagherry is preferred by those who, from long residence in India or natural delicacy of consti tution, are unpleasantly affected by the suddenness of the transition from the low country. This remark applies still more strongly to Coonoor, the climate of which is a shade milder than Kotagherry.
The rainfall, which is excessive to the westward, is much diminished before reaching the axis of the chain ; at Dodabetta it is 100 inches, and at Ootacamund only 64 inches.
European settlers are chiefly engaged in coffee planting, tea-planting, and cinchona-planting. The Toda are the oldest of the inhabitants. Their language is partly derived from the Hata or ancient Canarese. Each mend or village has a separate and somewhat larger house set apart, and sacred, as a dairy, into which women are not allowed to enter. They subsist by the produce of their herds, receiving also a ground-rent in kind from the Badaga and Kota, who acknowledge them as the lords of the soil. They are polyandric, the brothers of the family having only one wife in common ; female infanticide long prevailed. They slaughter buffaloes at funerals, attended with some ceremonies. They appear to be decreasing M number. Females number about 3 to every 5 males. Their sole occupation is cattle-herding and dairy work. The Toda worship their dairy buffaloes, the buffalo bell, and several deities.
The Badaga or Vadaga, by far the most numer ous race on the hills, some time in the middle of the 16th century quitted their original location in Mysore to escape from oppression. They are almost entirely employed in cultivation, but they keep large flocks and herds of cattle, and readily act as labourers, etc. They are industrious ; their numbers are increasing, and their villages are populous and thriving.
The Kota race have habits like the Chucklers below. They are looked down upon by the Badaga from their eating offal, but they are industrious, and are the artisans of the hills, making and repairing ploughshares and other agricultural implements, as also the silver ornaments worn by the Toda. and Badaga women and children.
Kota (properly Gauhatar, from the Sanskrit Gau, a cow, and Hata, slaying, i.e. cow-killers), are well made. They worship two silver plates, which they regard as husband and wife ; they have no other deity.
The Irular (or benighted ones, from the Tamil word Iral, darkness) live on the lowest slopes and forests extending from the base of the Neilgherries to the plains, and are not, strictly speaking, inhabitants of the hills.
The Irular and the Mula-Kurumbar inhabit the wildest recesses of the jungles on the skirts of the hills, where they erect wretched huts, sur rounded by a little wretched cultivation. The other inhabitants attribute to the Kurumbar every piece of ill-luck that befalls their cattle or themselves. In the year 1835, after a severe mur rain had prevailed among the cattle, the Kurum bar to the number of 50 or 60 were assembled to a feast, and in the height of their merriment were cruelly massacred by the Toda race, scarcely one escaping. Massacres have since then re peatedly occurred, and in 1882 a whole family were destroyed. The Irular are fowlers, and subsist on forest produce. The Kurumbar are taking to labour on the estates; Dr. Jerdon records 118 sPecies of birds, resi dents of or visitors to the hills, mostly of tropical genera.
A large number of rude stone monuments —cairns, barrow; kistvaens, and cromlechs—are found all over the plateau. The cairns consist of circles of stones, some of them in their inside faced with slabs, others outside surrounded by heaped stones. The kistvaens are found below Kotagherry. They contain pottery with a rich red glaze, and clay figures with a high Tartar head dress. These remains are not claimed by any race now on the hills. The most numerous are the cairns and barrows, which resemble each other, and which are found most often in groups and on the tops of hills and ridges.—rty.Gaz. ; Dr. Benz° is M. L. S. J. • Harkness' Neilgherries; Birch's Neilgherries ;. Ba ikie's Neilgherries.