The formation is gneiss, interstratified with quartz, and traversed by veins of felspar; and the rock is generally decayed to a considerable depth on the plateau, and disintegrated so as to form a gritty clay. In the eastern part the soil is a light reddish loam; but on the western and loftier half it is very poor, being a heavy black peat several feet thick, with a stiff and plastic yellowish clay as a sub-soil. The rains on the Neilgherry hills have the effect of mixing the decaying grass with the decomposed rock, and a rich soil is thus formed; but on the plateau of the Pulneys this operation does not appear to take place, the one becoming a black peat, and the other a stiff clayey subsoil. These remarks, however, only apply to the interior valleys, for on the outer slopes, overlooking the plains of Madura, there is plenty of good soil, and magnificent forests clothe the mountains at the foot of the perpendicular walls of gneiss which form the southern ridge of the Pulneys.
The climate of the Pulneys, as regards temperature, very closely resembles that of the Neilgherries. At the time of my visit, in the end of November and beginning of December, the season was very late, though there were thick mists and showers of rain every afternoon. This is the time of the north-east monsoon, and the streams swell to torrents after every shower. During the first two months in the year it is very cold, and the ground is often covered with frost on the upper plateau. In March there are light showers of rain, which increase during April and May, and continue, with strong westerly winds, until October. Thus the Pulneys are within the influence of the south-west monsoon.[435] In June and July, the warmest months, the thermometer never falls below 50°, nor rises above 75°; and the westerly winds, with occasional rain, continue during August and September.
The eastern part of the Pulneys, called Kunnundaven, and Poombary, the principal village to the westward, are inhabited by people of the Kunnuver and Karakat Vellaler castes, numbering about two thousand of both sexes. The villages are chiefly on the lower Pulneys, and one which I visited, called Vilputty, was surrounded by terrace cultivation of mustard, garlic, raggee, and keeree or amaranth. The people also cultivate lablab, limes, oranges, and plantains; and I heard that in one or two villages there were small coffee-gardens. Many low-country natives are also settled on the Pulneys, chiefly men outlawed from their castes; and in the more inaccessible forests are the Poliars, a race of timid wild men of the woods. Chenatumby told me that they have no habitations of any kind, but run through the jungle from place to place, sleep under rocks, and live on wild honey and roots. The women run with them, like wild goats, their children slung in rows on their hips. The Poliars occasionally trade with the country people, who place cotton and grain on some stone, and the wild creatures, as soon as the strangers are out of sight, take them and put honey in their place, but they will allow no one to come near them.
The undulating hills and valleys of the interior plateau are covered with an aromatic grass (Andropogon), which grows in large coarse tufts, like the Stipa ychu in Peru; and it is not until the young tender shoots come out that it affords good pasture for cattle, of which there is a small herd on the hills, belonging to American missionaries and others. The grassy slopes are dotted with tree-Rhododendrons, Gaultherias, Osbeckias, Lobelias, the Hypericum Hookerianum, and brake ferns. This upper plateau is admirably adapted for the growth of English fruits and vegetables. In Mr. Levinge's garden there were bushes of Fuchsias, Daturas, roses, and geraniums; and behind the house grew peach, apple, plum, and loquot-trees, strawberries, potatoes, green peas, and artichokes.
Where there are springs or watercourses on the higher range, there are generally fine wooded "sholas" facing inwards, and very extensive tracts of forest on the outer slopes; but the timber, especially teak and black-wood, has been very extensively cut by the people of the hills. I examined a shola called Minmurdi-karnal near Pattoor, on the south side, another between that and Kodakarnal, and two others, and observed trees of the following genera:— Michelia, Cinnamomum, Dodonæa, Millingtonia, Myrsine, Monocera, Symplocos, Bignonia, Crotalaria, Passiflora, Osbeckia, Jasminum, Hedyotis, Lasianthus, Canthium, and Hymenodictyon. Tree-ferns abound near the streams, and in some of the jungles there were trees of enormous size. Early one morning I went with Chenatumby to see the "pillar-rocks," three miles to the westward of Kodakarnal. They consist of grand perpendicular cliffs descending from the grassy heights, with their bases clothed with forest. Two of them are separated by fissures from the main cliff, and have the appearance of gigantic columns. It was altogether a most magnificent sight, with volumes of fleecy clouds rolling up from the low country, and occasional peeps of the far-away plains and glittering tanks through their folds.
The natives have long been in the habit of recklessly felling the most valuable timber, and acres of fine shola used to be annually destroyed to make clearings for plantain and cardamom groves. For the latter, however, only the small trees and underwood are burnt on the Pulneys, the larger trees being left standing. But this wasteful destruction of timber has recently been checked by the authorities, and in 1860 Mr. Spershneider was appointed as overseer of the Pulney forests, with a small staff, to prevent the reckless cutting of timber, and to mark, from year to year, the trees which arrive at sufficient maturity, and are fit to be felled.
I came to the conclusion that in several of the wooded sholas the chinchona-plant might be cultivated with advantage, the C. Condaminea, and other species which thrive at great elevations, on the upper plateau, and the C. succirubra in Kunnundaven. Mr. Levinge, the Collector of Madura, takes an interest in the experiment, and Mr. Spershneider would be willing to superintend the chinchona plantations; so that, when the undertaking is in a sufficiently advanced stage on the Neilgherry hills to enable Mr. McIvor to distribute plants for cultivation in other parts of India, a number might advantageously be sent to the Pulneys. I understand, too, that it is in contemplation to form a Company for the cultivation of coffee on these hills, in which case it is to be hoped that the extension of the growth of chinchona-plants will be advanced by private enterprise, from motives of humanity as well as with a view to successful commercial speculation.[436]
I did not visit the Anamallay hills, to the south of Coimbatore and westward of the Pulneys, as no planter was as yet established on them, and a considerable time must elapse before they are prepared for the introduction of the chinchona-plant. At the time of my visit no bold clearer of jungles had ventured to invade the domains of the conservators of forests on the Anamallays.
Dr. Cleghorn reports that these hills are under the influence of the south-west monsoon, though not so much so as the Koondahs at Sispara: but I do not find that he gives any detailed account of the amount of moisture in the atmosphere during the winter. The soil is described as deep and covered with rich pasture, streams of water are numerous, there are table-lands 6000 to 7000 feet above the sea, and very fine timber in the ravines. The three hill-tribes, called Kaders, Poliars, and Malsars, trade in cardamoms, turmeric, ginger, honey, wax, resins, soapnuts, and millet. Dr. Cleghorn considers that, from the extent of forest, the resemblance of the flora to that of Ceylon, and the altitude, the Anamallays are suitable for the cultivation of coffee on a large scale, and for colonization of small communities of Englishmen.[437] In this case they are also adapted for the growth of chinchona-plants, and their introduction, which will of course be simultaneous with the settlement of Europeans, will be the more beneficial because the lower slopes of the Anamallays are the haunts of fevers. The quinine-yielding trees will confer blessings on those whose duties or interests oblige them to frequent the forests of the Anamallays, while their cultivation will be a remunerative speculation to the settlers on the upper plateau.