In 1820 Mr. John Sullivan, then Collector of Coimbatore, built the first house in Ootacamund, on the site of a Todar mund of the same name.[410] It is now used as the building for the Lawrence Asylum. The first sanatarium on the hills, however, was at Dimhutty, on the eastern side, and at the adjoining station of Kotergherry, but the former is now abandoned. The delightful climate soon attracted crowds of visitors from the burning plains; many houses gradually rose up on the grassy slopes round the lake which was formed at Ootacamund by bunding up one end of the valley, and the place rapidly became an important hill-station. A small native town and bazaar sprang up on the banks of the lake, a handsome church was erected, a club-house, and, most conspicuous of all, an immense Parsee shop kept by Framjee Nusserwanjee of Bombay. The roads are excellent, and planted with tall graceful Acacia and gum-trees from Australia, and many of the houses are surrounded by beautiful gardens and shrubberies. The most charming, perhaps, is that of the late Bishop Dealtry, called Bishops-down, whence there is a glorious view of the station on one side, and of the distant Koondah hills, overtopped by the sharp peak of Makoorty, on the other. Advantage has here been taken of a wooded shola to make pleasant shady walks, and cut vistas through the trees.
The warmer station of Coonoor is about nine miles from Ootacamund, at the head of the ghaut which leads down to the plains of Coimbatore. Here the scenery is far more beautiful than at the central station, as the wooded sides of the ghaut run up into a fine peak called the Hoolicul-droog, and the view extends far away over the plains. The houses are perched on the rounded tops of a range of hills, and there is a church with a fine tower, which is a great addition to the view of Coonoor from the surrounding eminences. A mile from Coonoor, in the direction of Ootacamund, is the military station of Jakatalla, the finest barracks I ever saw in any part of the world. It is well sheltered by high hills from the cold north winds to which Ootacamund is exposed, as well as from the south-west monsoon, and is in every respect admirably adapted as a sanatarium for soldiers and their families. It has been maintained that the children of Europeans cannot be reared even on the hills of India, though upon what grounds this extraordinary assertion is based I have not yet learnt. The strongest arguments against this idea are the fresh rosy cheeks and rude health of the boys and girls in the Lawrence asylum, and of the boys and young men at Mr. Pope's[411] and Mr. Nash's schools in Ootacamund, who present a striking contrast to the children on the plains. The bracing climate of the upper plateau of these hills appears to me to be perfectly well adapted for European colonists: it has all the advantages with none of the disadvantages of England, and there are no influences which can be detrimental to English constitutions. At the time of our visit a battalion of the 60th Rifles, and a number of convalescent soldiers from other regiments, were stationed at Jakatalla. The quarters for the men are built round a large quadrangle, with an upper story, and airy corridors for exercise in wet weather. Beyond are the married quarters for ninety couples, each with two comfortable rooms and a little garden; and there are also a hospital, library, schoolrooms, substantially-built skittle-alley with brick arches, fives-court, and swimming-bath. The officers are quartered in bungalows on the surrounding hill-slopes, or at Coonoor. It would be well if the whole of the European troops in the Madras Presidency were permanently quartered on the Neilgherry and other hills as soon as the railroads are completed. Many of the married men might be permitted to cultivate and settle on land of their own, with their families, subject to the condition of being liable to be called on to serve if required, and a sort of military colony might thus be formed. There is excellent pasture for flocks of sheep, wheat may be grown in any quantity, and there is not the slightest danger to Europeans in undertaking field labour.
The English settler on the Neilgherries will find English fruits, flowers, vegetables, and grasses, the introduction of which is mainly due to the exertions of Mr. William G. McIvor, the Superintendent of the Government gardens at Ootacamund, and now also Superintendent of Chinchona plantations in Southern India. This gentleman has been in charge of the gardens at Ootacamund since 1848, and unites zeal, intelligence, and skill to the talent and experience of an excellent practical gardener. Under his auspices the steep slopes of one of the spurs, which run off from the peak of Dodabetta, and overlook the cantonment of Ootacamund, have been converted into a tastefully laid-out garden, in a succession of terraces. Hampered at first by the interference of a useless committee, and with no assistance beyond that of an East Indian foreman and labourers from the Mysore plains, he has succeeded in changing the wild mountain-sides into a very beautiful public garden. Every point of view is taken advantage of with admirable taste, and numerous trees and flowering shrubs have been introduced from England, Australia, and other countries, while the native flora of the hills is fully represented. There are English roses and geraniums, ponds bordered by white arums, shady walks over-arched by trellis-work, tasteful vases filled with showy flowers, thickets of rhododendrons, hedges of heliotrope and fuchsia, fine clumps of tall spreading trees, and, from the upper terraces, between the leafy branches, there are glorious views of the Ootacamund valley, and of the finely broken range of the distant Koondah hills.
Mr. McIvor also has a small branch-garden at Kalhutty, about half-way down the Seegoor ghaut, leading to the Mysore plains, for raising fruits which require a warmer climate. This garden is self-supporting. A magnificent waterfall descends into a rocky basin close beside it, and the garden contains oranges of many kinds, shaddocks, lemons, limes, citrons, nutmegs, loquats, and plantains. On this spot the delicious chirimoyas, the seeds of which we brought from Peru, will hereafter ripen, and enable the people of India to taste the "masterpiece of nature."
European enterprise on the Neilgherries has hitherto been chiefly directed towards the cultivation of coffee, and there are several fine estates near Coonoor. On the 15th of November we set out from Ootacamund to visit them, and rode down the valley of Kaitee, where the house stands which once belonged to Lord Elphinstone, certainly not in a well-selected spot. It was originally chosen for a Government farm, which was given up, and the house was then occupied for a short time by the Governor of Pondicherry. Lord Elphinstone, when Governor of Madras, took a fancy to the place, erected a very substantial house, finished it handsomely, and frequently resided there. In 1845 the property was bought by Mr. Casamajor of the Civil Service, who established a school there for Badaga children, on the principle of paying them for coming, at the rate of 1 anna a day. On his death he left it to the Basle Evangelical Missionaries, by whom it is now occupied. They have schools, and labour amongst the Badagas, but as yet with scarcely any success.
The stream which drains the Kaitee valley forms a very beautiful waterfall down the face of a cliff into the Karteri valley, where there is a small coffee estate worked by a Frenchman; and, after crossing a range of hills, in parts thickly wooded, and in parts covered with a shrubby Justitia with a blue flower, we reached the coffee plantation of Hoolicul,[412] owned by Mr. Stainbank. The highest part of his estate is 5700 feet above the sea,[413] and here he has twenty-five acres planted in rather poor soil. Below his house there are about forty-five more acres planted, down the steep slopes of the hill, some of the bushes in very good bearing. They are thick, as he is against pruning the branches, saying that when covered by leafy branches the fruit ripens by degrees, and consequently requires less labour in picking. The estate has passed through several hands, and the oldest trees were planted seventeen years ago. Mr. Stainbank expects eventually to get fifty tons of coffee off this estate, in the year. An acre will occasionally yield twenty-five hundredweight.
The view from the house is very fine. The plantation slopes away by a very steep descent, and in the distance are the Lambton's Peak range of mountains, and the wide plains of Coimbatore.
Leaving Hoolicul, we again descended into the ravine of Karteri, where the river passes close under the steep face of the hills on which the station of Coonoor stands, and on the slopes of the opposite mountains there are several coffee estates. Mr. Dawson, a son of the landlord of the hotel at Ootacamund, has 100 acres planted; but the most extensive estate, on the steep slopes overlooking the ghaut leading down into the Coimbatore plains, belongs to Mr. Stanes. He has 200 acres planted with 250,000 trees, up the precipitous sides of the mountain, facing east, and protected from the excessive rains of the S.W. monsoon. The elevation above the sea is upwards of 4800 feet. On the summits of the mountains above this estate Mr. Stanes has induced the Todars to form two cattle crawls, whence manure is washed down to his plantation. The trees are planted in rows, 6 to 8 feet apart, and regularly topped and pruned, so as to admit the sun to ripen the fruit on every branch. They are from 4 to 6 feet high, and planted in holes 20 inches deep by 18; the young plants being brought from a nursery, where seedlings are raised. The trees are generally in full bearing in the third year. After the berries are picked, and brought in baskets to the godown or warehouse, the pulp or fleshy part has to be removed. The berries are placed in heaps in a loft, above the pulper, looking bright and red like ripe cherries. They are then sent down a shoot, into which a stream of water is conducted, and are thus washed into the pulper. On Mr. Stanes's estate this machine is worked by a water-wheel, but generally it is turned by hand and a fly-wheel. The pulper is a roller covered with a sheet of copper, made rough like a nutmeg-grater. The berries fall on it as it goes round, but there is only room for the seed to pass, so that the pulp is squeezed off, and carried away by a stream thrown off by the water-wheel, while the naked coffee drops on the other side. The seeds are still covered with glutinous matter, to remove which they are well washed in a cistern, the inferior ones floating, while the good ones sink. The coffee-seeds are then laid out on the barbecus, square platforms of brick plastered with chunam, with sides a foot high; where they dry in the sun for about three days, and are afterwards stored in the godowns.
It is estimated that an acre of jungle on the Neilgherries may be cleared for 200 Rs., including all expenses. The coffee-seedlings, from the nursery, may be planted out in seven months, and they will yield a first crop in three years. Coffee-seeds are 5 Rs. a bushel, and that quantity will rear 10,000 plants, covering 10 acres. One acre ought to yield one ton, when well cultivated, selling at Calicut, uncleaned, for 4 annas the pound. In three years the estate ought to pay 10 per cent. on the capital expended, if well conducted; the next year the gross profit should increase to 60 per cent., and afterwards to 100 per cent. A good dwelling-house will cost 4000 Rs.; the pulping-house, machinery, and godowns, 4000 Rs. more. Carpenters get 20 Rs. a month, bricklayers 15 Rs., with 2 annas a day batta for coming out of the town, and common labourers 4½ Rs.