bore the inscription "Gudalur 26 miles." Far as the eye could see the downs rose and fell like the great green waves of a tempest-lashed sea. The breeze blew freshly from the west, and cows grazed on the short grass.
A sharp pull up at Sandy Nullah toll-gate, where a fee of eight annas is charged. After this the downs are somewhat bare for awhile, and strewn with grey boulders stained a rusty yellow. Buffaloes were munching contentedly in charge of Badagas, the second of the hill tribes peculiar to the Nilgiris. Although not in the least picturesque they are the most useful of the three races. The third are the Kotahs, from whom Kotagiri derives its name. They ply the profession of musicians, and are greatly feared for the magic arts which they practise. Both they and the Badagas acknowledge the Todas as overlords.
A side road branched off to Dunsandle Tea Estate. The highway wound steeply up to command a spacious view of rolling green downs, darkened on the horizon by distant tree-tops which stood out sharply against the blue line of the sky. On through Windy Gap, the scene of the last Point-to-Point races. Thereafter the downs became broken up by sholas. The road ran through a wood scented with flowering trees, in gloomy contrast to which were those grey and ghostly branches shrouded in lichen, or so-called Spanish moss. Out into the sunlight of the downs again, then the road wound on amid trees, bramble and bracken, and a line of green hills stretched along the horizon to the west. Imperceptibly almost, the high ground shifted from right to left. Into the twilight of
