In the open grassy slopes and near the edges of the wooded ravines are several _Vaccinia_, especially the _Vaccinium Leschenaultii_, a shrub with pretty rose-coloured flowers; the beautiful _Osbeckia Gardneriana_, with a profusion of large purple flowers; the handsome _Viburnum Wightianum_; a number of balsams (_Impatiens_ of several species); the _Gaultheria Leschenaultii_ in great quantities, a pretty little shrub with white flowers and blue berries; the _Berberis Mahonia_, with its glossy prickly leaves and long slender racemes of yellow flowers; and the bright little pink _Indigofera pulchella_; while the climbing passion-flower (_Passiflora Leschenaultii_) hangs in festoons over the trees, especially in the eastern parts of the hills. Among the more inconspicuous plants are the _Gallium requienianum_; the _Rubia cordifolia_;[402] the thorny _Solanum ferox_, with stem and leaves covered with strong straight prickles; the _Girardinia Leschenaultii_,[403] or Neilgherry nettle, a most virulent stinger; the tall _Lobelia excelsa_; a _Justitia_, with a blue flower, which entirely covers some of the hills; some pretty _Sonerilas_; several beautiful _Ipomœas_ and _lilies; elsias_; and the _Hypericum Hookerianum_, growing plentifully in the meadows, with large orange flowers; besides ferns, lycopods, and numberless small wild flowers in the grass and underwood. Enjoying a delightful climate, well supplied with water, and with its gentle undulations of hill and dale in some places clothed with rich pasture, in others presenting woods of fine timber and beautiful flowering shrubs, the Neilgherry hills are eminently fitted for the abode of a thriving and civilized people. Yet for many centuries it would appear that their sole inhabitants were a strange race of cowherds, a people differing in all respects from their neighbours in the plains, and indeed from all the other natives of Hindostan.