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.