Everything, however, depends upon the method which is adopted for the cultivation of the chinchona-plants in the experimental plantations; and, in a future chapter, I propose to give a detailed account of the course of events, as regards the chinchona-plants on the Neilgherry hills, up to the latest date. CHAPTER XXIV. JOURNEY TO THE PULNEY HILLS. Coonoor ghaut--Coimbatore--Pulladom--Cotton cultivation--Dharapurum--A marriage procession--Dindigul--Ryotwarry tenure--Pulney hills--Kodakarnal--Extent of the Pulneys--Formation--Soil--Climate--Inhabitants--Flora--Suitability for chinchona cultivation--Forest conservancy--Anamallay hills. IN the end of November I set out from Ootacamund, by way of the Coonoor ghaut and Coimbatore, with the intention of examining the suitability of the Pulney hills in Madura for chinchona cultivation. The Coonoor ghaut, on the southern side of the Neilgherry hills, leads down into the plain of Coimbatore. The road is good, though much too steep ever to make a convenient means of carriage traffic, and the scenery is exceedingly fine. The deep gorge has forest-covered mountains on the left, and a grand range of cliffs on the right, crowned by the bold peak of the Hoolicul Droog. There are few districts in India without some local tradition respecting the five Pandus,[423] the great mythical heroes of ancient Hindoo history, and the Hoolicul Droog is not without one. It is said that the fort on the summit of the Droog was inhabited by a _rakshi_ or giant named Pukasooren, who levied a tribute on the people of the plains, in the shape of a cart-load of provisions daily. When he had eaten the provisions he swallowed the driver, and kicked the cart down again. Bhima, the impersonation of strength, when passing through this part of the country, volunteered to act as driver, had a desperate encounter with the giant, and killed him. The dying Pukasooren cursed the whole country over which the shadow of the mountain fell during the day, and it has ever since been the abode of a deadly fever. It is certain that the jungles at the roots of the hills are the most fever-haunted districts in India, and I rode rapidly through this belt of forests, and along a road bordered with _cana-fistula_ and _sappan_-trees,[424] to the village of Matepoliem, on the banks of the river Bowany, and five miles from the foot of the ghaut.