Dindigul is about forty miles from the foot of the ghaut leading up to the Pulney hills, and relays of bullocks were posted for me every seven miles, with a man running in front of the cart with a blazing torch. Passing through the village of Periacolum, round which there are many large tanks and extensive rice cultivation, we reached the jungle at the foot of the Pulney hills at early dawn. The path, which is only practicable for ponies and pack-bullocks, leads up a ravine for half the distance, and then corkscrews up the steep sides of the mountain. The range looks very imposing from the plain, but not equal to the Neilgherries at the foot of the Coonoor ghaut. After resting under a clump of trees I commenced the ascent on foot, driving an unhappy sheep before me, which was to be sacrificed on the summit, where, at this time of the year, there are no residents, no market, and no means of procuring any supplies. The ascent is exceedingly beautiful, but the undergrowth is thick grass, and the vegetation is not nearly so luxuriant as at similar elevations on the Neilgherries. The trees are chiefly _Leguminosæ_, and at an elevation of 3000 feet chinchonaceous plants commence, amongst which I observed the _Hymenodictyon excelsum_. At 6000 feet the steep ascent is covered with long grass, and trees are confined to sheltered hollows and ravines. After reaching the plateau it is necessary to scale a second steep grassy slope before arriving at the settlement of Kodakarnal, which is 7230 feet above the level of the sea. Kodakarnal consists of eight houses, built along the crests of undulating hills, and one of the inner slopes is clothed with a wood of fine trees and tree-ferns, from which the Tamil people have named the settlement.[433] Round the houses there are gum-trees. _Acacia heterophylla_, _Cassia glauca_, fruit-trees, and hedges of roses and geraniums as at Ootacamund. The houses belong to the officials of the Madura district, the American missionaries, a Mr. Clerk of Madras, and the French priest of Pondicherry, who come here to recruit their healths, and for short intervals of holiday and relaxation.