354. 
CHAPTER XIX. 
speaking, the planters of the North have endeavoured to secure permanent 
settlers. In the South the plantations extend to Indian States, in some of 
which, e.g., Mysore, Cochin and Travancore, they are to be found in large 
numbers, while in the North the planting areas are almost entirely 
situated within British India. This is a factor which may present 
difficulties if labour legislation in the Indian States does not keep pace 
with British India, but we deal with this question in greater detail 
elsewhere. 
Plantations in South India. 
The plantations in the South are to be found in the highest 
parts of the Peninsula. The important planting areas in British India 
are the Nilgiris, Malabar, the Anamalais and the Shevaroys in Madras and 
the small province of Coorg. The Nilgiris form a large plateau at the 
junction of the Western and Eastern Ghats, with an average elevation 
of 6,000 feet above sea level. All thethree main plantation crops are 
grown in this area, of which tea is now the most important, giving 
employment to about 31,000 persons, as compared with over 12,000 
in the case of coffee and only about 400 in the case of rubber. 
Labour for the plantations in the Nilgiris is obtained locally and 
from the neighbouring districts of Coimbatore. and Salem, a small 
proportion also coming from the Indian State of Mysore. Coffee, tea 
and rubber are also grown in the Malabar district. The coffee and 
tea plantations are to be found chiefly in the Wynaad, a table- 
land 60 miles long by 30 miles wide lying amid the Ghats at an average 
elevation of 3,000 feet above sea level. Owing to its rainfall, the rest of 
the district is suited only for the cultivation of rubber. The total labour 
force on the plantations is about 20,000, of whom the large majority are 
employed on the tea plantations. The supply of labour is mainly local, 
but part of it comes from Coimbatore, Salem and the Indian State of 
Mysore. The Anamalais are a series of forest-clad plateaux in the south 
of Coimbatore district, on the lower slopes of which a number of tea 
plantations have recently been opened, which employ about 30,000 
persons. Coffee is cultivated on a very small scale. The plantations 
obtain over a third of their labour force from within the district and the 
remainder from Malabar, Salem, Tinnevelly, Madura and Trichinopoly. 
The Shevaroys are a small detached rangein the Salem district. The 
plantations here are chiefly coffee estates, employing about 5,000 workers, 
all of whom are recruited within the district. 
Coorg. 
The small province of Coorg is a highland country to the west 
of the State of Mysore, on the summits and slopes of the Western Ghats. 
Coffee is the most important crop, but tea and rubber are also grown in 
small patches. The total labour force is about 24,000, most of which 
has to be imported from outside the province. The local inhabitants 
are the Kodagas or Coorgs proper, who from time immemorial were the 
lords of the soil, and the hill tribes, such as the Yeravas and the Kurabas, 
who were formerly their serfs but are now free. The Kodagas number