Ootacamund

Ootacamund, or UTAKAMAND, the chief town in the Neilgherry (q.v.) Hills, the principal sanatorium of the Madras Presidency, and the summer headquarters of the governor of Madras. It stands on a plateau, in an amphitheatre surrounded by hills, 7228 feet above the sea, 350 miles from Madras city, and 24 from the nearest railway station on the Madras line. There are a public library (1859), the Lawrence Asylum (1858) for the children of British soldiers, and botanical gardens. The mean annual temperature is 58° F. The first house was built in 1821. Pop. 12,335.