Yours faithfully, W. BANNISTER. To J. LUSHINGTON, Esq. &c. &c. I have noticed in a preceding page, that the difficulties which induced the Bishop of Cal- cutta to decline a visit to the Neilgherries on his way to Bombay, for his own gratification, yielded to his sense of duty when he found that a Christian Church awaited his consecration. With what alacrity he entered upon this holy office, his own letters are the best proof, and the AND NEILGHERRY HILLS. 55 ceremony was performed under circumstances that will make the first day of offering up sup- plications and thanks in a Protestant Temple amidst these mountains, a day much to be re- membered. I have the satisfaction of giving to the reader an account of the ceremony as writ- ten by the late Mr. James Lushington ; and some passages from the sermon preached by the Bishop on that occasion. " On the 5th of December 1830, the church, of which the foundations were laid last year at Oatacamund by the Governor, was consecrated by the Bishop of Calcutta. " The day was peculiarly propitious to the