<P> The road...from Marioor to Chinnar, is just about as bad as could be imagined, and, in many places, is not unlike the rocky bed of a mountain stream...it being impossible to ride--the horses having to be guided with great care by the syces, but at the end of 3 miles we came to a level road and here we found 3 bullock gharries...waiting for us...Sir John lay down in one of them and the other two were loaded with the baggage...The first 4 miles or so of the road that we had to do to Oodamullapet, our destination, were very bad and heavy with sand, and we made very slow progress, but after that we got on to an excellent road ...' ' </P> <P> HM Knight was appointed the first General Manager, but with his new bride having just died, he was making plans to leave the country . Nevertheless, opening up of the jungle continued under Payne and with other experienced planters brought in from Ceylon . And A Suppan Chetty's Pankajam Company at the foot of the ghats . In 1897, the Kannan Devan Hills produce company was registered as a separate company with a capital of 1.5 million and together with, a few years later, the American Direct Tea Trading Company Ltd., another member of the Finlay Group, became holders of almost the entire concession, except for a few estates first planted in the lower reaches by the pioneers . They owned 26 Estates, a few with coffee, most with cinchona . </P> <P> The name Munnar is believed to mean "three rivers", referring to its location at the confluence of the Mudhirapuzha, Nallathanni and Kundaly rivers . </P> <P> Geographic coordinates of Munnar is 10 ° 05 ′ 21" N 77 ° 03 ′ 35" E. Munnar town is situated on the Kannan Devan Hills village in Devikulam taluk and is the largest panchayat in the Idukki district covering an area of nearly 557 square kilometres (215 sq mi). </P>

What is the meaning of munnar in english