Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/837

MADRAS 831 goat skins, 4,103,867, 448,608 ; sugar, 31,170,- 496 Ibs., 353,040 ; and cocoanut oil, 129,272 cwts., 266,341. The total value of the ex- ports to Great Britain in the same year was 5,653,636. The total value of the imports from Great Britain and the British colonies in 1872 was 1,491,630. In 187l-'2, 3,497 ves- sels, of 493,372 tons, entered the ports of the province from foreign countries ; and the clear- ances to foreign ports comprised 3,738 ves- sels, aggregating 571,728 tons. The ryotwar system of land revenue, whereby each ryot or actual cultivator pays a fixed money as- sessment directly to the government, prevails throughout the greater part of Madras. The net revenue derived from land in 1871-'2 was 4,016,555 on 16,877,509 acres. The districts of Ganjam, Vizagapatam, and a part of Goda- very, embracing most of the former Northern Circars, are subject to a permanent land settle- ment like that of Bengal ; and there are many rent-free estates in the country. In Malabar a proprietary tenure exists, the landlords re- taining from 20 to 40 per cent, of the rent received from the cultivators, and paying the balance to the government. The salt mo- nopoly yielded a net income of 1,153,425 in 187l-'2. A bonus of 40,000 a year is paid to the French government to prevent the manu- facture of salt at Pondicherry. The receipts for customs in 1871-'2 were 298,206, and the excise revenue was 553,791. Under the for- mer division of British India into three presi- dencies, the proper designation of Madras was the presidency of Fort St. George, from the name of the principal fortification at the capital. The administration is in the hands of a gover- nor, assisted by a council of three persons, of whom the commander-in-chief is . one, and also by a legislative council. The governor h appointed by the crown. The military force under the government supplies troops not only for Madras itself, but also for the Central Provinces, the Nizam's Dominions, Mysore, and Burmah; in 187l-'2 it comprised 40,121 men, of whom 26,934 were natives and the rest British. There are 46 municipalities in Ma- dras. The principal cities and towns are Ma- dras, the capital, Ganjam, Bellary, Tanjore, Trichinopoly, Calicut, and Cochin. The entire number of judicial divisions is 699, with 760 judges. There are six classes of civil tribunals and seven classes of criminal courts. The high court, composed of a chief justice and four puis- ne justices, exercises original civil and criminal jurisdiction in the city of Madras, and appellate jurisdiction throughout the country. In 1871-'2 there were 4,401 schools and colleges in the province, with an average daily attendance of 135,192 pupils. At the head of these educa- tional institutions stands the Madras univer- sity, attended by more than 500 undergradu- ates; with it are affiliated 13 colleges and 52 high schools. In the southern districts ^ edu- cation is largely under the control of Christian missionaries, who exert great influence, partic- 520 VOL. x. 53 ularly in Tanjore, Tinnevelli, Travancore, and Madura ; in the last named district there is a prosperous American mission with 7,000 con- verts. There are 160,955 native converts in the province. Hindoos make up the bulk of the population, and more than half the entire number of inhabitants are of Tamil nationality. The country is well furnished with medical dispensaries, which are numerous and popular. In 187l-'2 there were 508 books published in Madras, in the English, Tamil, Telugu, Malaya- lim, and Canarese languages. The latest offi- cial reports contain no information as to the newspapers. II. A city, capital of the prov- ince, on the Coromandel coast of the bay of Bengal, in lat. 13 5' 10" K, Ion. 80 16' 29" E., 835 m. S. W. of Calcutta, and 640 m. S. E. of Bombay; pop. in 1872, 395,440, mostly Hindoos. According to the census of June 15, 1871, there were but 1,308 British-born resi- dents. The city extends about 9 m. along the shore, with an average breadth of 3 m. It is bounded S. by the small river Adyar, which is not navigable; another small river called the Kuam, at the mouth of which is an island, flows through the city from W. to E., and con- nected with this stream is the Cochrane canal, extending northward. Fort St. George, a strong and handsome fortress, having a double line of bomb-proof defences on the land side, and a sea face 500 yards in length, with ac- commodations for a garrison of 1,000 men, fronts the sea immediately N. of the mouth of the Kuam. The most populous section of the city, called the Black Town, is about 1 m. in width, extending northward from the Kuam, and 1J m. long, between the Cochrane canal and, the seashore. It is protected by a stone wall against the inroads of the spring tides, to which its low level renders it liable. It con- tains three broad and well built streets, in which there are some fine residences and shops ; but the minor streets, inhabited by the natives, are narrow -and dirty. In the outskirts or suburbs of the city, which rise to a height of 20 ft. above the sea level back of the Black Town, are many ornamental villas belonging to the European residents, usually light and comfortable two-story dwellings, in enclosures thickly planted with shade trees. The custom house, some of the government buildings, and the warehouses and offices of the principal European merchants, are built along the beach; and here too are the principal drive and prom- enade, and the fine esplanade adjoining the fort. The government house stands in a park on the S. side of the Kuam river, opposite the island ; immediately W. of it, on the shore of the bay of Bengal, is the marine villa, where the governor resides in hot weather. Other notable public buildings are the arsenal, the mint, the military male orphan asylum, the university, and the Madras club. There are three cathedrals in the city, English (St. George's), Scotch (St. Andrew's), and Roman Catholic, seven or eight Anglican churches,