The number of ports in Malabar is very large, but many of them are only occasionally visited by small coasting craft. The following list, proceeding from north to south, gives such particulars of them as are worthy of notice : —

(1) Kavvayi.—Small craft enter the mouth of the Kavvayi river.

(2) Ellikkulam.—This is a small, picturesquely situated village, in a bay just under the mount Deli promontory, and commanded by the old mount Deli redoubt now in ruins. When the wind is from north-north-west large numbers of country craft bound to the northward take shelter in this bay and wait till the wind takes a favourable slant for the continuation of their voyages. In former days this bay was a regular resort of the pirates who infested the coasts, and who came in here to waylay their victims and to take in wood and water.

(3) Putiyangadi.—Fourteen miles north of Cannanore. A very small port of call on the open coast for country craft taking in cocoanuts and other produce. The name means “new bazaar” and it was probably so called to distinguish it from Palayangadi or “old bazaar” a place of ancient repute on the Taliparamba river.

(4) Valarpattanam.—This port has a fair amount of coasting trade. Craft of considerable size enter the river of the same name and take in the country produce brought to market at Valarpattanam by the rivers (Valarpattanam and Taliparamba) which here unite their streams.

(5) Cannanore. —This is the principal port of the group composed of Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. The average tonnage is 459,253 per annum. The imports average Rs. 21,44,726 and exports Rs. 13,87,749.

It was described by the first Europeans who saw it as “a large town of thatched houses inside a bay.” — (Correa, .p. 145).

Most of the houses are now tiled, and the barracks of the European troops, and the bungalows of the officers dotted along the low cliffs, and the fort built by the Portuguese on the promontory north of the bay, stand prominently out when approached from seaward. Being the headquarters of the Malabar and Canara brigade, coasting steamers call here regularly ; but of trade there is not much, particularly since the excise system of managing the Government salt monopoly was introduced. The best anchorage for large vessels in the roads is with the following bearings : —Flagstaff N.E. by N. to N.E. by E. in from five and a half to six fathoms, and about two and a half miles off shore, while small coasting craft find shelter in the bay under the guns of the fort situated on a promontory commanding the native town. The port limits are as follows:-

To the north.—The boundary pillar one mile north of the fort.

To the south.- -The boundary pillar two miles south of the fort.

To the east.—The seashore between them to within fifty yards of high-water mark, spring tides.

To the west.—The space enclosed by two lines running duo west from the boundary pillars to nine fathoms water. There is a flagstaff in the fort with a light for the shipping in the roadstead.

(6) Elam or Agarr.—This port is at the mouth of a small stream, the bar of which, however, cannot he crossed even by small craft. The English factors at Tellicherry had a warehouse here for collecting pepper.

(7) Dharmmapattanam.—A small bay at the month of the southern branch of the Anjarakandi river, which, however, cannot be entered by any but the smallest coasting vessels.

(8) Tellicherry .—This is the principal port of the group composed of Nos. 6, 7, 8 and 9. It is not, as sometimes supposed, a place of ancient trade. It was the Honourable East India Company’s first regular settlement on the Malabar coast. ‘Let us be sole. Masters of the pepper trade” they said, and accordingly selected the site of the town as the most favourable point they could at the time obtain for commanding the pepper trade in the Kottayam and Kolattiri Raja’s dominions.

Dharmmapattanam [No. (7)] would have suited their purpose better, but this ancient trading post was at the beginning of the eighteenth century in dispute between three country powers—the Kolattiri and the Kottayam Rajas, and Ali Raja of Cannanore. And it was not till some years afterwards and under pressure of a Canarese invasion, that a favourable opportunity occurred for securing Dharmmapattanam Island for the Honourable Company. A scheme for moving the Tellicherry Factory bodily to Dharmmapattanam Island was sanctioned immediately after the acquisition of the latter, but, on account of the expense of moving, the scheme was never carried out, though it was steadily kept in view oven up to the time (1792) when Malabar was finally ceded to the British by Tippu Sultan.

The Factors completed about 1708 the building of a fort on a rocky cliff projecting into the sea at Tellicherry, and this port continued to be one of the principal trading posts of the Honourable Company down to 1702. It was subordinate to the Company’s chief settlement at Bombay. The average tonnage now-a-days is 601,404 per annum. The imports average Rs, 42,0.8,272 and the exports Rs, 78,05,718. It is a place of considerable trade, of which the most valuable articles of export are coffee and pepper, and the most valuable imports are rice and salt.

The best anchorage for large vessels is with the following bearings :—Flagstaff N.K. by N. in six fathoms and about two miles off shore. Coasting craft come into the bay, lying south of a reef of rocks, which, at a distance of about a thousand yards from shore, runs parallel to the coast line. Instances have been known of vessels of six hundred or eight hundred tons in ballast passing the monsoon under shelter of this reef.

The custom house is in the centre of the business quarter of the town. The port is supplied with a flagstaff on a bastion of the Honourable Company’s fort! And here, too, is a white light (sixth order dioptric) displayed at a height of ninety feet above water mark and visible about six miles.

The limits of the port of Tellicherry are as follows : —

To the north.—The boundary pillar one and a half miles north of the custom house.

To the south.—The boundary pillar one and a half miles south of the custom house.

To the east .—The seashore between them to within fifty yards of high-water mark, spring tides.

To the west.—The space enclosed by the two lines funning due west from the boundary pillars to nine fathoms water.

(9) Talayi .—Is a small port on the open coast about one and a half miles south of Tellicherry.

(10) Kallayi.—This port is inside the bar of the Mahe river, which can be entered by small-sized country craft. There is little coasting trade, but the land customs of the French settlement provide some occupation for the establishment here maintained, there is no port subordinate to it. Its average tonnage is 1 6,966 per annum, imports Rs. 2,24,732, exports Rs. 82,728.

(11) Chombayi or Chombal.—This port is on the open coast, and an occasional load of cocoanuts is taken to market. It lies about five miles north of Vadakara.

(12) Muttungal.—The same remarks apply to this port, which lies about three miles north of Vadakara. It was a notorious haunt of pirates in former days.

(13) Vadakara.—This is a place of considerable trade on the open coast and coasting steamers occasionally call. The chief exports are coffee and dried and fresh cocoanuts ; the chief imports rice and salt. It is the chief port of the group composed of Nos. 11, 12, 13 and 14, Its average tonnage is 202,735 per annum. Its average imports are worth Rs. 7,42,241 and its exports Rs. 13,84,921 .

(14) Kottakkal.—At the mouth of the Kotta river, was a famous resort for pirates in former days. They made prizes of all vessels not carrying the pass of the Kadattunad Rajah, their sovereign, who was styled the lord of the seas. But for the fact that a canal, partly natural, partly artificial, gives access from the Kotta river to Vadakara, the trade at this port would be considerable.

(15) Trikkodi and (10) Kadalur.—Are small ports, with occasional craft calling to load with cocoanuts and other country produce.

(17) Kollam .—This is the Northern Quilon, as distinguished from Quilon proper in Travancore, which is styled Southern Kollam by Malayalis. Some confusion has sometimes arisen from the fact not being known that there are two Kollams, both of which were important places in former days. This place, about one and a half miles north of Kovilkandi (Quilandy, Coilandy), is sometimes also called by another name which it bears, Pantalayini, or Pantalayini Kollam. This is the Pandarani of Portuguese writers, the Flandrina of Friar Odoric, the Fandreeah of Rowlandson’s Tahafat-ul- Mujahidin, the Fandaraina of Ibn Batuta.

Some accounts say that it was here Vasco da Gama brought his ships (probably from Kappatt), and it was here he landed. This is not at all improbable. It was certainly here that the Morning Star, a vessel belonging to the Honourable Company, was wrecked as already described (ante, p. 30), and the fact of the existence of the mud-bank gave colour to the story that it was here that Vasco da Gama lay with his ships, protected by the mud-bank, during the monsoon of 1498.

The mud-bank still exists, and in the monsoon season it is generally possible to land in a small bay immediately to the south of the promontory which is used as a Muhammadan burial-ground. Moreover, even now, sailing ships from the Arabian Coast and Persian Gulf invariably touch here if the monsoon is still blowing when they arrive off the coast, and the fact that Vasco da Gama’s expedition reached the coast on 26th August, at a time, that is, when the monsoon must still have been blowing, is much in favour of the supposition that it was here, and not at Kappatt, that Vasco da Gama landed.

Indeed, Correa’s account, which is evidently the most trustworthy, is silent on the point, and his statement that the anchors were dropped at Kappatt is quite reconcilable with the other account which points out Kollam as the eventual landing-place ; for this account also say the ships were brought subsequently to “Pandarane” (i.e.) Pantalayini ), and this is not contradicted by Correa.

(18) Kovilkandi (Quilandy, Coilandy),—This port has some trade, and the ports Nos. 15, 16, 17, and 19 are subordinate to it. Its average tonnage is 15,865 per annum. Its average imports are valued at Rs. 2,33,690 and exports at Rs. 2,46,843. Some years ago this was the favourite starting and landing place for Muhammadan pilgrims to Mecca, but of recent years and since the introduction of steamers the passenger traffic has fallen off.

(19) Kappatti or Kappallangadi.—This little port on the open coast is famous as the place where Vasco da Gama’s expedition first dropped anchor. Correa’s account may be here transcribed. “The ships,” after sighting mount Deli and passing Cannanore, “ continued running along the coast close to land, for the coast was clear, without banks against which to take precautions : and the pilots gave orders to cast anchor in a place which made a sort of bay, because there commenced the city of Calicut.

This town is named Capocate.” The “city of Calicut” does not commence for eight miles more to the southward, but what was meant probably was that there commenced the dominions of the Zamorin of Calicut. The place is an insignificant minor port where country craft sometimes come to lade with bulky country produce.

(20) Elattur.—A small port at the month of the river of the same name. Small vessels do not enter the river ; they call here occasionally for country produce.

(21) Puliyangadi.—A small port on the outskirts of Calicut, where country vessels sometimes call.

(22) Calicut.—This is one of the largest ports in the presidency. The tonnage frequenting it annually averages 902,119 tons. The average, value of its imports, chiefly consisting of grain, salt, and piece-goods, is Rs. 68,43,021, and of its exports, chiefly consisting of coffee, pepper, timber, ginger, etc., Rs. 1,22,37,598. It was in ancient days, when the Zamorin’s influence was supreme on the Malabar Coast, a place of great trade.

The nations of the West came here for spices, popper, and cloth (calico); the Chinese even came from the far East in their gigantic floating hulks. It probably rose into importance about the eleventh or twelfth century A.D. In the first half of the fourteenth century, when Shaik Ibn Batuta visited it, it was certainly a place of great trade, and so it continued till the arrival of the Portuguese in the end of the fifteenth century. After that its decline was rapid owing to the interference of the Portuguese with the Muhammadan trade, and it has never since then recovered its position, as Cochin, its rival, under Portuguese and Dutch influence, has, with its greater natural facilities, always hitherto had an advantage.

In later times the French, Danes, and English had small trading factories at Calicut. It was here that the notorious pirate Captain Kydd began his career of crime. Aided by several noblemen, he had, in 1695, fitted out his ship the “Adventure,” a galley of thirty guns with two hundred men, to attack and destroy "the buccaneers who had their rendezvous at Madagascar, and who preyed to such an extent on the native trade that the Honourable Company feared the Mogul Emperor would take to making reprisals on them. His mission failed if it ever was seriously undertaken, and Captain Kydd finally threw off the mask and made prize of a small Dutch bark at Calicut, carrying it off to Madagascar.

Shortly afterwards he took the “Quedah Merchant,” of four hundred tons, with a cargo valued at four lakhs of rupees. After this he was joined by others, and his force was eventually composed of five ships (one hundred and eighty guns), two of which constantly cruised off Cape Camorin and the three others off the Malabar Coast, the port of Porcat (Porukatt) being free to them. After a short but brilliant career he returned to St. Mary’s Island off Madagascar and partitioned his gains among his crew. He then sailed for the West Indies, was arrested in America by one of the noblemen (Lord Bellamont) who had helped to fit him out, was tried, condemned, and hanged in chains at Tilbury (23rd May 1701), and his property becoming forfeit, was presented by Queen Anne to Greenwich Hospital.

This severe example did not, however, prevent others from following in his footsteps, though, perhaps, the trade was carried on less openly afterwards, and Captain Alexander Hamilton narrates how he met at Calicut, in February 1703, a certain Captain Green, who admitted to him he had helped the Madagascar pirates with arms, and who, under the guise of lawful trading, did not let slip any opportunity of enriching himself by plundering others who were weaker.

Captain Green, too, had his crimes brought home to him, and was executed in Scotland. Other nations also, it would seem, engaged in this unlawful trade, and the “Formosa,” an English ship of Surat, was never heard of move after leaving Calicut one night on her voyage home. The people ashore heard a great firing of cannon at sea next forenoon, and two Danish cruisers were believed to have rifled her and then sunk her and her crew.

Calicut possesses an iron screw-pile pier extending out to twelve feet of water, and it has a lighthouse exposing a good dioptric light. The best anchorage for large vessels is marked by a buoy, and is with the following bearings ;—Lighthouse E. to IS. by N. in five to six fathoms, and from two to three miles off shore. Small craft, of which large numbers frequent this port, lie close in shore, but they should not anchor further south than with the light bearing E.N.E. as the ground then becomes foul.

The latter frequently lie aground on the soft mud-bank which from time to time forms off the lighthouse. This mud-bank is of small extent and gets broken up by heavy weather, but it at times suffices to still the surf created by ordinary sea-breezes and bints affords facilities for landing and shipping goods. The entrance and exit to and from the anchorages, particularly from the southward, is cumbered by a reef known as the “Coote Reef,” from one of the Honourable Company’s vessels having grounded on it.

This is probably also the reef alluded to by Captain Alexander Hamilton as “the ruins of the sunken town built by the Portuguese.” In standing into Calicut roadstead his ship struck on the “ruins,” and in describing the event he conjectures how the “ruins” got there, and quaintly winds up with the observation “but so it was, that in six Fathoms at the mainmast, my ship, which drew twenty-one Foot water, sat fast afore the chest-tree.”

That the sea has encroached at Calicut cannot be doubted, but that a Portuguese fort once stood where the Coote Reef now is cannot be believed, although the tradition alluded to by Captain Hamilton has great currency on the coast. There is no doubt that the tomb of an Arab of Himisi in Egypt, by name Shaikh Mammu Koya, once stood on a spot now covered by the sea, but his bones were recovered, and a birth-feast (muvalud) is now held annually in his honour, in the month Rajab, at his mosque. The encroachment on this occasion could evidently not have been a serious one.

Recent experience shows that if the sea encroaches one year it recedes again speedily, a fact which is perhaps to be accounted for by the rocky (laterite) nature of the bottom opposite the lighthouse, and for a considerable distance further north. In 1877 it encroached so much on the beach opposite the new custom house (about a thousand yards north of the lighthouse) that the abutment of the pier and three of the pier bays were carried away ; but now (April 1883) the sea beach has reformed at this spot, and the sand now extends fully up to or beyond its former limits.

The limits of the port, of Calicut are as follows : —

To the north.—The boundary pillar erected three quarters of a mile north of the new custom house.

To the south.—The boundary pillar two miles south of the custom house ; the seashore between them to within fifty yards of high-water mark spring-tides.

To the east.—The harbour or backwater, and the Kallayi river as far as the junction of Conolly’s canal with all creeks and channels leading thereto, and so much of the shores thereof, whether of the mainland or the islands, as are within fifty yards of high-water spring-tides.

To the west .—The space enclosed by two lines running due west from the boundary pillars to nine fathoms water. The ports immediately subordinate to Calicut are Nos. 20, 21 and 23.

(23) Molamkadavu.—A small port at the mouth of the Kallayi river, about a mile south of the Calicut lighthouse.

(24) Beypore.—The present terminus of the Madras railway south-west line is usually called Beypore, but this nomenclature is not correct, for Beypore, the port properly so called, lies on the north bank of the river of that name, whereas the terminus of the railway is on what is known as the island of Chaliyam. The custom house is on the north bank of the river, but the marine establishment, with a flagstaff, is located close to the railway station on the south side. The anchorage for small vessels is inside the river, close to the north bank and immediately below a reef of laterite rock which projects far into the stream. There is here, too, a tide-registering apparatus.

The best anchorage in the roads for large vessels is with the following bearings : ---Port flagstaff E. by N. ½ N. to N.E. by E. in four and a half to six fathoms and from two to three miles off shore. There is one port subordinate to it, No. 25. The average tonnage of the port is 276,071 per annum, its average imports, consisting chiefly of salt and grain, are worth Rs. 4,80,407, and exports, consisting chiefly of coffee and cotton, are worth Rs. 37,66,695. The limits of the port are as follows :

To the north and south .—The seashore within fifty yards of high-water mark spring-tides, from boundary pillars one and a half miles north and south of the river’s mouth.

To the west.—The anchorage between two lines running west from the boundary pillars to nine fathoms water.

To the east.- -The banks of the river, backwater, creeks, and islands within fifty yards of high-water spring-tides, and within a distance of one and a half miles from the river’s mouth.

(25) Kadalundi .—This is a small port at the mouth of the river of the same name, where native vessels occasionally come for country produce. The bar of the river prevents oven small native craft from entering it. It is possible that this port was of considerable importance in ancient times, inasmuch as the fate Dr. Burnell has taken this to be the site of the “village of great note situate near the sea” known to the author of the Periplus Mar. Eryth, as Tundis.

There is some colour for this conclusion in the name itself, as Kadalundi is probably kadal (Mal. sea) and lundi (Mal. navel). Moreover, Tundis1 was, according to the Periplus, distant five hundred stadia from the mouth of the Mouziris river, which has been pretty satisfactorily identified with Muyiri-kodu or Cranganore (Kodungallur), and as matter of fact Kadalundi is sixty-six and a half miles or five hundred and seventy-eight stadia from the mouth of the Cranganore river.

NOTEs: 1. Tundis was on a river, and the only other river that could bd referred to in the Periplus is Ponnani, the mouth of which is a long way short of 500 stadia from the mouth of the Cranganore river. END OF NOTEs.

There is a temple of some note in the neighbourhood with a tradition going back to Rama’s conquest of Ceylon. The services rendered on that occasion by the monkeys secure daily food at the present day for their descendants left behind by Rama, on his return journey, at this temple. They come up boldly directly they are called. There is also a sacred spring which holds only a gallon or so of water, but refills as soon as the water is drawn. There are no remains of mark, but as in the first century A.D. Tundis was only a “village,” not much can be expected in that way.

(26) Parpanangadi.—This is a small port on the open coast, with some trade in salt-fish and country produce.

(27) Tanur.—This is another small port and fishing village, also on the open coast. Subordinate to it are the ports Nos. (26) and (28). Its average tonnage is (5,406 per annum. Its imports average Rs. 7,247 and its exports Rs. 90,345.

(28) Paravanna and (29) Kuttayi resemble Nos. (26) and (27).

(30) Ponnani.—This port is of some importance owing to its position at the month of the river of the same name, and also owing to its being the nearest port to the great gap at Palghat in the Western Ghat chain. There was in fact, on this account, a proposition at one time to place here the terminus of the Madras southwest line of railway. A large part of the country east of the ghats used to be supplied with salt brought from Bombay to this port, but the railway has revolutionised this trade. The average tonnage frequenting the port is 39,203 per annum. The average imports (grain and salt chiefly) are valued at Rs. 1,01,260 and the exports (chiefly timber, pepper and cocoanut produce) are valued at Rs. 4,25,576.

Coasting craft of small size can enter the river, the mouth of which is, however, much cumbered by sand-banks. Subordinate to this port are Nos. 29 and 31.

(31) Veliyankod.—Is a small port of call for coasting craft loading with cocoanuts and other country produce, and is placed at the mouth of the river of the same name.

(32) Chavakkad.—This port is not situated at Chavakkad itself , which is an inland place, but at Chetwai (Chettuvali ) at the mouth of the river of that name. Its chief trade is in salt-fish, cocoanuts, etc., carried in small coasting craft, which, however, do not enter the mouth of the river. Average tonnage 4,987 per annum. Imports Rs. 671, exports Rs. 31,927.

(33) Madayi, (34) Attakuli, (35) Kurkkuli, (36) Attupuram. — Are all small ports of call for native coasting craft, and are all situated on the open coast respectively forty-eight miles, forty-two miles, thirty-six miles, and thirty miles north of Cochin, to which port they are all subordinate. These ports, however, all belong to the Ponnani and not to the Cochin Taluk, being situated in the Vadanapalli, Pallipuram, Keippamangalam, and Panangad amsams of the former taluk.

(37) Cochin.—This is the second or third largest trading port in the presidency. Its imports, valued at Rs. 57,46,987, the average for the seven years 1875-76 to 1881-82, consist chiefly of food-grains, metals, piece-goods, seeds, wood and manufactures, and its exports, valued at Rs. 74,44,303, the average for the same period of seven years, consist chiefly of coir yarn, rope and fibre, coffee, dried cocoanut, cocoanut-oil, pepper and wood, and manufactures. The average tonnage frequenting this port is 474,357 per annum.

Cochin has an inner harbour and an outer roadstead. The former is comprised of a narrowish patch of deep water created by the heavy scour of the tides rushing into and out of the immense tidal area of the backwater lying both to the north and south of the port. This deep water lies chiefly on the south bank close to the town of Cochin, and also between the jaws (as it were) of the harbour. On passing beyond the points of the land, the stream of the tides naturally diffuses itself over a wider area and the ship channel gradually diminishes in depth till the bar is readied.

The bar, which is at a distance of about a mile from the shore, is marked with buoys about five hundred yards apart, and carries a depth of never less than twelve feet and never more than eighteen feet of water. For the first half mile beyond the bar the depths lead only to twenty-one feet, and to secure thirty-six feet another mile has to be passed. The roadstead for vessels of great draught, therefore, lies about two to two and a half miles from shore in five and a half to six and a half fathoms with the following bearings : flagstaff E. ½ N. to E.N.E.

Cochin possesses great natural facilities for trade as it is the centre of an immense area of rich country, tapped in all directions by inland backwaters and navigable creeks, and it has the further advantage of affording security to the small shipping which frequents the port ; but it fails to come up to the requirements of modern trade in the matter of harbour accommodation for the large ocean-going steamers now used.

In the monsoon mouths, when the bar is usually impassable, the shipping takes refuge at the mud-bank of Narakal lying off Cochin State territory, five miles to the north ; and trade, though slack in the rains, is still carried on there. The limits of the port of Cochin are as follows :

To the north.—The boundary pillar on the northern point of the entrance to the harbour or backwater.

To the south.—The boundary pillar three miles south of the southern point of the entrance to the backwater. The seashore between them to within fifty yards of high-water mark springtides.

To the east.—The harbour and backwater, with all creeks and channels leading thereto that may be within the Honourable Company’s territories, and so much of the shores thereof, whether of the mainland or the islands, as are within fifty yards of high-water mark spring-tides.

To the west. — The space enclosed by two lines running due west from the boundary pillars to nine fathoms of water.

Cochin is really the successful rival of the very ancient trading city of Mouziris mentioned in the Periplus Mar. Eryth, which was written in the first or the third century A.D. The account given of that city in the said work is so interesting that it deserves to be here transcribed.

From the Periplus Maris Erythraei (M'Crindle's translation).

“53. After Kallienna, other local marts occur—Semulla, Mandagora, Palaipatmai, Melizeigara, Buzantion, Toparon, and Turannosboas. You come next to the islands called Sesekreienai and the island of the Aigidioi and that of the Kaineitai near what is called the Khersonesos, places in which are pirates, and after this the island Leuke (or "the white ”). Then follow Naoura and Tundis, (the first marts of Limurike, and after these Mouziris and Nelkunda, the seats of government.

"54. To the kingdom under the sway of Keprobotras, Tundis is subject, a village of great note situate near the sea. Mouziris, which pertains to the same realm, is a city at the height of prosperity frequented as it is by ships from Ariake and Greek ships from Egypt. It lies near a river at a distance from Tundis of live hundred stadia, whether this is measured from river to river or by the length of the sea voyage, and it is twenty stadia distant from the mouth of its own river.

The distance of Nelkunda from Mouziris is also nearly five hundred stadia, whether measured from river to river or by the sea voyage, but it belongs to a different kingdom, that of Pandion. It likewise is situate near a river and at about a distance from the sea of one hundred and twenty stadia.

“55. At the very mouth of this river lies another village, Bakare, to which the ships despatched from Nelkunda come down empty and ride at anchor off shore while taking in cargo, for the river, it may be noted, has sunken reefs and shallows which make its navigation difficult. The sign by which those who come hither by sea know they are nearing land is their meeting with snakes, which are here of a black colour, not so long as those already mentioned, like serpents about the head, and with eyes the colour of blood.

“56. The ships which frequent these ports are of a large size, on account of the great amount and bulkiness of the pepper and betel of which their lading consists. The imports here are principally—

“The following commodities are brought to it for export.1

NOTEs:

1. It will be observed that there is no mention among those exports of cocoanuts or of cocoanut produce of any description. If the cocoanut tree had existed at this time (first century A.D.) in Malabar, it is pretty certain that the produce of such a notable fruit tree would have been exported and must have been here mentioned. It may be safely concluded that the cocoanut;—-the southern tree as the Malayalis call it — was introduced on the coast after the first century A.D. It was probably cultivated on the coast at the time of the Syrian Christians’ copper-plate grant—the date of which is placed in the early part of the ninth century A.D.—for the professional planters of the coast, the Tiyar* (islanders), Cingalese, organised as a civic guild, were then well established, and tradition says that they came from the south bringing with them the “southern tree,” the cocoanut to wit. END OF NOTEs

NOTEs by VED: * Here, Logan has clearly made a confusion. He is confusing the Ezhavas of Travancore with the Thiyyas of Malabar. Actually, there are two different castes coming under the name of Thiyya. One is the Thiyyas of North Malabar who were traditionally following a Matriarchal family system. The second is the Thiyyas of South Malabar, who were following a patriarchal family system. Traditionally, all the above mentioned three castes were different with no common traditions or family connections. The English administration in Malabar did face some confusion with regard to the two different castes named Thiyyas coming with their administrative control, when the North and South Malabar came under the Malabar district. Edger Thurston’s book: ‘Castes and tribes of Southern India’ does mention the difference in certain pages. In certain other pages, this is difference is not allowed. More or less pointing to the fact that local interests did influence the contents of many similar writings by British colonial officials.

Ezhavas are mentioned as coming from Ezham or Ceylon (Sri lanka). Thiyyas have other claims. All the three groups get connected to each other by the single fact that all three of them were forcefully placed under the same supervisory caste of the Brahmins, that is, the Nairs. That is, the same level of subordination. END OF NOTEs by VED

"The proper season to set sail from Egypt for this part of India is about the month of July, that is, Epiphi.”

Mouziris, as already noticed, has been satisfactorily identified with Muyiri-kodu, alias Kodungullur, alias Cranganore, the capital city of the Chera empire*, and its site was manifestly well selected as a place of trade before the mouth of the Periyar (great river) was blocked up by the sand-banks and alluvial islands which now hamper it.

NOTEs by VED: The use of the word Empire with regard to any of the kingdoms, big or small, in currently dug-up history, of the various locations inside the South Asian Subcontinent, is a fallacious and deceptive use of the word. To add to the fallacy, is the fact that the ruler of the English Empire which more or less was one of the biggest empires the world has seen, was only a queen or a king. At the same time, miniscule rulers in the South Asian subcontinent are in various ways, great kings or Emperors or Empresses.

The Portuguese would no doubt have made their chief settlement at Cranganore instead of at Cochin had the advantages been in favour of the former, but Vasco da Gama's successor, in 1500 A.D., wisely selected a site for his factory at Cochin, situated at the principal mouth of the system of back waters. It was described at this time as a long, low, sandy island covered with cocoanut trees, and divided by a deep river from Vypeen. Since that time it has continued to be a place of great trade, first under the Portuguese (A.D. 1500 to 1663), then under the Dutch (A.D. 1663 to 1795), and finally under the British.

The mouth of the system of backwaters has thus been fixed and protected, a fact of importance to the stability of trade at any part of a coast where the littoral current and the surf are always at work attempting to block up existing waterways and to open others. A breach, in fact, did take place in 1875 at what is called the Cruz Milagre Gap, about two miles north of Cochin, and to shut up the deep channel which was immediately scoured out was a labour of difficulty and expense. The existing waterway at Cochin can only be maintained by preventing the opening out of other waterways in the long reach of low sand spits stretching from Cranganore river to beyond Alleppey, a distance of over sixty miles.

The limits of the minor ports, namely, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31, 32, 33, 31, 35, and 36 in the above list, have been authoritatively1 laid down as follows : —

NOTEs: 1. Government notification, 18th June 1881. END OF NOTEs.

"Half a mile on either side of the landing-place, extending to ten fathoms water seaward and fifty yards above high-water mark landwards.”

The Appendices VIII and IX give additional information as to port rules, fees, and other matters at the various ports.