CAN 



356 



CAN 



c'anara. From these tables we may deduce the following 



v- statement, which shews the extent of the balance of 



trade in favour of this country, in sterling money, 

 estimating the pagoda at 8s. and the rupee at 2s. ster- 

 ling. 



Commerce. Exports. 



By sea in South Canara . ^68,970 



By land 8,155 



By sea in North, do. . . 33,153 



By land 96,383 



Total < 206,661 



Imports. 



33,784. 



14,982 



4,458 



10,804 



64,028 



Balance in favour of the 

 province .... 



j 142,633 



The revenue which the Company derives from this 

 country, arises chiefly from the duties upon com- 

 merce and the land-tax ; and the produce of these, 

 we may conclude, is very considerable, as the sea 

 customs of the southern division alone amounted, in 

 1795, to 23,760 pagodas, 5 fanams, and 14 anas, 

 being about L. 9504 sterling. In Tulava, the land- 

 ax, or slmta, as it is called by the inhabitants, was 

 formerly demanded in rice, and other articles of con- 

 sumption, for the troops, at a low rate ; but since 

 the -conquest of the country by the British, it has 

 been paid in money, and the part of Malayala, which 

 is contained in Canara, yielded, in the first year of 

 the Company's government, 6000 pagodas. We are 

 unable, however, to give the full amount of this 

 tax ; but we may with safety state it at about one- 

 fourth of the gross produce of the lands. 



Canara, before its subjugation by the Sultans of 

 Mysore, was possessed by several independent rajas. 

 Many of these, upon its first conquest by Hyder 

 AU, were permitted to retain the entire management 

 of the country, on paying an annual tribute, which 

 they raised by a land-tax ; and even when this per- 

 mission was withdrawn, they still enjoyed some valu- 

 able privileges. Considerable allowances were grant- 

 ed to the temples and Brahmans ; and the Christians, 

 of whom great numbers of Kankana descent, had 

 settled in Tulava, possessed, in quiet, many valuable 

 estates in land. Upon the accession of Tippoo, how- 

 ever, to the throne of his father, these allowances 

 were reduced, and the estates of the Christians con- 

 fiscated ; their priests were also thrown into dun- 

 geons, their churches destroyed, and the laity for- 

 cibly converted to Islamism. But the native chiefs 

 were never so entirely subdued by the Mahometan pow- 

 ers as the greater part of the Hindoos, and have al- 

 ways been able successfully to resist the pretensions 

 of their governors to be proprietors of the soil. 

 Upon the fall of Seringapatam, and the death of 

 Tippoo, when this country came into the possession 

 of the British, they were even disposed to try how 

 far they could assert their independence, and refused 

 for a time to settle with the British collector of the 

 revenue, until some decisive measures were adopted 

 to punish the most obstinate and troublesome. The 

 country is now governed by the servants of the Com- 

 pany. 



The inhabitants of Canara are chiefly Hindoos, 



Canary- 

 Isles. 



and are divided into casts as in other parts of India, Cauara. 

 each of which has its peculiar manners and customs. 

 But such is the state of society in this country, that 

 the chastity of their women cannot be depended upon ; 

 and in order to secure the succession of property in 

 the family, it is a common law in Tulava, that a man's 

 own children cannot be his heirs. He may give them 

 money during his life-time, but all that he dies pos^ 

 sessed of goes to his sisters and to their children. Po- 

 lygamy is admitted, and is generally practised. A 

 man, however, may turn away any of his wives when- 

 ever he pleases, though a woman cannot leave her 

 husband's house without his consent. She then re- 

 tires to her brother's, and may marry again. In some 

 casts, if a man's sister be living in his house, she as- 

 sumes the active management of it, and his wives ha\v 

 no authority. Their language is rather peculiar, and 

 is called Canarese. It differs considerably from the 

 Tamul, or what is called, the Malabar language by 

 the Europeans at Madras, though they are evidently 

 branches of one dialect. Their written characters 

 are nearly the same, but in the Canarese there is a 

 great admixture of words from different languages. 



In the southern division of Canara, there are 79,856 

 houses, of which 2545 are inhabited by Christians, 

 5223 by Mahometans, and the rest by Hindoos and 

 Pagans. The total population of this district is 

 396,672, of whom 206,633 are males, 190,039 fe- 

 males, and 7924 slaves. The houses in the northern 

 division amount to 41,380, of which the Christians 

 possess 476, the Mahometans 2300; and the Hindoos 

 and Pagans the remainder. The number of slaves is 

 about 1544, The principal towns in Canara are Man- 

 galore and Carwar. See Buchanan's Journey from 

 Madras through Mysore, Canara, and Malabar^ 

 vol. iii. ; Dellon Voyage aux Indes Orientales, p. 195, 

 &c. ; and Bartolomeo's Voyage to the East Indies, 

 P . 103. (jO 



CANARINA, a genus of plants of the class 

 Hexandria, and order Monogynia. See BOTANY,. 

 p. 184. 



CANARIUM, .a genus of plants of the class 

 Dioecia, and order Pentandria. See BOTANY, p. 

 336. 



CANARY ISLES, a group .of islands in the 

 Atlantic Ocean, which are supposed to be the same 

 with the InsulcE Beatce, or Fortunate Isles, of the 

 ancients. They lie about 150 miles west from the 

 coast of Africa, between 27^ and 30 degrees N. Lat. 

 and are seven in number, viz. Lancerota, Forte Ven- 

 tura, Grand Canary, Teneriffe, Gomera, Hierro or 

 Ferro, and Palma, besides the small islands of Alle- 

 granza, Santa Clara, Graciosa, Roca, and Lobos. 



These islands, though particularly described by 

 Ptolemy and the Elder Pliny, and though their si- 

 tuation was accurately pointed out by Strabo, re- 

 mained unknown in Europe after the decline of the 

 Roman empire' until near the middle of the 14th 

 century ; and the first account which we have of the 

 Canaries, is from the grant of Pope Clement VI. 

 who bestowed them upon Don Louis de la Cerda, with 

 the title of king, upon condition that he should cause 

 the gospel to be preached to the natives. This grant, 

 however, was never acted upon, owing to the death 

 of Don Louis j arid nothing farther was done to 



