

CAR 



Carmcl ccntly named Carmel. Scarcely a relict of it, how 

 ever, was to be seen in hi* tu. Arabs did 



much to destroy the edifices on Mount C'annel, the 

 materials of which they transput ted to Damictta, 

 where th-re were no btoneb lit for building. At one 

 part of the mountain there is a field called the I nid 

 {J ( 'iicinnfjfi'f, because it contains a great many round 

 stones, the inside of which being a sparry substance, 

 resembles the pulp of that fruit. Djez/.ar, the pa- 

 cha <;f Acre, under whoso immediate dominion Car- 

 mel is situated, told Dr Clarke that on this moun- 

 tain " he had found several thousand large balls, and 

 never could discover a cannon to fit them." Dr 

 Clarke supposed, that by these balls the Pacha meant 

 the mineral concretions of a spheroidal form alluded 

 to above, and that being in want of ammunition he 

 had determined to make use of these stalagmites. 

 (Clarke's Travels in rarious Countries, part ii. p. 388.) 

 It is a fact mentioned by Mauudrell (Journey from 

 Aleppo to Jerusalem'), and by Egmont and Hey wood; 

 (Travels through part of Europe, $c.), that large 

 atone bullets have been employed, with the help of 

 some military engine now unknown, for the purpose 

 of battering the besieged cities. And Mariti men- 

 tions, that " abundance of the same kind of stones 

 may be found in all the mountains of Syria." 



Mount Carmel has a great variety of plants grow- 

 ing on it, for the sake of which it has been occasion- 

 ally resorted to by botanists with considerable suc- 

 cess. Besides some rare plants, it produces, with- 

 out cultivation, sage, rue, wormwood, hyssop, la- 

 vender, and parsley. It also produces fine flowers, 

 such as hyacinths, anemones, tulips, and ranuncu- 

 lusses. It abounds in fowls of different kinds, on 

 which account it is agreeable to sportsmen, who will 

 also meet with various quadrupeds, wild boars, lynxes, 

 &c. Mariti says that he saw some tigers. See Re- 

 landi Palcestiua tOttftfata-s Egmont and Hey wood's 

 Travels through part of Europe, Sfc. vol. i. ; and 

 Abbe Mariti's Trawls through Cyprus, Syria, and 

 Palestine, vol. ii. c, 4. (T) 



CARMONEA, a genus of plants of the class 

 Pentandria, and order Monogynia. See BOTANY* 

 p. 178. 



CARNATIC, is a narrow stripe of country on 

 the eastern side of the peninsula of India, which 

 anciently comprised all that part of it that lies south 

 of the Gondegama and Tungebadra rivers, from the 

 coast of Coromandel eastward, to the Ghaut moun- 

 tains westward ; and was divided into Balla-Ghaut 

 and Payen-Ghaut, or the Upper and Lower Ghauts, 

 (that is passes through mountains), the former being 

 the western part, and the latter the eastern part, or 

 the Carnatic, according to its present definition. 



From the intercourse, however, which has subsist- 

 ed between Europeans and the inhabitants of the 

 Carnatic, in the way of mercantile speculation, and 

 the numerous wars by which that fine country has 

 been infested, we are as well acquainted with this 

 part of Indostan as any other district of our im- 

 mense possessions in India. 



General as-. The Carnatic, in general, is even and dry, and 

 presents a sameness of appearance, of which those 

 who have only had an opportunity of traversing re- 

 gions that are mountainous, can scarcely form any 



CAR 



adequate idea. In th- hot seaton, the dreariness of Can 

 the prospect forcibly Grille, every traveller. He has >> "~r < "' 

 nothing to ainuje or to withdraw his attention from 

 the labours which nec< ssarily accompany the fatigue 

 of hu journey, but a naked, brown, dusty p! 

 and now and then small villages, and a ridge of de* 

 tached hills. The sameness of the appearance of 

 the whole district of country, seems to have imprecs- 

 . ry one who has had the curiosity to visit it. 

 In the rainy season, however, a most remarkable 

 change takes place, and the inhabitants of those tro- 

 pical regions, so fertile, that the produce of the. 

 earth seems to be almost spontaneous, are subjected 

 to greater and more sudden transitions, in regard to 

 climate, than those who live in countries where more 

 labour is requisite for the cultivation of the soil. 

 Those alterations are indispensibly necessary for 

 promoting vegetation, and the natives consequently 

 look forward to the change with the utmost eager* 

 ness and anxiety. 



An immense ridge of mountains, extending 13 de- Mjuntains. 

 grees of latitude, that is, from Cape Comorin to Su- 

 rat, produces the most important effects in regard 

 to the nature of the seasons, not in the Carnatic 

 only, but throughout the whole peninsula. Al- 

 though the altitude of these mountains is unknown, 

 yet it is sufficiently great to prevent the great body 

 of clouds from passing over them ; and, accordingly, 

 the alternate N. E. and S. W. winds (called the mon- 

 soons) occasion a rainy season on one side of the moun- 

 tains only ; that is on the windward side. It would 

 appear, nevertheless, that a sufficient number of clouds 

 pass over to occasion a rainy season, at a consider- 

 able distance to leeward, where those clouds descend, 

 as we may suppose them to do ; although at the time 

 they passed over the Gauts they must necessarily 

 have been too high, and of course too light, to con- 

 dense and fall in rain there. The ridge of the Gauts 

 shelter a particular tract only, beyond which, the 

 light and elevated clouds that pass over it descend in 

 rain. Madrass is within the limit of the sheltered 

 tract, though at least 300 miles to leeward of the 

 Gauts. (See Rennell's Memoir. \ 



Though an immense number of rivers intersect In Riveri. 

 dia in every direction, yet the Carnatic, properly so 

 called, is worse supplied with such as are navigable 

 than almost any country of equal extent. This no 

 doubt operates as a powerful barrier towards pro- 

 moting the facilities to commerce, and consequently 

 to the progress of manufactures, which it would o- 

 therwise have enjoyed. Little or no internal naviga- 

 tion can be carried on, and the difficulty of trans- 

 porting goods from one place to another , must be 

 severely felt. All the rivers on the coast of Coro- 

 mandel are subject to very sudden and unforeseen al- 

 terations, which are occasioned by the rains that 

 fall on the mountains. In the space of twenty-four 

 hours, it often happens, that from being fordable, 

 they become almost impassable even by boats, on 

 account of the rapidity of the current. Consider- 

 able inconvenience to the inhabitants is the certain 

 effect of the suddenness of so great an increase, but 

 this is greatly counterbalanced by the genial influ- 

 ence which these overflowings have upon the soil, 

 from which they must derive their subsistence. la.. 



