497 



CIRCARS, NORTHERN. 



CIRCASSIA. 



waters of the Godavery and Kiatna rivers, whose mouths are within 

 the province. 



The Circars are politically divided into seven districts : Chicacole, 

 Condapilly, Ellore, Ganjam, Guntoor, Rajamundry, and Vizagapatam. 

 The climate of these districts exhibits a general uniformity. About 

 the middle of June the westerly wind sets in, accompanied by 

 moderate showers, until the end of August, when the harvest of the 

 small grains is secured. From the beginning of September to the 

 end of the following month the rain ia more abundant ; the wind is 

 generally violent as November approaches, and then changes to the 

 north-east, when the rice-harvest, which constitutes the main depen- 

 dence of the inhabitants through the greater part of the province, is 

 housed. The season is then fair and pleasant, and at the vernal 

 equinox the maize harvest commences. The season between the end 

 of March and the setting in of the rains in the middle of June is 

 hot, but the temperature is somewhat moderated by the sea breeze 

 during the day. The soil toward the south is better than in the 

 north. Fruits and garden vegetables are scarce. Sugar, cotton, and 

 tobacco are produced, anil of the tobacco some is exported. The 

 forests upon the hills to the west contain abundance of teak-wood of 

 large growth. At the principal mouths of the Godavery ship- 

 building is carried on, and vessels of 500 tons burden have been 

 conntructed. From the nature of the country a great psrt of the 

 truif is prosecuted in coasting vessels. The aggregate burden of 

 thete vessels exceeds 50,000 tons. 



The district of Chicacole forms the largest portion of the recently 

 created electorate of Ganjam, including its capital. Exclusive of 

 mountain streams, which are numerous during the rainy season, 

 Chicacole is watered by four rivers, the mouths of which are at the 

 towns of Chicacole, Caliugapatain, Bimlipatam, and Vizagapatam. 

 There are few extensive plains in this district. The town of Chica- 

 cole, the Mohammedan name of which is Maphus Bunder, is in 

 18' 15' N. lat., and 84 E. long. It is irregularly built on the riding 

 ground which forms the north bank of the Chicacole Hiver. This 

 river rises in the mountains of Gundwana, and joins the sea three 

 miles below the town, where it is about 1750 feet broad. The centre 

 of the town contains barracks, which are little used, and there are 

 numerous mosques, the principal of which, a building of stone, 

 erected in the year 1051 of the Hegira (A.D. 1641) is held to be of 

 considerable sanctity. Condapilly district, called by the Moham- 

 medans Miistaph;<nnghur, is separated from Ellore and Rajainundry 

 by the salt-water river Ooputair. This river is navigable by boats 

 to the Colair Lake, the surplus waters of which it carries off to the 

 sea ; this it reaches after a winding course between Samaldan^ and 

 Goilapollam. The town of Condapilly, the capital of the dintrict, 

 stands in lt>- 37' N. lat, 80 33' E. long. This place was formerly 

 a fortress of some strength, but the works are now in ruins. The 

 districts of Ellore and Condapilly occupy the whole of the terri- 

 tory of the province comprehended between the Kistna and the 

 Godavery. The town of Etlore, situated in 16 43' N. lat., 

 81 15' E. long., is the residence of the collector of the Masulipatam 

 district, of which collectorate Ellore district forms a part. The houses, 

 which are one story in height, are built with some regularity. 

 Guntoor district lies between the Kistna and the Goudegama. The 

 soil is very fertile. From the want of moisture during a great part 

 of the year the cultivation of rice is little attended to, but the most 

 luxuriant harvests of maize are raised. Guntoor, the chief town, is 

 situated in 16" 17' N. lat, 80" 32' E. long. It is extensive, but irregu- 

 larly built ; the walls of the houses are of mud, and the roofs of 

 many are thatched. It contains a great number of trees, and is 

 divided into two portions by a large reservoir. The district of 

 Rajamundry lies on both sides of the Godavery river, but princi- 

 pally on the left side. The soil is fertile, particularly the island of 

 Nagarum, a triangular space, comprehending an area of 500 square 

 miles, which is formed by two great branches into which the 

 Godavery divides, 35 miles from the sea. Besides the two greater 

 branches of the river by which it is inclosed, this island is intersected 

 by five lesser branches, and the means of irrigation thus afforded, 

 together with the slimy mould brought down by the greatest river 

 of the Deccan, render the soil highly productive. The forests produce 

 an abundance of teak timber, and in the plains sugar, rice, ginger, 

 turmeric, and various leguminous plants are raised. Cotton is also 

 generally cultivated. The capital Rajamundry is on the left bank of 

 the Godavery, about 5 miles from its mouth, in 16 59' N. lat., 

 81' 5:t' E. long. The town is Ion;,', but narrow, extending along an 

 elevated bank adjoining the river. During the dry season the 

 Godavery is here a clear blue stream, exhibiting many islands and 

 shoals, and the banks on both sides are from 20 to 30 feet high, but 

 in the rainy season the stream is a mile broad and very deep. Viza- 

 gapatam district, which lies to the north of Rajamundry, is moun- 

 tainous ; a lofty ridge runs parallel to the sea-shore, and frequently 

 within a very short distance of it, through nearly its whole extent ; 

 to the westward of this ridge is another chain; the intermediate 

 space is a narrow and well-cultivated valley. The town of Viza- 

 gapatam lies on the coast in 17 42' N. lat, 83 24' E. long., near to 

 a promontory called the ' Dolphin's Nose,' a mountain about 

 1500 feet high. The town contains a considerable number of well- 

 built house* : but the situation being unhealthy, the place has been 



OEOO. DIV. VOL. II. 



almost wholly deserted by Europeans, who have retired to the 

 village of Waltier, about 3^ miles from the town, with which it 

 communicates by an excellent road. There is a Hindoo temple of 

 great fame and antiquity at Semachittum, near Vizsgapatam. 



The Northern Circars were among the earliest of the territorial pos- 

 sessions of the East India Company. They were granted in August 

 1765 by the Mogul Shah Allum, " by way of free gift, without the 

 least participation of any person whatever in the same." In Novem- 

 ber of the following year, this grant was recognised by the Nizam or 

 Soubahdar of the Deccan. The district of Guntoor was at the date 

 of the grant held as a jaghire for life by Bazaulet Jung, the Nizam's 

 brother, by an agreement with whom the Company rented that dis- 

 trict, and it did not come into their actual possession until the death 

 of Bazaulet Jung in 1788. For the whole province the Company paid 

 to the Nizam au annual ' peshcush ' or tribute of seven lacs of rupees 

 (70,0002,), which was redeemed in 1823 by the payment of about 

 1,200,000?., in virtue of which the Circars are now held in full 

 sovereignty by the British. The natives are represented as being 

 superior both in appearance and iu private character to the natives 

 of Bengal. The province is settled on the zamiudary system, and the 

 old zamiudars are said to be a remarkably fine and uuble race of men : 

 as regards the cultivators of the soil, they are very much on the footing 

 of the Scottish chieftains of former days, the attachment between the 

 two classes being continued through succeeding generations. With 

 the exception of a few Mohammedans settled in the towns, the popu- 

 lation of the Northern Circars is wholly Hindoo. They are composed 

 of two nations, the Teliuga and the Oaria, or Orisaa, who speak and 

 write different dialects, and have distinguishing customs and rites, 

 although both adhere to the fundamental doctrines and discipline of 

 the Hindoo faith, and give undisputed pre-eminence to the Brahmins. 

 The people have lived from time immemorial under the simple form 

 of village government, and have preserved unaltered the names and 

 limits of each of their village.!, with its establishment of officers and 

 servants, undisturbed by the changes which have transferred the 

 sovereignty of the land from one set of rulers to another. Different 

 clusters of Hauelee villages have been formed into z imiudaries, which 

 have been put up to public auction, the purchasers being entitled to 

 hereditary possession upon payment of the revenue fixed in perpetuity 

 upon the entire lands of the zamiudary. The revenue collected in 

 the Northern Circars is said by Major Rennell to have amounted in 

 1753 to about 43 lacs of rupees (430,000/.) per annum. By a statement 

 furnished by the East India Company iu 1832, it appears that the 

 revenue had then been augmented to 76,68,018 rupees (766,800/.), an 

 augmentation of nearly 80^. per cent. 



(Reunell, Memoir of a Map of Hindiuitan ; Mill, lliilory of British 

 India ; Parliamentary Papert.) 



CIRCASSIA, or the country of the Circassians or Tscherkesses, is 

 situated along the northern declivity of the Caucasus, and is now 

 understood to comprehend the whole of this tract from the shores of 

 the Black Sea to the vicinity of those of the Caspian, so that not only 

 those portions which were formerly called the Gn-at and Little Kabar- 

 dia, but also Tchechnia, the country, of the Midszeges or Tchetch- 

 enes, who live towards the shores of the Caspian Sea, between the 

 Terek :md the Kuma, are included in it. [CAUCASUS.] The rivers 

 Terek and Kuban, as far as their courses lie east and west, are consi- 

 dered as constituting the northern boundary ; and the highest part 

 of the Caucasian chain forms the southern. The greater part of this 

 country has been in some degree subjected to the sway of Russia, and 

 forms thii province of Hither Caucasia, to which is assigned by Russian 

 official documents an area of 41,410 square miles, with a population 

 of 402,300 in 1846. 



The greater part of this country is a succession of mountain ridges, 

 which branch off from the northern side of the Caucasus, and termi- 

 nate near the rivers Terek and Kuban, and of valleys which lie 

 between them. The mountain ridges lower gradually, but with 

 abrupt declivities as they proceed northward, and are commonly 

 covered with wood in their lower portions. The highest of these 

 collateral branches is that which detaches itself from Mount Elbruz 

 [CAUCASUS], runs north between 42 and 43 E. long., and terminates 

 abruptly near 44 N. lat. in Mount Bechtan, which is 4320 feet 

 high. This range is nearly destitute of trees, and contains a great 

 number of warm and other springs, which are much visited. Between 

 the mountains are many extensive and well-watered valleys, which 

 are very fertile : they contain numerous narrow passes, which render 

 the access to them very difficult to an invading enemy, and tend to 

 foster those predatory habits for which the inhabitants are notorious, 

 and which render them the scourge of travellers and of their neighbours 

 in the plain. The Russians, though nominally masters of the country, 

 are not able to prevent their hostile excursions. Their generals ami 

 other officers have often been made prisoners, and have obtained their 

 liberty only by paying large ransoms. To protect the adjacent plains, 

 the Russian government has established a line of small fortifications 

 along the banks of the Terek, Kuma, and Kuban. The Tcheru(5-Goi i, 

 or Black Mountains, which form the northern and lower part of the 

 Caucasian chain, and are so called from their being densely covered 

 with foliage, which contrasts strongly with the snow-clad crest of 

 the eastern part of the chain, are rent and broken into numerous 

 chasms and ridges : on the western side, between Anapu and Sudjuk- 



2 K 



