TAN 



33 



T A N 



Kvi-ry kind of grain is grown in the few tracts 

 whose soil is fit for cultivation, and rice is raised where 

 irrigation is practicable. The nomadic nations have nu- 

 merous herds of camels, horses, and cattle, and large flocks 

 of sheep and goats. In the mountain-region is found the 

 yak or mountain-cow, whose tail gives the chowry. It is 

 used for riding as a saddle-horse. In the desert are nu- 

 merous wild animals, such as wild hogs, deer, the argali, 

 and hares. It is also said that in the woods of the Holang 

 Shan there are wild horses. Wild cattle are found on the 

 declivity of the Kilian Shan. No mines are worked. In 

 the desert some extensive tracts are covered with agates, 

 cornelians, and other precious stones, which are collected 

 by the nomadic tribes and sent to China. 



The inhabitants of Tangut are a very mixed race. 

 Mongol tribes inhabit the Gobi, and occupy also the 

 mountain-ranges north of Lake Khookoo-nor, but the 

 mountaineers who are in possession of the mountain- 

 region south of Lake Khookoo-nor, derive their origin 

 from Tibet. It is even supposed that in this part there 

 may still exist small tribes of the Miotse and Yuet-shi, who 

 are considered as the aborigines of this region, but have 

 been nearly exterminated by the wars with their neigh- 

 bours the Mongols and the inhabitants of Tibet. It is not 

 known if that Turkish nation which is called Sobko, and 

 which inhabits the western part of the Kuen-luen moun- 

 ; TIBET], extends over the western districts of Tangut. 

 The agricultural population is mostly composed of Chinese 

 and their descendants, among whom a small number of 

 families of Turkish origin are settled. But in the towns 

 the number of Turkish settlers seems to be considerable. 

 They are Mohammedans, and there are mosques in the 

 towns of Tangut, especially in those which lie 

 along- the caravan road. All the other inhabitants are 

 Buddhists. In the time of Marco Polo there were also 

 .\( tin ian Christians in the towns, but they have disap- 

 peared. 



The Chinese emperors subjected the country of Tangut 

 n]y during the dynasty of Han, shortly before the 

 birth of Christ, and maintained their authority over this 

 and the countries fart her west to the eighth century, in 

 spite of their long protracted wars with the Hiongnu, a 

 Turkish nation which then was in possession of the desert 

 north of Tangut. In the middle of the seventh century 

 they extended their dominion even over Western Turkistan 

 to t'he eastern banks of the Caspian Sea. But in the eighth 

 century Tangut was occupied by a nation of Tibetan 

 origin, which founded in these parts the empire of Thufan ; 

 and though it was overthrown by the Chinese, and some 

 Turkish tribes, their allies, in the ninth century, the 

 Tibetans erected in the following century the empire of 

 Taugiit or Ilia, which maintained its power till it was de- 

 stroyed by Genghis Khan, in 1227, and by its overthrow 

 the conqueror opened to his countrymen the road to China, 

 of which they took possession a few years afterwards. With 

 the downfall of the dynasty of the Mongols (1341), the best 

 part of Tangut remained under the sway of the emperors 

 of the dynasty of Ming, though the Mongols after their 

 ret n at from China had occupied the northern and more 

 desert portion of it, where they maintained their indepen- 

 t dence to the end of the seventeenth century. In the ware 

 ' of the Galdan of the Oloth [SONGARIA, vol.xxii., p. 245], 

 a tribe of the Oloth Mongols expelled the Khalkas from 

 the country west of the Hoang-ho, and took possession of 

 it. But alter the defeat of the Goldan, they submitted to 

 the Chinese emperor in 1690, and since that time the 

 whole of Tangut has been annexed to China. The Chinese 

 government is very assiduous in promoting agriculture in 

 Tangut, and in increasing the agricultural and commercial 

 population, this being couriered the most efficacious mode 

 of restraining the nomadic tribes which inhabit the northern 

 and southern districts of Tangut. To give to its measures 

 grcater^tability and to forward their extension, it has con- 

 verted the greater part of Tangut, with some of the ad- 

 jacent countries, into a province of China Proper, under 

 the name of Kansi. (Du Hahlf's History of China; 



lliiiiuli- run Anien, vol. i.) 



TAN.IOKK.adistnct i n Southern Hindustan, was formerly 

 a small in : kingdom or principality, and though 



now under British superintendence, is still governed by its 

 raja. The district is included in the province of th 

 natic and presidency of Madras: it is bounded on th 

 bytl ; 'nl, and extends from Point Calymere, 



P. C., No. 1492. 



10 18' N. lat, to the mouth of the Coleroon, 11 25' N. 

 lat. To the north and west it is bounded by the Coleroon 

 and the district of Trichinopoli : and to the south and west 

 by the sea and the territory of the Pol} gars. 



The river Cavery, near Trichinopoli", separates into two 

 branches, of which the northern is called the Coleroon, 

 and falls into the sea a little to the north of Devicotta ; 

 the southern branch retains its name of Cavery. These 

 two streams however, after flowing about twenty miles at 

 some distance, again approach each other, and are only 

 prevented by a narrow neck of land from re-uniting and 

 discharging the whole river by the channel of the Coleroon. 

 To prevent this junction large mounds have been formed, 

 and are kept in repair at a considerable expense. The 

 Cavery, thus separated from the Coleroon, flows through 

 the flat territory of Tanjore, and divides into a number of 

 smaller streams, which are conducted into reservoirs and 

 canals for the purpose of irrigation : by this means nearly 

 the whole district, which would otherwise be a sandy 

 desert, is rendered one of the most fertile in Hindustan. 

 From Devicotta to the salt swamp near Point Calymere, 

 and from the Bay of Bengal to the city of Tanjore, the 

 whole country, with its rich covering of alluvial soil, has 

 the appearance of a garden: from Tanjore to Trichinopoli 

 it is like a desert. 



The principal product of the district is rice, of which two 

 crops are obtained annually : the next in importance is in- 

 digo : both are exported to Madras in considerable quan- 

 tities, besides cocoa-nuts, grain, paddy, and lamp-oil. 



The district of Tanjore has never been in the actual oc- 

 cupation of the Mohammedans. Its Hindu religious 

 structures are therefore uninjured, and in no part of Hin- 

 dustan are they so numerous, so large, and so imposing. 

 There is hardly a village without its brick pagoda and 

 lofty gateway. Almost all the principal offices are in the 

 hands of the Brahmins, and they are also the chief land- 

 holders. 



long., 



tal of the rajas of Tanjore : there are remains which indi- 

 cate its former splendour, and its pagodas and tanks are 

 still very fine : it is chiefly inhabited by Brahmins. Devi- 

 cotta (Devicata, the fort of the goddess), 11 20' N. lat., 

 7'.) J 5.V E. long. Nagore, 10 49' N. lat., 79 55' E. long., 

 a sea-port with a considerable export and import trade. 

 XKOAPATAM. TRANQUEBAR. The villages are numerous, 

 and the population dense. 



The antient sovereigns of Tanjore were the Chola 

 dynasty, who probably gave to the whole district the name 

 Chola Mandala (corrupted into Cpromandel), the former 

 term in Sanscrit signifying an orbit or circle, and thence 

 a region or tract of country. The kingdom of Tanjore 

 was wrested from its original Hindu sovereigns by the 

 Mahratta chief Eccojee, the brother of Sevajee, in 1675. 

 It has ever since been retained by the Mahratta race ; so 

 that, though the language of the inhabitants is Tamul, the 

 language of the court is Mahratta. In 1771 a dispute 

 broke out between Mohammed Ali, the nabob of the Car- 

 natic, and Tuljajee, the raja of Tanjore, with respect to the 

 keeping in repair the mounds which prevent the stream of 

 the Cavery from falling into the Coleroon. The mounds 

 are in the territory of Trichinopoli, and the nabob, as 

 sovereign of that territory, claimed the right of repairing, 

 and consequently of neglecting to repair, by which a por- 

 tion of the nabob's territory might have been fertilized, and 

 nearly the whole of Tanjore rendered a desert. The raja 

 had been compelled to pay tribute to the nabob, but had 

 never been subject to him, and appealed to the British to 

 protect him in his right to repair, which had always been 

 exercised by the rajas of Tanjore, and for which, he con- 

 tended, he paid his tribute. The British however took the 

 part of the nabob. On the 20th of August, 1773, the siege 

 of the city of Tanjore was commenced, and a passage 

 twelve feet wide having been completed across the wet 

 ditch which surrounds the walls of the forts, on the 16th of 

 September, when the sun was in the meridian and the 

 raja's troops were taking repose, the British unexpectedly 

 made the assault, and earned the fortress, with hardly any 

 resistance, the raja and his family being taken prisoners. 

 The nija was then made subject to the nabob; but in con- 

 sequence of the disapprobation which these proceedings 

 met with in England, on the llth of April, 1776, the re- 



VOL. AA.J.V, E 



