SANDERS (Pterocarpus santalinus). 3 



I could throw any light on the origin of ' Caliature,' a name of 

 Red wood (Pterocarpus santalinus], frequently referred to as an 

 article of trade in Madras. Presuming the name to be that of a 

 Port of the East Coast, it has evidently disappeared from nearly 

 all the available Gazetteers and Modern Atlases. Inquiries were 

 made in London, Holland and Java with no results; but recent 

 researches in the libraries of Calcutta have been more successful, 

 and the following notes on the early trade of the country form an 

 interesting chapter on the History of Red Sanders wood : 



" To Rumphious belongs the credit of giving the origin of the 

 term 'Caliature.' In 'Herbarium. Amboiense,' 1750, Vol. II, 48, 

 he speaks of ' Santalum rubrum ' being known in his country 

 and in Europe, and as coming from a tree from which ' lignum 

 calitour ' is derived. The wood is very hard, solid and dull red, 

 which, he says, could be obtained in great abundance from the 

 northern parts of the Coromandel Coast. Various kinds of furniture 

 were made of it, as benches and elegantly carved chairs. Only the 

 mature trees afforded good Sandalwood, as was shown in letters sent 

 to him in 1689. The wood was also used as a tincture in the arts, 

 and the Armenians in Shirax and Ispahan added it to distilled spirit 

 of wine to give it a beautiful and intense red colour. The identity 

 of the town by Rumphious I will quote in the original Latin : 



" Hisce addo ex iisdem litteris locum Caliatour quondam dictum, 

 hodie in ora Coromandelensi hoc nomine non amplius esse notum, 

 sed ternpore iiiutatum fuisse in Krusjnapatanum, seu Kisjna Patan, 

 it a ut primi norninis memoria inter Europeos tantum conservetur." 



" The town of Kistnapatam, referred to in this paragraph, is in 

 the Nell ore District of the Madras Presidency. It is now a village, 

 situated at 14 17' North Latitude, 82 miles north of Madras; it 

 has a fine back-water of great depth, and is a Shelter for native 

 craft during the Monsoon. In an old glossary it is said to be the 

 Greek Sopatma, and ' title otherwise Calitore.' In a map accom- 

 panying ' a true and exact description of the most celebrated East 

 India Coasts of Malabar and Coromandel ' (1672), by Philips Bal- 

 dens, Calletur is shown between Armagon and Penne (Pennar River). 

 In a map of the ' Peninsoladeli India ' (dated 1863), by Giacoms, 

 Cantelli da Vibmola, a Portuguese, the town is indicated as 

 ' Caletur.' It is evident that while the town was known to 

 foreigners as Caletore and Caletur, it was not recognised by that 



name by the British factors 



" The earliest English factory was planted in 1625 at Masuli- 

 patam, where trade was carried on with varying fortune for several 



