185362.] , CARNATIC: EIGHT DISTRICTS. 



QUERIES . REPLIES . 



Thirty-four miles. 



235 



1st. Distance from Tinnevelly to 

 Tuticorin ? 



2nd. Character of the country be- 

 tween the two places ? 



3rd. Amount of existing traffic 

 between the two places ? 



4th. Cost of transport per ton and 

 per bale of Cotton from one place to 

 another. 



Bare and open passing over black 

 soils, rocky ground, and deep sand ; 

 there is a made road for only 8 miles, 

 out of Tinnevelly, and the river Tam- 

 brapoorney unbridged, intervenes. 



Tinnevelly is not a Cotton produc- 

 ing Taluk. Cotton is grown in the 

 northern Taluks and north-eastern 

 Taluks. General commodities pass 

 between the two places. 



Cost of transport per ton and for a 

 bundle of Cotton depends entirely 

 on the season of the year. If in 

 rainy weather when the Ryots plough 

 their fields transport becomes expen- 

 sive, but on the average the transport 

 of Cotton to Tuticorin from the Cot- 

 ton producing Taluks costs 10 Rupees 

 per ton of 20 per cwt. or about 9 As. 

 a bundle of 120 Ibs. 



5th. Quantity of Cotton passing 

 from Tinnevelly to Tuticorin ? 



6th. Quality of Cotton, whether 

 of Native growth or improved va- 

 rieties ? 



Cotton is not sent from Tinnevelly 

 to Tuticorin. But the average quan- 

 tity taken into Tuticorin yearly from 

 the Ottapidarum, Sattur, Shenkar- 

 ninarcoil and Strivilliputtur Taluks, 

 along the trunk Cotton road connect- 

 ing the Cotton growing localities 

 with Tuticorin, is 33,000 Candies 

 of cleaned Cotton. 



Entirely of Native growth ; no other 

 description is exported from Tutico- 

 rin. The quality is known in Europe 

 as Tinnevelly Cotton ; it is clean in 

 color but short in staple, and gener- 

 ally fetches the highest price of Indian 

 Indigenous Cotton. 



