CHAP. I.] GENERAL VIEW. GEOGRAPHY. 



5 



miles from the Coromandel coast, and leave the large 

 irregularly level, and generally sandy plain of the Car- 

 natic between themselves and the Bay of Bengal. The 

 "Western Ghauts rise much more abruptly and to a 

 much greater height on the Malabar coast, and leave a 

 much narrower strip of land between themselves and 

 the Indian ocean. The two chains running north to 



< south gradually unite at Cape Comorin. Thus the 

 Madras Presidency consists of a large triangular table- 



: land, sloping away from the great western wall to what 

 , may be called the eastern mounds ; and from the south- 

 l ern territory of Mysore, which has a medium elevation 

 i of 3000 feet, to the northern districts of Bellary and 

 , Cuddapah, w-here the mean height is 1600 feet. East 

 , of the table-land is the broad sandy plain of the Car- 

 i natic ; west of the table land is the narrow fertile ter- 

 ritory known as Canara and Malabar, 

 i Three modifications of the tropical heat, viz. the 6 

 , table-land, the sea, and the two monsoons. — The whole 

 . of the Madras Presidency is situated within the tropics, 

 t between the eighth and twentieth degrees of north 

 i latitude. The entire territory therefore is subject to 

 t great heat, and this is especially the case in localities 

 . which are unrelieved by moisture. But the elevation 

 8 of the table-land in the centre, the vicinity of the plains 



< to the sea, and, above all, the influence of the two mon- 

 i soons, very much modify the burning heat of the sun. 



I North-east monsoon, October to April : South-west 7 

 s monsoon, May to September. — The manifestations of 

 ) the monsoons are so unlike anything that is experienced 

 I in the British isles, and at the same time they exercise 

 i such an important influence on every kind of cultiva- 

 I tion in India, that perhaps a short description may not 

 be misplaced. The monsoons are periodical winds, 

 which about the time of their first setting in bring 

 j heavy bursts of rain. One sets in from the north-east 

 i about October, and blows more or less steadily for six 

 i months. The other sets in from the south- w 7 est about 

 I April, and blows until the north-east begins. Thus 

 the broad plain of the Carnatic enjoys the influence of 

 the north-east monsoon ; the narrow strip of Malabar 



