128 Public Works in Travancore. [No. 11, new series. 



3. I have first to allude to the works which Mr. Collins found 

 already in progress at the Port of Allepey, under the charge of 

 Mr. Crawford, the Commercial Agent. 



4. Allepey is the Commercial capital of the State of Travan- 

 core, and already possesses a very considerable trade. Though 

 not enjoying the advantages of any land-locked harbour, it is still 

 well suited to commerce. The town is situated on the sand-bank, 

 which separates the large estuary of Cochin from the sea, and a 

 Canal cut from the backwater through the heart of the town, con- 

 veys the produce of the interior to the doors of the Merchants' 

 stores, and within a furlong of the sea. 



5. But the principal advantage of the Port of Allepey is its 

 remarkable mud-bank, which renders its open roadstead a safe 

 harbour of refuge throughout the whole of the South West mon- 

 soon. However this remarkable phenomenon may be accounted 

 for, it is a fact, that in the stormiest weather of the South West 

 monsoon within the influence of this bank, there is still water at 

 sea, and so little surf on shore, that boats can land at all times, and 

 the landing and shipping of cargo can be carried on throughout 

 the monsoon. 



6. The general theory is that the soft, almost fluid, mud yields 

 to the pressure of the great waves and prevents their rising above 

 the ocean level. 



7. However this may be, this provision of Providence affords 

 to this Coast a safe harbour of refuge, and it is only to be regret- 

 ted that it is so little known. 



8. I am informed that in a book, nearly two hundred years old, 

 the voyages of Captain Cope Allepey, is alluded to in a way 

 which proves that its advantages were then known and apprecia- 

 ted* It is spoken of as " mud bay," and described as one of the 

 most extraordinary harbours in the world. But subsequently, 

 probably in consequence of the disturbed state of Travancore, the 

 trade of Allepey declined, and the Canal dug by a former Sove- 

 reign of the country was at the beginning of this century almost 

 entirely choked up (see Colonel John Munro's early reports) and 

 the advantages of "mud bay" have been greatly lost sight of. 



