262 Narrikal or Cochin Mud Bank. [No. 12, new series. 



because tradition* and an examination of the geology of the coun- 

 try, both lead to the conclusion, that the sea formerly washed up 

 to the Western Ghauts ; thus Malabar has been literally raised 

 from the sea. 



During the south west monsoon, the rivers on the Western Coast 

 swell to a great extent, and become loaded with alluvial deposits. 

 Should any obstruction occur at their outlets, deposits sometimes 

 take place, as at the Cranganoor and Quilon rivers, where mud 

 banks have been so formed. Whether the impediment to the al- 

 luvial deposit being carried out to sea, is merely owing to the 

 action of the S. W. monsoon causing a great impetus to the 

 waves as they meet the river at its exit : or whether other causes 

 also obtain, may be questioned. In forming the Narrikal mud 

 bank, a reef of rocks, the Aycotia reef, at the mouth of the 

 Cranganoor river, appears to have prevented the S. W. monsoon 

 from causing a divergence of the river's mouth to the northward, 

 (as invariably takes place on the Western Coast unless that bank 

 is protected)! this reef (Aycotia) has probably assisted in the 

 formation of the Narrikal, or more properly speaking the Cranga- 

 noor mud banks. 



The whole of the long islands, between the backwater and the 

 sea, are evidently merely alluvial deposits, brought down by the, 

 various rivers, in their course from the Western Ghauts. J The 

 direction of these mud banks being the same as the long islands 

 and the character of the soil being similar, demonstrates the causes 

 of their origin to be probably identical. In short the mud banks 

 are alluvial matter, brought down by the rivers and deposited in 

 the sea where it meets the force of the S. W. monsoon.§ 



* "In a M. S. S. account of Malabar" says Hernan Lopez de 

 Castaneda in 1525 it is said that little more than 2,300 years ago " the 

 sea eame up to the foot of the Western Ghauts," 



f See Taylor's report. 



\ See Sir Emerson Tennent on Ceylon. 



§ During the S. W. monsoon, the sea for several miles beyond the 

 entrance of the larger rivers is no longer salt. 



