1836.] 



An Account of the Harbour of Tuticoreen* 



305 



III. — An Account of the Harbour of Tuticoreen. —By R. Wight, Esq. 



M. D. with sailing directions for making the Harbour, and a Chart 

 in which Bearings and Soundings are laid down, communicated by 

 Lieut. Jenkins, of the 23d M. N. /. 



I have much pleasure in sending herewith a Chart of the Har- 

 bour of Tuticoreen, in the hope that it will be considered a fit 

 subject to occupy a place in the Madras Journal of Science, though 

 scarcely entitled to the denomination of scientific. When, however, 

 we enlarge our view, and trace the advance of science, from its 

 origin to its present condition, we cannot fail to remark, how 

 much its progress has been influenced by the extension of commerce, 

 and must conclude,- that whatever tends to extend the one, must 

 give a forward impulse to the other. Bat leaving that question out of 

 sight, and viewing the subject with reference to its utility only, it will, I 

 trust, be found worthy of a place in a journal, the main object of which 

 is the improvement of India. 



Tuticoreen is the most considerable sea port in the Tinnevelly dis- 

 trict, and formerly carried on a large trade, the exports, according to 

 Milburn, amounting to 365,314 Sicca rupees. Of late years it fell off 

 considerably,, but within the last two, owing to the extension of the 

 eotton trade, has again assumed an importance, that could not a short 

 time before have been anticipated. No fewer than 3,000 bales of 

 cotton have been, in less than fifteen months, shipped from it for Eng- 

 land direct; 3,000 more, intended for the China marketeers sent from it 

 to Madras by coasters, to be finally shipped there, w T hile 1,000 were sent 

 by land, from Tinnevelly, for transmission to England. A short expla- 

 nation of the circumstances which gave rise to the indirect course pur- 

 sued in these two instances, will explain my reasons for requesting an 

 early publication of this chart. 



The excellence as well as the cheapness of Tinnevelly cotton is well 

 known. For these reasons a mercantile house in Bombay pent an 

 agent here last year to make purchases for the China market. He 

 purchased 3,000 bales, and then endeavoured to engage a vessel in Bom- 

 bay, to convey it from Tuticoreen to China, but could not get one to 

 venture to come there, for want of a good chart and sailing directions ; 

 consequently, after losing several months in the vain expectation of 

 finding one, he was at length forced to send the whole to Madras, at a 

 very considerable extra cost. The other, from the same cause, sent his 

 eotton to Madras by land, either from that being the more safe route, or 

 from the season of the year being unfavourable for vessels sailing up 

 the coast. 



With respect to situation, Tuticoreen possesses considerable ad van- 



