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INDIA

The large commercial town of Machlipatnam (Masulipatam)
 is situated here, this being the only part of the
eastern coast which is not subject to a surf. Shoal water,
however, extends for some miles from the coast-line off
the deltas of the Godavari and Kistna, and prevents ships
of any size from anchoring near.
The Kavari (Cauvery) also rises in the Western Ghats,
the source of one branch being within 30 miles of the
west coast. For about one-fourth its course it traverses
the south-west districts of the Maisur plateau, passing
the famous stronghold of Seringapatam. It then winds
through a mass of mountains till it reaches the great plain
of the Karnatic. Here it takes up the Bhawani affluent,
a river which circles round the southern base of the
Nilgiris, and thenceforward pursues a placid course to the
sea. Below Trichinopoli it divides into several branches,
the most southern and most important of which is called
the Kalarun (Coleroon). Much of the water of the Kavari
is exhausted in fertilising its delta, where a quality of rice
is grown which is considered to be inferior in quality only
to that of Burdwan. Throughout its upper course in the
higher levels there is much that is picturesque in the river
scenery ; the falls of the river (which may be easily
reached from Bangalore) are equal to any in India in
point of natural beauty, though the falls of Gairspa on the
western coast, near HonAwar, are higher.
The Karnatic, which comprises most of the old Madras
presidency, extending from Cape Comorin to a junction
with the Orissa division of Bengal, is a long strip of territory
 only averaging 70 to 8o miles in width and narrowing
towards the north, It is divided (geographically) into a
northern, central, and southern division, and is further
recognised on the east and west respectively as Paian
Ghat (or below the Ghats) and Balaghat (above the Ghats),
where the line of the Eastern Ghats intersects the province
through its two northern divisions. Above the Ghats
(which word is a form of the Sanscrit “gati,” a way, or
path) the climate is modified by three or four thousand
teet of altitude, and is not unbearable ; below, it is hot,