Forests cover a total area of nearly 1,300,00o acres. In recent years experimental afforestation has received much attention. In 1927 there were 19,028 sq.m. under State control including teak, ebony, rosewood, sandalwood and redwood.
The wild animals include the elephant, bison, sambur and ibex of the western Ghats and the Nilgiris. Bison are found also in the hill tracts of the northern Circars. In Travancore State the black leopard is not uncommon. The elephant is pro tected by law from indiscriminate destruction. The cattle are small, but in Nellore and along the Mysore frontier a superior breed is carefully kept up by the wealthier farmers. The best buffaloes are imported from the Bombay district of Dharwar.
Of the population in 1931, 883 in every thousand were Hindus, 7o Mohammedans, 38 Christians and 9 Animists. The death rate in 1926 was about 23 and the birth rate about 36 per thousand. The most numerous of the hill tribes are the Kondhs and Savaras, two cognate races who inhabit the moun tainous tracts of the eastern Ghats. On the Nilgiris the best known aboriginal tribe is the Todas (q.v.). The chief Moham medan tribes are Labbai, Moplah, Sheikh, Sayad, Pathan and Dudecula. The Labbais are the descendants of Hindu converts, and are traders by hereditary occupation, although many now employ themselves as sailors and fishermen. The Moplahs are the descendants of Arab sailors, but have now practically no foreign blood. They are a hard-working, frugal people, but ex tremely fanatical, and under the influence of religious excitement have often disturbed the public peace. The Christian population is comparatively large and is every year increasing. Broadly speaking, the entire population of Madras belongs to the five linguistic offshoots of the great Dravidian stock, dominant throughout southern India. At an early period, before the dawn of history, these races appear to have accepted some form of the Brahmanical or Buddhist faiths. Many storms of conquest have since swept over the land. and colonies of Mogul and Mahratta origin are to be found here and there. But the evidence of lan guage proves that the ethnical character of the population has remained stable under all these influences, and that the Madras Hindu, Mohammedan, Jain and Christian are of the same stock.
Of the five Dravidian languages in British territory Telugu is spoken by 377 persons in every thousand ; Tamil by 410; Kanarese by 35 and Malayalam by 75 persons in every thousand. Oriya, spoken by 37 in every thousand, Khond and Savara are employed in Ganjam, Vizagapatam and the Madras Agency. Tulu and Kamkani are used on the west coast.
Over the greater part of the area of Madras artificial irrigation is impossible, and cultivation is dependent upon the local rainfall. which rarely exceeds 4oin. a year, and is irregular. On the Malabar coast alone can the south-west monsoon be trusted to produce steady rain. Other districts, such as Bel lary, are also dependent upon this monsoon.
The system of irrigation has been most successful in the case of the three great eastern rivers, the Godavari, Kistna and Cauvery. Each of these is intercepted by an anicut or dam at the head of its delta, from which canals diverge on each side for navigation and irrigation. The project of leading the Periyar river through a tunnel on to the plain of Madura has been successful and a scheme for utilization of the Cauvery was in progress in 1927. Seven million acres were irrigated in 1927, three million of them by small works.
The principal food staples are rice, cholam, cambu, ragi and varagu (four kinds of millet). The most common oil-seed is ground-nut. Sugar is derived from cane and the sap of
The fruit trees are coconut, areca-nut, jack, tamarind and mango. Other crops are indigo, coffee, rubber, tobacco and tea. Cotton is grown mostly in the ceded districts, in the Guntur highlands and in the southern districts (Tinnevelly, etc.). The larger por tion of the coffee-growing area lies within Mysore, Coorg and Travancore States, but the Wynaad and the Nilgiri hills are within Madras. The tea plant was also introduced into the Nilgiri hills about 1840, and is still unimportant, though increas ing. Deccan hemp is grown in the northern Circars.