THE WEST COAST REGION extends from the Tapti to Cape Comorin, and consists of a narrow coastal plain backed by the Western Ghats. The plain, which is broken up by numerous ranges of foothills, varies in width from twenty to one hundred miles, being as a rule broader in the south than in the north. The rainfall averages over 100 inches per year, while the temperature is always high. The whole region may be divided into two belts, the first consisting of the plains and the foothills, and the second of the western slopes of the mountains. The first of these is agri culturally the more important, but the character of its soil varies greatly from place to place. Along the coast it is generally sandy, and suitable only for the cass-paim which is a source of considerable wealth to the villagers. In the river valleys—more especially inland—the soil consists of rich alluvial matter, and, aided by the abundant rainfall, it produces heavy crops of rice. This is the staple food of the region and covers over 60 per cent. of the cultivated area. On the lower slopes of the intervening hills there are many gardens in which plantain, mango, and pepper are grown, while on the poorer soils of the upper slopes coarse grains alone thrive. Wheat, millet, sugar-cane, and cotton are also grown in favourable districts throughout the region. The western slopes of the mountains are generally covered with forest, the most important trees of which have already been mentioned. In the Nilgiris there are coffee and tea plantations, and experiments are being made in the cultivation of rubber.
Taking the West Coast region as a whole the population is fairly dense, amounting to between 300 and 400 persons to the square mile. Except in the south it consists mainly of people of the Scytho-Dravidian stock. Geographical conditions are, on the whole, unfavourable to the growth of large towns, and Bombay alone is of first-rate importance. The growth of this city, which now has over three-quarters of a million inhabitants, has been remarkable. Ceded to England by Portugal in 1661, it became, in 1708, the headquarters of the East India Company, the silting up of the harbour at Surat making that town impossible as a base. The barrier of the Western Ghats was long a formidable obstacle to development, but, after the fall of the Maratha power, and the opening up of the railways which brought it into contact with the rest of the country, Bombay began to make rapid progress. The stoppage, during the Civil War, of the American supplies of raw cotton to the United Kingdom gave a great impetus to the export trade of Bombay, because of the demand which arose for the cotton grown on the black soils of its hinterland ; it also encouraged the development of the modern factory system in the city. The manufacture of cotton has continued to increase, and Bombay is now the centre of that industry in India. The opening of the Suez Canal must also be noted, as it placed Bombay in a relatively more favourable position for trade with Europe than it had formerly occupied.