CANARA, a province of Hindostan, extends along the alabar coast between the 12th and 15th degree of N. Lat., and is from 30 to 90 miles in breadth. It is separated from the Alysore by the Western Ghauts, and comprehends the countries of Tulava and Haiga, with a small portion of Malayala on the south, and of Kankana on the north. Its name is supposed to be an European corruption of Karnata, a people residing above the G hams, and was bestowed upon it, because it belonged to the princes of that nation ; and we may observe, that, on the other side of the peninsula, the Carnatic received its name from the same origin, and the same cause, when first conquered by the Moslems. Though the air in this coun try is, in general, pure and pleasant, and the climate sa lubrious, yet, in some places, it is extremely unhealthy, particularly in the northern part of the province. In Tu lava heavy rains and strong westerly winds prevail, be tween the middle of May and the middle of August. The rain which they have during the other seasons of the year comes from the east, and commonly falls in gentle showers; and, in the winter months, from November to March, the weather is dry, but the air is reckoned cold by the natives. The soil throughout this province is in general good; and produces abundance of rice, of which great quantities are exported to Europe and various parts of India. The best in quality is in the neighbour hood of the coast. In many places, it grows gradually worse as you approach the mountains, where the rains are sometimes so excessive, as greatly to injure the crops ; but in the inland part of the country, it is very favourable to plantations.—Some of the mountains are covered with stately forests of various kinds of wood, among which the teak is the most valuable ; indeed, the Western C hauts, in general, present a very different ap pearance from those in the cast. Instead of the naked sun-burnt peaks of the latter, the hills here, though steep and stony, are by no means rugged, but are covered with a rich mould, and, in many places, the rocks cannot be observed without digging. " The strata on the Western Chants," says Dr Buchanan, 44 are much covered with the soil ; s9 that it is in few places only that they are to Je seen. Haling no compass, I could not ascertain their course ; but so far as I could judge from the sun in a country so hilly, they appeared to run north and south, with a dip to the east of about 30 degrees. Wherever it appears on the surface, the rock, although extremely hard or tough, is in a state of decay ; and, owing to this decay, its stratified nature is very evident. —The plates, indeed, of which the strata consist, are in general under a foot in thickness, and are subdivided into rhomboidal fragments by fissures, which have a smooth surface. It
is properly an aggregate stone, composed of quartz, im pregnated with hornblende. From this last it acquires its great toughness. In decay, the hornblende in sonic plates seems to waste faster than in others, and thus leaves the stone divided into zones, which are alternate ly porous and white. This rock contains many small crystallized particles apparently of iron. Below the Ghauts, the country consists of laterite or brick-stone ; but it is much intermixed with granites and talcose ar gilite, which seems to be nothing more than a potstone, impregnated with more argil than usual, and assum ing a slaty form."—" The strata of Tulava, near the sea coast," says the same author, " resemble entirely those of Malayala, and consist of laterite or brick-stone, with a very few rocks of granite interspersed. This gra nite is covered with a dark black crust, and is totally free from veins of quartz, or of felspar. In many places, large masses of the granite, immersed in the laterite, arc in a state of decay; the black mica has entirely disap peared, and the white felspar has crumbled into powder, leaving the quartz in angular masses. These sometimes form so large a share of the whole rock, that, after the decay of the other component parts of the granite, they firmly adhere." In Tulava, all the lands arc private property ; but in Ilaiga, the hills and forests, and in Soonda, a district of Kankana above the Ghauts, the land belongs to government. Every man pays a certain land-tax, and cul tivates his property in whatever manner he pleases. Some of them let their lands upon a lease of from four to ten years ; and the rent demanded is generally two morays" of rice for every moray of land of the first qua lity ; one and a half for middling land ; and one for the worst land. The most wealthy cultivators keep from 20 to 25 ploughs ; those in moderate circumstances have from four to six ; but the greatest proportion of farmers have only one. All agricultural labour is performed by hired servants and slaves. Of the former, a man is al lowed 2 harries of clean rice per day, or 211 bushels in the year, with 1 A rupees worth of cloth, a pagoda in cash, and a house ; and a woman the same quantity of cloth, and three-fourths of her husband's allowance of grain. A male slave has IA harries of rice a-day, with an annual allowance of 21 rupees worth of cloth, and is permitted to build a hut in the cocoa-nut garden ; a fe male has only 1 harry per day, with the same quantity of cloth.