CARNATIC, is a narrow stripe of country on the eastern side of th• peninsula of India, which anciently comprised all that part of it that lies south of the Goo degama and Tungebadra rivers, from the coast of Coro mandel eastward, to the Ghaut mountains westward ; and was divided into Balla.Gliant and Payen-Ghaut, or the Upper and Lower Gnaws, (that is passes through mountains), the former helm; the western part, and the latter the eastern part, or the Carnatic, according to its present definition.
From the intercourse, however, which has subsisted between Europeans and the inhabitants of the Carnatic, in the way of mercantile speculation, and the numerous WILI'S by which that line country has been infested, we are as well acquainted with this part of Indostao as any other district of our immense possessions in India.
The Carnatic, in general, is even and dry, and pre sents a sameness of appearance, of which those who have only hart an opportunity of traversing regions that are mountainous, can scarcely form any adequate idea. Iti the hut season, the dreariness of the prospect forcibly strikes every traveller. Ile has notning to amuse or to witiniraw his attention from the labours which neces sarily accompany the fatigue of his journey, but a naked, brown, dusty plain, and now and then small villages, and a ridge of detached hills. The sameness of the appearance of the whole district of country, seems to have impressed every one who has had the curiosity to visit it In the rainy season, however, a most remarka ble change takes place, and the inhabitants of those tropical regions, so krtile, that the produce of the earth seems to be almost spontaneous, are subjected to greater and more sudden transitions, in regard to climate, than those who live in countries where more labour is requisite for the cultivation of the soil. Those altera tions arc indispensibly necessary for promoting vegeta tion, and the natives consequently look forward to the change with the utmost eagerness and anxiety.
An immense ridge of mountains, extending 13 de grees of latitude, that is, from Cape Coniorin to Surat, produces the most important effects in regard to the nature of the seasons, not in the Carnatic only, but throughout the whole peninsula. Although the altitude of these mountains is unknown, yet it is sufficiently great to prevent the great body of clouds from passing over them ; and, accordingly, the alternate N. E. and S. W.
winds (called the monsoons) occasion a rainy season on one side of the mountains only ; that is on the windward side. It would app,ar, nevertheless, that a sufficient number of clouds pass over to occasion a rainy season, at a considerable distance to leyward, where those clouds descend, as we may suppose them to do ; although at the time they passed over the Gauts they must necessarily have been too high, and of course too light, to condense and fall in rain there. The ridge of the Gauts shelters a particular tract only, beyond which, the light and elevated clouds that pass over it descend in rain. Madras is within the limit of the sheltered tract, though at least 300 miles to leeward of the Gauts. (Sec Rennell's Memoir.) Though an immense number of rivers intersect India in every direction, yet the Carnatic, properly so called, is worse supplied with such as arc navigable than almost any country of equal extent. This no doubt operates as a powerful barrier towards promoting the facilities to commerce, and consequently to the progress of ma nufactures, which it would otherwise have enjoyed. Lit tle or no internal navigation can be carried on, and the difficulty of transporting goods front one place to another must be severely felt. All the rivers on the coast of Coromandel are subject to very sudden and unforese( alterations, which arc occasioned by the rains that fall OH the mountains. In the space of twenty-four hours, it often happens, that from being fordable, they become almost impassable even by boats, on account of the rapidity of the current. Considerable inconvenience to the inhabitants is the certain effect of the suddenness or so great an increase, but this is greatly counterbalanced by the genial influence which these overlIoN%ings have upon the soil, from which they must derive their sub sistence. In a tropical country, the heat is so excessive. that the ground is quite parched ; and had not moire made the wise provision of periodical rains, common to every region of the same latitudes, vegetation could never take place : it must soon have become altogether unin habitable, because incapable of affording sustenance to man or beast.