GANJAM is a town of Ilindostan, in the eircar of Ci cacole, near the Bay of Bengal. It is situated on a small eminence along the river, at the distance of about a quarter of a league from its enitouchure. The principal public build ings are a large pagoda, and the house of the governor, built of brick. All the other houses are !milt of a greasy earth, and covered within and without with lime. They are roofed with straw or bulrushes, which arc renewed every two years. The town is of a moderate size ; the streets are narrow, and ill arranged ; but the inhabitants are nu merous. In 1711, when the town was rich and populous, it was situated very near the shore, but a violent storm of wind, which rose in the evening, drove out the sea, and in undated the town, so that only a few of the inhabitants es caped. The harbour of Ganjam is commodious; it has five or six feet of water at neap tides, and nine or ten in spring tides. Vessels are built here at a cheap rate, and in great numbers. The finest muslins that are made on the coast are manufactured at Ganjarn. Provisions arc cheap, and there is plenty of corn and rice. The town is much frequented by the merchants of Bengal, and by the Arme nians.
Ganjam is at present one of the five districts into which the northern Circars arc divided, and is the residence of a collector and judge. The fort, which stands on the sou thern side of the river, is a small pentagon, on plain ground, and is capable of making a considerable resistance when well garrisoned. Sugar and jagary are cultivated in the neighbourhood ; but the country north of the town is very low, and is inundated in the rainy season.
Between the 1st of May 1811, and the 30th of April 1812, the total value of imports at Ganjam, chiefly from Calcutta, was 106,250 rupees, of which only 6414 rupees was from places beyond the territories of the :Madras go vernment. The total value of exports within the same period, was 4.71,503 rupees, of which only 8553 rupees was to places beyond the Madras territories, viz. 3157 to Calcutta, and 5396 Arcot rupees to Botany Bay. Distance from Calcutta 372 miles ; from Madras 650. East. Long. 85° 18' le, North Lat. 19° 22' 30", according to astrono mical observations. See Hamilton's East India Gazet teer; Milburn's Oriental Commerce ; and Peuchet's Dic tionary.