MADRAS, ina-dras', British India, a presi dency occupying the southern portion of the Indian Peninsula. It stretches from the Bay of Bengal to the Arabian Sea, almost enclosing Travancore and Mysore, while a long, narrow portion extends along the west side of the Bay of Bengal till it meets the Bengal province about 70 miles from the mouth of the Mahanadi. It has a total area, excluding native states, of 141,075 square miles, the area of the native states being 10,087 square miles. Jaipur and Haidarabad bound it on the northwest, while the west borders for a short distance with Bombay. The chief mountain ranges are the Western Ghats, the Eastern Ghats and the Nilgiri Mountains. The principal rivers are the Godiveri and Kistna, with their tributaries; and the North Penner. South Penner, Palar, Kaveri, Coleroon and Vaiga. There are no lakes of any importance, but many salt lagoons or inlets of the sea. Extensive forests yield teak, ebony and other valuable timber trees. The wild animals are those common to other parts of India, the elephant, tiger, chetah, bear, bison, elk, spotted deer, antelope. jackal, wild hog, jungle sheep, etc. The climate generally is reckoned the hottest in India, but differs wildly in different localities according to ele vation. Of the population, 68 per cent is en gaged in agriculture, and 86 per cent of the cultivated area is under food crops. The soil along the coasts, particularly that of the Carnatic, is for the most part light and sandy; inland it consists of a decomposed syenite im pregnated with salt, which in dry weather covers the ground with a saline efflorescence. The district of Tanjore on the banks of the Coleroon is esteemed the granary of southern India. The principal vegetable productions are rice, wheat, barley, maize and all the other grains common in India; sugarcane, areca, yam, plantain, tamarind, jack-fruit, mango, melons, cocoanuts and a variety of other fruits; gin ger, turmeric, pepper, tobacco, hemp and cotton, for the growth of which the soil seems to be particularly well adapted. Tea is grown to
some extent. Weaving is the only indigenous art of any consequence, and cotton cloth, mus lins, carpets and silks are manufactured to a limited extent. The grand total of seaborne trade for 1913-14 was rupees 581,593,000. Of external trade 63 per cent is with the British Empire, and 42 per cent with the United King dom. The government of the presidency is vested in a governor subordinate to the gover nor-general of India. The revenue usually ex ceeds the expenditure, but the apparently healthy condition of the finances is largely illusory, as the presidency has been living on windfalls in the shape of grants from the Indian government. At the head of the edu cational institutions is the Madras University, an examining body, granting degrees in arts, law, medicine and engineering. About 600 students annually graduate in arts. There are various schools and colleges affiliated to the university.
The province is divided into 22 districts with a population of about 41,402,000. The native feudatory states of Travancore, Cochin, Ban ganapalle, Puddakotai and Sandur, had a total population of about 4,813,000. The languages are Tamil, Telugu (which are spoken by the great majority of the inhabitants), Canarese and Malayalam, with some lesser dialects spoken by the more barbaric tribes on the mountains; Mahrathi and Gujerathi prevail in the northern and northwestern parts of the presidency; Uriya in the northeast; while Hindustani is the language spoken everywhere by the Mohamme dans. Capital, Madras (q.v.). See also INDIA.