The Ordway new era., 1922-03-17
Grinding Corn in an Indian Village

prepared by the National Geographic So
ciety. Washington. d. C)
The MoplahS, whose revolt in India
Is one of the most serious the British
have had to contend with in recent
times, are operating in the portion of
1ndia-the Malabar coast-which was
the first to be sighted by Europeans
and the first with which trading was
carried on. Yet it has been less known
than any other part of the great penin-
sula empire. To the casual observer
of maps this seems the front door to
India, and the region which should be
best known and most influenced by
Europeans. For 1t is the coast facing
toward Europe and lies just opposite
the main water gateway to and from
the west-the mouth of the Red sea.
But although 1t was natural enough
that Vasco da CANA, after he had
rounded Africa, should have his first
Indian land-fall in Malabar, it Is equal
ly natural when geographic conditions
are taken into account, that most of
the present-day argOsies of trade shun
this lower western coast of India and
turn instead northward to Bombay or,
doubling the point of the peninsula
anchor at India's back DOORS" Mad
ras and Calcutta. For the Malabar
region is only narrow strip 20 to 60
miles wide with rugged mountains the
Western Chats, cutting it off from the
rest of India almost as completely as
would many miles of water.
Then, too, Mtlabar has no good
ports. Calicut and Cochin did well
enough for the light-draft caravels of
the early explorers, but cannot well ac-
commodate larger modern ocean going
craft. In the east India has no such
continuous barrier as the Western
Chats, and so the wide portion of the
peninsula to the east of those rugged
mountains has become familiar land
to travellers and has to a degree be-
come Europeanized, while the Malabar
coast has been little known and has
remained the best mirror of ancient
India.
What the Region Is Like.
In few other places will the West
erner have his dreams of the East and
of India come so nearly true as in
Malabar. The climate Is hot and the
annual rainfall amounts to nearly ten
feet The coasts are fringed with mil
lions of coconut palms. Just inland in
many parts of the region are quiet Ia
goons and backwaters, connected by
canals, on which picturesque Eastern
"gondolas" ply. Along these inland
shores are still more coconut and other
palms, and in the waters are croco-
dies. Everywhere brown natives
swarm-mostly bare above the waist
little different in appearance and Gus
toms from the first Indians which the
Portuguese found on those shores in
149S.
Back of the coastal lagoons are fiat
rice fields and in many sections these
extend up the lower hillsides on ter
races, irrigated from the countless
monsoon-born streams that trickle
down from the Chats. Elsewhere the
hill slopes are given up to gardens
which even in the Fifteenth century
were models of careful cultivation. LII
them are grown characteristic Eastern
products, plantains, mangoes, pepper,
cinnamon, ginger, coffee, tea and many
vegetables.
Farther from the coast In the higher
hills, are the luXuriant forests with
their underground of tree ferns, rho
dodendrons and reeds and their deli
cate and colorful orchids. And to COM
plete the Westerner's dream-picture OF
the East, in the forests are tigers and
leopards and wild elephants. This re-
gion is in fact the elephant country,
mar excellence, of India. In its small
forest reserves in the Western Chats
the British Indian government makes
n respectable amount of spin money"
bv selling the elephants which 1t traps.
Large herds, too, roam over the pri-
vately owned forest lands of the region
and of Travancore. Immediately to the
south. These wooded mountains form
a region of great beauty-precipitous
peaks with dark-green ravines In which
silver streams descend in numerous
waterfalls and cascades.
Most Of the People Are Hindus.
Though the Malabar coast is blessed
with rich soil and luxuriant vegetation
IL is not as dependent on agriculture
as most other portions Of India. Fish
abound in the sea and are caught In
great quantities and eaten. The tim