Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1922-03-17

prepared by the National Geographic So
ciety. Washington. D. CO
The Moplahs, whose revolt in India
is one of the most serious the British
ave had to contend with in recent
times, are operating in the portion OF
India--the Malabar coast-which was
the first to be sighted by Europeans
and the first with which trading was
carried on. Yet 1t has been less known
than any other part of the great PENN
sua 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, 1t 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 a 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, Mslabar has no good
ports. Calieut 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 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 la
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
1893.
/ 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
|
were models of careful cultivation. In
them are grown characteristic Eastern
products, plantains, mangoes, pepper,
cinnamon, ginger, coffee, tea and many
vegetables.
Farther from the coast In the higher
bills, are the luxuriant forests with
their underground of tree ferns, rho
dodendrons and reeds and their deli
cate and colorful orchids. And to COM
piete 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,
par excellence, of India. In its small
forest reserves in the Western Chats
the British Indian government makes
respectable amount Of 'pin money
! by 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
region of great; Neutrality-suspicious.
4 peaks with dark-green ravines In which
, silver streams descend in numerous
4 waterfalls and cascades.
Most Of the People Are Hindus.
Though the Malabar coast is blessed
with rich soil and luxuriant vegetation
II Ii not as dependent on agriculture
, n most other portions Of India. Fish
: abound in the sea and are caught II
; great quantities and eaten. The tim
Der industry, too, Is important and