COCHIN, a small province of Hindustan, on the coast of Malabar, intersected by the I0th degree of north latitude. It has the Malabar province on the north, Travancore on the south, Dindigul on the east, and the sea on the west. A portion of this territory, equal to about 745 square miles, is attached to the district of Malabar, and is subject to British laws and regulations; but the remainder is under the independent jurisdiction of the rajah. This country is beautiful in the northern parts, about Purgunuru and Shilacary. It consists of low hills, intersected by narrow fertile valleys, finely wooded, well peopled, and extremely well watered by small perennial streams, which enable the cultivators to raise two crops of rice annually. The high grounds arc in general rocky, but the soil is good, though the cultivation of these hills is everywhere exceedingly neglected. Groves of palms, mangoes, jacks, and lapintains skirt the bottom of the little hills, and shade the houses of the natives. The pasture is excellent, and the cattle, though remarkably small, are in good condition. Above these are woods of forest-trees, which, though not equal in size to those in Chittagong, are very fine, and free from rattans and other climbers. In these forests the same sort of trees grow as in Malabar, namely, the jack wood, which is in general demand for cabinet work, and is small; the erambo, or iron wood, which is too heavy for general use, and is seldom felled; the black wood, which is large and of fine dimensions, but which is rendered unsaleable by the practice of dividing it into short logs, which are dragged by elephants to the nearest river, and are frequently much bruised and splintered in the passage; the teak, which is inferior in essential oil, the grand preservative of iron from corrosion, to that produced in Malabar. The viti, a black wood, also abounds in these forests; but most of the trees have been cut, and no care is bestowed to increase their reproduction, or to check the growth of useless timber. There are extensive forests of teak in the rajah’s territories; but before the wood reaches the [7:7:11]sea it must be floated through the British territories to the sea-port town of Paniany, in South Malabar; and the Company’s government hesitated long whether they would admit the rajah’s subjects to the free navigation of this river. They were only determined to this wise and liberal policy by the earnest remonstrances of Major Munro, the resident at Cochin.

In this province are many Nazarene or Christian villages, which, for Indian towns, are well built and cleanly; and the inhabitants are a very orderly and industrious people, who live chiefly by trade or agriculture. The Jews are numerous in the vicinity of Cochin; and Mattachery, about a mile distant from that town, is almost wholly inhabited by them. They are divided into two classes, namely, the Jerusalem or white Jews, and the ancient or black Jews.

The Cochin rajah maintained his independence to a much later period than most of the other Hindu chiefs. When Hyder invaded his country, he quietly submitted to pay tribute, which was continued to his son Tippoo, and which is now paid to the Company. In May 1809 a treaty offensive and defensive was concluded by Colonel Macaulay, between the rajah and the East India Company, by the conditions of which the friends and enemies of either of the contracting parties were declared the friends and enemies of both. The rajah at the same time agreed to pay an additional tribute.

F. Buchanan’s Journey from Madras through Mysore, Canara, and Malabar ; Rev. C. Buchanan’s Christian Researches in Asia. Cochin, a sea-port and principal town of the above province. The city is of a semicircular form, and is about a mile and a half in circumference. It has three gates, and the streets are wide and commodious. The chief public buildings are the church, the governor’s house, the barracks, and a public hotel. A fort was built at this place by Albuquerque in 1503, and it was the first possessed by the Portuguese in India. Cochin continued to increase and to flourish under their rule till the year 1663, when it was taken by the Dutch. During the period of their rule it was a place of very extensive commerce, and was inhabited not only by all sects of Christians, but by Hindus, Mahommedans, and Jews, who are all equally tolerated, and who traded with Arabia, Persia, Bengal, and the whole seacoast of India. The trade carried on with Surat, Bombay, the coasts of Malabar and Canara, and also with Arabia, Canara, and the islands in the Eastern Seas, is still extensive. The imports consist chiefly of dates, almonds, pearls, gum-arabic, piece goods, cotton, opium, shawls, benzoin, camphor, cinnamon and spices, sugar-candy, tea, china, and silks. The exports are pepper, cardamums, teak wood, sandal wood, cocoa-nuts, coir, cordage, cassia, and fish-maws. The harbour is on the north side of the town, which stands on an island at the mouth of the Cali Caytang river. At this fort also ship-building is carried on to a considerable extent, and vessels are constructed both on European and Asiatic models. The ports in the Arabian and Persian Gulfs are also supplied from Cochin with the timber which they require for repairing their different craft. Cochin was taken possession of by the British in 1795, when war commenced with Holland, and it was finally ceded to the British by the treaty of 1814. It is 170 miles north-west from Cape Comorin. Long. 76. 8. E. Lat. 9. 57. N.