Madras

(mad-ras',) one of the three great presidencies of Brit. India, comprising the whole of the peninsula of Hindostan S. of the Krishna, the N. Circars,and Canara, or from bet. N. Lat. 8°-20°, E. Lon. 740-850; area, 141,746 sq. m. The coast-line, though extending a distance of 1,730 m., does not po e a single good harbor. Surface, generally a table-land with slight elevations extending interior wise from the coast, till cro ed by the E. and W. Ghauts and the Neilgherries (q. v.). Cereals, rice, pepper, spices, are the pp. staples of cultivation and export. The presidency is divided into 21 di sts. Pop. 24,926,509. - MADRAS, a seaport city, C. of above pres., on the coast of Coromandel, 870 m. S.W. of Calcuttaby land. Owing to the heavy surf rolling acro the bar, ships are obliged to anchor and discharge in the roadstead opposite the city. M. is a finely built and well laid-out place, with some handsome public buildings, and a flourishing commerce. It surrendered to the French in 1744, after a bombardment of 3 days, was restored to the English at the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, and withstood again, 1758-9, a long and obstinate siege by the French under the Comte de Lally-Tollendal. Pop. [s. 567]