Madras
Webster's Dictionary [1]
(n.) A large silk-and-cotton kerchief, usually of bright colors, such as those often used by negroes for turbans.
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [2]
one of the three presidencies of the Indian Empire, occupies the greater part of the south of the peninsula of Hindustan, including the coast lands, Malabar, the Laccadive Islands, and the Coromandel coast, in all covering an area of 138,856 square miles, with 31,672,613 inhabitants in 1885 (according to Behm, Geoagr. Jahrbuch, 1870, eleven twelfths are Hindus, and some 80,000 adherents of Mohammedanism). The tributary states Mysore, Cochin, Travancore, Pudocotta, and Djayapur are virtually a part of Madras, and are therefore included in our statistics of Madras. The capital of this presidency is a city of like name, and is situated on the Coromandel coast, the western shore of the Bay of Bengal, in lat. 130 5' N. It stretches along the coast, with its nine suburbs, for nine miles, with an average breadth of three and one half miles. Its inhabitants number 405,948 (1887), among them about 30,000 native Christians. Madras was the first hold of the English secured by the occupation of Fort George (situated on the coast midway between the north and south extremities of the city) in 1639. It is now truly an Indo-European city. Like Calcutta and Bombay, it is a gathering-place for the missionaries of the different denominations and associations, and the basis for all missionary enterprise in southern India. Madras is the seat of the Anglican see of Madras, established in 1835.
The missionary societies at work there are the "Society for the Propagation of the Gospel," the "London Missionary Society," the "Church Missionary Society" (which started in 1805), the "Wesleyan Missionary Society," the "Church of Scotland," the "American Board" (commenced there in 1836), and the "Free Church of Scotland." Its principal buildings and institutions are the Government House, a handsome edifice, though much inferior to the similar establishments in Calcutta, and even in Bombay; one of the finest light-houses in the world; the Scotch Church of St. Andrew, founded in 1818, a stately and beautiful edifice; a university, with three European professors, and numerous teachers both European and native, and containing a valuable museum and a library; St. George's Cathedral, from which a magnificent view of the city and its vicinity may be obtained, and containing several monuments by Chantrey (including one of bishop Heber), and some figures by Flaxman. There are also male, military, and female orphan asylums, a medical school, a branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, the Madras Polytechnic Institution, the Government Observatory, a mint, eight established Episcopal churches, among them a cathedral, besides numerous places of worship of other Christian denominations, and the Madras Club, to which members of the Bengal and Bombay clubs are admitted as honorary members. See Grundemann, Missions-Atlas, No. 14 and 15; Newcomb, Cyclop. of Missions, s.v., also under Hindostan; Wheeler, Madras in the Olden Times (Madras, 1861-62, 3 vols. 8vo); Aikman, Cyclop. of Missions, p. 148, 272. (See India).
The Nuttall Encyclopedia [3]
One of the three Indian Presidencies, occupies the S. and E. of the peninsula, and is one-half as large again as Great Britain; the chief mountains are the Ghâts, from which flow SE. the Godavari, Kistna, and Kavari Rivers, which, by means of extensive irrigation works, fertilise the plains; climate is various; on the W. coast very hot and with a rainfall from June to October of 120 inches, producing luxurious vegetation; on the E. the heat is also great, but the rainfall, which comes chiefly between October and December, is only 40 inches; in the hill country, e. g . Ootacamund, the government summer quarters, it is genial and temperate all the year, and but for the monsoons the finest in the world; rice is everywhere the chief crop; cotton is grown in the E., tobacco in the Godavari region, tea, coffee, and cinchona on the hills, and sugar-cane in different districts; gold is found in Mysore (native State), and diamonds in the Karnul; iron abounds, but without coal; the teak forests are of great value; cotton, gunny-bags, sugar, and tiles are the chief manufactures; English settlements date from 1611; the population, chiefly Hindu, includes 2 million Mohammedans and ¾ million Christians; the chief towns are Rujumahendri, Vizugapatam, Trichinopoli, of cheroot fame, and Mangalore, on the W. coast, and the capital
n the E., Coromandel, coast, a straggling city, hot but healthy, with an open roadstead, pier, and harbour exposed to cyclones, a university, examining body only, colleges of science, medicine, art, and agriculture, and a large museum; the chief exports are coffee, tea, cotton, and indigo.
