Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/371

Rh   COORG, a province of Southern India, near the centre of the Western Ghats, between 11 56 and 12 45 N. lat. and 75 25 and 76 13 E. long., is bounded by Mysore, Malabar, and South Kanara, and lias an area of 2000 square miles. It is a mountainous district, presenting throughout a series of wooded hills and deep valleys ; the lowest elevations are 3000 feet above sea-level. The loftiest peak, Tandiandamol, has an altitude of 5781 feet ; Pushpagiri, another peak, is 5682 feet high. The principal river is the Cauvery, or Kaverij which rises on the eastern side of the Western Ghats, and with its tributaries draiiis the greater part of Coorg. Besides these there are several large streams that take their rise in Coorg. In the rainy season, which lasts during the continuance of the south west monsoon, or from June to the end of September, the rivers flow with violence and great rapidity. In July and August the rainfall is excessive, and the month of November is often showery. The yearly rainfall may exceed 160 inches; in the dense jungle tract it reaches from 120 to 150 ; in the bamboo district from 60 to 100 inches. The climate, though humid, is on the whole healthy ; it is believed to have been rendered hotter and drier of late years by the clearing of forest land. Coorg has an average temperature of about 60 Fahr., the extremes being 52 and 82. The hottest season is in April and May. In the direction of Mysore the whole country is thickly wooded ; but to the westward the forests are more open. The flora of the jungle includes Michelia (Chumpak), Mesua (Iron-wood), Diospyros (Ebony and other species), Cedrela Toona (White cedar), Chickrassia tubiilaria (Red cedar), Calophyllum angustifolium (Poon spar), Canarium stridum (Black Dammar tree), Artocarpus, Dipterocarpus, Garcinia, Eaouymus, C innamomum iners, Myristica, Vacciuium, Myrtacece, Melastomaceoe, Rubus (three species), and a rose. In the undergrowth are found cardamom, areca, plantain, canes, wild pepper, tree and other ferns, and arums. In the forest of the less thickly-wooded bamboo country in the west of Coorg the trees most common are the Dalbergia latifolia (Black wood), Pterocarpus Marsupium (Kino tree), Terminalia coriacea (Mutti), Lagerstromia parviflora (Benteak), Conocarpus latifolius (Dindul), Bassia latifolia, Butea frondosa, Nanclea parviflora, and several acacias, with which, in the eastern part of the district, teak and sandalwood occur. Among the fauna may be mentioned the elephant, tiger, tiger-cat, cheetah or hunting leopard, wild dog, elk, bison, wild boar, several species of deer, hares, monkeys, the buceros and various other birds, the cobra di capsllo, and a few alligators. The most interesting antiquities of Coorg are the earth redoubts (kunnidegs), which are from 15 to 25 feet high, and provided with a ditch 10 feet deep by 8 or 10 feet wide. Their linear extent is reckoned at between 500 and 600 miles. The exports of Coorg are mainly rice, coffee, and cardamoms ; and the only important manufacture is a kind of coarse blanket. Fruits of many descriptions, especially oranges, are produced in abundance, and are of excellent quality. The Coorgs, of whom the Kodagas are the chief tribe, constitute thirteen castes. They are of Dravidian origin, and retain the devil-worship of their ancestors ; they speak a dialect of Canarese. They are a well-formed, bold and active, but ignorant and superstitious race. The strange institution of polyandry prevalent among them, according to which the wives of the brothers of a family are common property, appears to have arisen from the necessity of counteracting the exterminating influence of wars by making the brothers of the slain the rightful husbands of their widows. The principal towns of Coorg are Merkara, the capital, Fraserpett, Somwarpett, Periapatam, and Verajenderpetta. In 1872 Coorg contained 510 villages, and its population numbered 168,312.

1em  COOT, a well-known British water-fowl, the Fulica atra of Linnoeus, belonging to the family Rallidce or Rails. Tie word Coot, in some parts of England pronounced Cute, or Scute, is of uncertain origin, but perhaps cognate with Scout and Scoter both names of aquatic birds a possibility which seems to be more likely since the name &quot; Macreuse,&quot; by which the Coot is known in the south of France, being in the north of that country applied to the Scoter (CKdemia nigra) shews that, though belonging to very different families, there is in popular estimation some connection between the two birds. The Latin Fulica (in polite French, Foidque) is probably allied to fidigo, and has reference to the bird s dark colour. The Coot breeds abundantly in many of the larger inland waters of the northern parts of the Old World, in winter commonly resorting, and often in great numbers, to the mouth of rivers or shallow bays of the sea, where it becomes a general object of pursuit by gunners whether for sport or gain. At other times of the year it is comparatively unmolested, and being very prolific its abundance is easily understood. The nest is a large mass of flags, reeds, or sedge, piled together among rushes in the water or on tha margin, and not unfrequently contains as many as ten eggs. The young, when first hatched, are beautiful little creatures, clothed in jet-black down, with their heads of a bright orange-scarlet, varied with purplish-blue. This brilliant colouring is soon lost, and they begin to assume the almost uniform sooty-black plumage which is worn for the rest of their life ; but a characteristic of the adult is a bare patch or callosity on the forehead, which being nearly white gives rise to the epithet &quot; bald &quot; often prefixed to the bird s name. The Coot is about 18 inches in length, and will sometimes weigh over 2 II). Though its wings appear to be short in proportion to its size, and it seems to rise with difficulty from the water, it is capable of long-sustained and rather rapid flight, which is performed with the legs stretched out behind the .stumpy tail. It swims buoyantly, and looks a much larger bird in the water than it really is. It dives with ease, and when wounded is said frequently to clutch the weeds at the bottom with a grasp so firm as not even to be loosened by death. It does not often come on dry land, bat when there, marches leisurely and not without a certain degree of grace. The feet of the Ccot are very 