Page:Prehistoric Ancient And Hindu India.djvu/25

Rh lava and its soil is almost black. As one approaches the eastern edge of the plateau, he sees the change in the soil, and near the Eastern Ghats it is reddish, as is that at the end of the plateau to the south of the rivers Krishna and Tungabhadra. The plateau culminates in the Hindu state of Mysore, which is higher at the southern end than most of the plateau itself.

The fourth part or region of India consists of a broad belt of fertile land which runs along the sides of the peninsula. It is bounded on one side by the sea and on the other side by the Eastern or the Western Ghats. The western part of this belt is called the Konkan, from Sanskrit Kaftkana, a bracelet. The northern part, lying between the Gulfs of Cambay and Trombay, is very fertile and formed the richest portion of the Mughal Subah of Gujarat. Near Bombay the hills approach the Arabian Sea, and the tract between Bombay and Goa is not so fertile as Gujarat. But the coast land produces salt and provides for a large number of fishermen, while the valleys produce abundant crops of rice on account of the heavy rainfall during the south-western monsoon. South of Goa, the land is as fertile as Bengal and supports a very dense population. The country consists of a flat alluvial plain stretching from the Western Ghats or the Anaimalai Hills to the salt creeks near the sea coast. The eastern belt of coastland, from Ramnad near Ramesvaram to Tanjore, is also very rich and fertile and supports the densest population in Southern India. To the north of Tanjore the belt contracts, and above Madras the nature of the soil changes. The population is also less dense. The northern part of the eastern belt is much less fertile than the southern part, and the inhabitants are less enterprising than the people of the western coast. The people of Malabar are born sailors, and their sea-going craft are much more seaworthy than the cruder boats of the eastern coast. Therefore, while the natives of Konkan and the Malabar coast are bold sailors and trade with the Gulf of Persia and the Red Sea, the more primitive craft of the eastern coast are hardly fit for the open sea. The difference between the types of the sea-going craft of the eastern and western coasts of India reflects to some extent the important characteristics of the inhabitants of those parts.