Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/838

 832 MADRAS American and Armenian missions, a mosque, and several unpretending Hindoo temples. The institutions of learning comprise the Madras university, which was founded by Lord Harris in 1857, the presidency college, the medical college, the school of art, and the government central museum, with a zoological garden at- tached, which was visited by 116,691 persons in 187l-'2. The Madras literary society, a distinguished branch of the London Asiatic society, was founded in 1818. An excellent astronomical observatory is maintained by the government, and its recorded observations ex- tend back to the year 1787. An agri-horti- cultural society was founded in 1835. Madras is supplied with excellent water from wells in the Black Town; it is conveyed in pipes to two reservoirs, and thence distributed through the city. The streets are lighted with gas. There is telegraphic communication from Ma- dras to all the leading cities of India, and by submarine cable to Penang and Singapore. The railway lines leading from the city are referred to in the account of the province. Madras is totally destitute of a harbor. Large ships are obliged to anchor about 2 m. from the beach in nine fathoms of water, and land- ing is effected by boats called masulahs, built of thin planks, flat-bottomed, without ribs or keel, and so flexible as to yield to the impulse of the breakers. The greatest skill is required to conduct them through the tremendous surf, in which no boat of ordinary construction could live a moment. The native fishermen use a float or raft called a catamaran, consisting of two or three light logs lashed together, upon which they make their way through the surf in weather far too rough for boats. Through- out the S. W. monsoon the anchorage is ex- tremely hazardous, and ships are often obliged to cut loose their anchors and put out to sea. Propositions for the erection of a breakwater The Presidency College, Madras. 2,000 yards long, or of two piers so placed as to form a closed harbor, were under consider- ation by the government in 1873. A light- house, 128 ft. high, furnished with a powerful flashing light, stands near the fort. In the year 1871-'2, the value of the imports and exports of the port of Madras was as follows : Import*. Exports. Merchandise 2 615 078 2 640 844 Treasure 450080 260 723 Total 3,065,108 2,901 067 Madras was founded in 1639 by Francis Day, chief of the British factory at Armegon, the second English settlement on the Coroman- del coast, who in that year removed his estab- lishment to the site of the present city, and built Fort St. George on a small tract of ter- ritory granted by a native prince. The set- tlement was known at first as Chenappatam. The presidency was created in 1653. The city was blockaded in 1702 by Daoud Khan, a general of Aurungzebe. In September, 1746, it was besieged by the French under Labour- donnais, and surrendered after five days' bom- bardment. In !758-'9, having reverted to Great Britain by the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748), it successfully withstood a siege by a large French and native force under Lally. After the first war with Tippoo Saib in 1799, the presidency was enlarged by the incorporation of Canara, Ooimbatore, and the Neilgherry hills, parts of the conquered kingdom of Mysore ; and soon afterward Bellary and Cuddapah were ceded to Madras by the Nizam. In 1801 the nawaub of the Carnatic, whose dominions comprised the present districts of ISTellore, K and S. Arcot, Trichinopoly, and Tinnevelli, transferred them all to the British. The Madras government ac- quired Kurnool in 1841, and ceded N. Oanara to Bombay in 1862. The city and province re- mained undisturbed during the sepoy mutiny.