ned in importance, on account of a dangerous bar
which formed across the mouth of the river. At present the bar has 12 to 15
ft. of water at spring-tides, but not more than 2 or 3 ft. at low water in
the dry season. Large ships have to anchor outside in the open roadstead.
The town still possesses a large maritime trade, despite the silting-up of
the river mouth. Pop. (1901) 20,880.

The district forms a strip of alluvial land between the hills and the sea,
varying from about 9 to 34 m. in breadth; area, 2085 sq. m. The hill
country rises from the western boundary line. The district naturally
divides itself into three well-defined tracts--(1) The salt tract, along
the coast; (2) The arable tract, or rice country; and (3) The submontane
tract, or jungle lands. The salt tract runs the whole way down the coast,
and forms a desolate strip a few miles broad. Towards the beach it rises
into sandy ridges, from 50 to 80 ft. high, sloping inland and covered with
a [v.03 p.0240] vegetation of low scrub jungle. Sluggish brackish streams
creep along between banks of fetid black mud. The sandhills on the verge of
the ocean are carpeted with creepers and the wild convolvulus. Inland, it
spreads out into prairies of coarse long grass and scrub jungle, which
harbour wild animals in plenty; but throughout this vast region there is
scarcely a hamlet, and only patches of rice cultivation at long intervals.
From any part of the salt tract one may see the boundary of the inner
arable part of the district fringed with long lines of trees, from which
every morning the villagers drive their cattle out into the saliferous
plains to graze. The salt tract is purely alluvial, and appears to be of
recent date. Towards the coast the soil has a distinctly saline taste.

Salt used to be largely manufactured in the district by evaporation, but
the industry is now extinct. The arable tract lies beyond the salt lands,
and embraces the chief part of the district. It is a long dead-level of
rich fields, with a soil lighter in colour than that of Bengal or Behar;
much more friable, and apt to split up into small cubes with a rectangular
cleavage. A peculiar feature of the arable tract is the _P[=a]ts_
(literally cups) or depressed lands near the river-banks. They were
probably marshes that have partially silted up by the yearly overflow of
the streams. These _p[=a]ts_ bear the finest crops. As a whole, the arable
tract is a treeless region, except around the