n
applied to all kinds of cotton cloths imported from the East. In England
it is now applied particularly to grey or bleached cotton cloth used for
domestic purposes, and, generally, to any fairly heavy cotton cloth
without a pattern. In the United States there is a special application
to printed cloth "of a coarser quality than muslin." In England "printed
calico" is a comprehensive term.

CALICUT, a city of British India, in the Malabar district of Madras; on
the coast, 6 m. N. of Beypur. In 1901 the population was 76,981, showing
an increase of 14% in the decade. The weaving of cotton, for which the
place was at one time so famous that its name became identified with its
_calico_, is no longer of any importance. Calicut is of considerable
antiquity; and about the 7th century it had its population largely
increased by the immigration of the Moplahs, a fanatical race of
Mahommedans from Arabia, who entered enthusiastically into commercial
life. The Portuguese traveller Pero de Covilham (q.v.) visited Calicut
in 1487 and described its possibilities for European trade; and in May
1498 Vasco da Gama, the first European navigator to reach India, arrived
at Calicut. At that time it was a very flourishing city, and contained
several stately buildings, among which was especially mentioned a
Brahminical temple, not inferior to the largest monastery in Portugal.
Vasco da Gama tried to establish a factory, but he met with persistent
hostility from the local chief (_zamorin_), and a similar attempt made
by Cabral two years later ended in the destruction of the factory by the
Moplahs. In revenge the Portuguese bombarded the town, but no further
attempt was made for some years to establish a trading settlement there.
In 1509 the marshal Don Fernando Coutinho made an unsuccessful attack on
the city; and in the following year it was again assailed by Albuquerque
with 3000 troops. On this occasion the palace was plundered and the town
burnt; but the Portuguese were finally repulsed, and fled to their ships
after heavy loss. In the following year they concluded a peace with the
zamorin and were allowed to build a fortified factory on the north bank
of the Kallayi river, which was however again, and finally, abandoned in
1525. In 1615 the town was visited by an English expedition under
Captain Keeling, who concluded a treaty with the zamorin; but it was not
until 1664 that an English trading settlement was established by the
East