COIMBATORE  , a

city and district of British India, in the Madras presidency . The city is situated on the left bank of the Noyil river, 305 M. from Madras by the Madras railway . In 1901 it had a population of 53,080, showing an increase of 14% in the decade . The city stands 1437 ft. above sea-level, is well laid out and healthy, and is rendered additionally attractive to European residents by its picturesque position on the slopes of the Nilgiri hills . It is an important industrial centre, carrying on cotton weaving and spinning, tanning, distilling, and the manufacture of coffee, sugar, manure and saltpetre. it has two second-grade colleges, a college of agriculture, and a school of forestry . The DISTRICT OF COIMBATORE has an area of 786o sq. m . It may be described as a flat, open country, hemmed in by mountains on the north, west and south, but opening eastwards on to the great plain of the Carnatic; the average height of the plain above sea-level is about 900 ft . The principal mountains are the Anamalai Hills, in the south of the district, rising at places to a height of between 8000 and 9000 ft . In the west the Palghat and Vallagiri Hills form a connecting link between the Anamalai range and the Nilgiris, with the exception of a remarkable gap known as the Palghat Pass . This gap, which completely inter-sects the Ghats, is about 20 M. wide . In the north is a range of primitive trap-hills known( as the Cauvery chain, extending eastwards from the Nilgiris, and rising in places to a height of 4000 ft . The principal rivers are the Cauvery, Bhavani, Noyii, and Amravati .

Numerous canals are cut from the rivers for the purpose of affording artificial

irrigation, which has proved of immense benefit to the country . Well and tank water is also largely used for irrigation purposes . Coimbatore district was acquired by the British in 1799 at the close of the war which ended with the death of Tippoo . In 1901 the population was 2,201,782, showing an increase of 1o% in the preceding decade . The principal crops are millet, rice, other food grains, pulse, oilseeds, cotton and tobacco, with a little coffee . Forests cover nearly 11 million acres, yielding valuable timber (teak, sandal-wood, &c.), and affording grazing-ground for cattle . There are several factories for pressing cotton, and for cleaning coffee, oil-cake presses, tanneries and saltpetre refineries . Cereals, cotton, forest products, cattle and hides, and brass and copper vessels are the chief exports from the district . The south-west line of the Madras railway runs through the district, and the South Indian railway (of metre gauge) joins this at Erode .