KADUR  , a

district of Mysore state, in southern India, with an area of 2813 sq. m . Pop . (1901), 362,752, showing an increase of 9% in the decade . The larger portion of the district consists of the Malnad or hill country, which contains some of the wildest mountain scenery in southern India . The western frontier is formed by the chain of the Ghats, of which the highest peaks are the Kudremukh (6215 ft.) and the Meruti Gudda (5451 ft.) . The centre is occupied by the horse-shoe range of the Baba Budans, containing the loftiest mountain in Mysore, Mulaingiri (6317 ft.) . The Maidan or plain country lying beneath the amphitheatre formed by the Baba Budan hills is a most fertile region, well watered, and with the famous " black cotton soil." The principal rivers are the Tunga and Bhadra, which rise near each other in the Ghats, and unite to form the Tungabhadra, a tributary of the Kistna . The eastern region is watered by the Vedavati . At the point where this river leaves the Baba Budan hills it is embanked to form two extensive tanks which irrigate the lower valley . From all the rivers water is drawn off into irrigation channels by means of anicuts or weirs . The chief natural wealth of Kadur is in its forests, which contain inexhaustible supplies of the finest timber, especially teak, and also furnish shelter for the coffee plantations . Iron is found and smelted at the foot of the hills, and corundum exists in certain localities .

Wild beasts and game are numerous, and fish are abundant . The largest town is Tarikere (pop . 10,164); the headquarters are at Chikmagalur (9515) . The staple crop is rice, chiefly grown on the hill slopes, where the natural rainfall is sufficient, or in the river valley, where the fields can be irrigated . Coffee cultivation is said to have been introduced by a Mahommedan saint, Baba Budan, more than two centuries ago; but it first attracted European capital in 1840 . The district is served by the Southern Mahratta railway ..