KOLAR  , a

town and district of India, hi the state of Mysore . The town is 43 M . E. of Bangalore . Pop . (Igor), 12,210 . Although of ancient foundation, it has been almost completely modernized . Industries include the weaving of blankets and the breeding of turkeys for export . The DISTRICT OF KOLAR has an area of 318o sq. m . It occupies the portion of the Mysore table-land immediately bordering the Eastern Ghats . The principal watershed lies in the north - west, around the hill of Nandidrug (4810 ft.), from which rivers radiate in all directions; and the whole country is broken by numerous hill ranges . The chief rivers are the Palar, the South Pinakini or Pennar, the North Pinakini, and the Papagani, which are industriously utilized for irrigation by means of anicuts and tanks . The rocks of the district are mostly syenite or granite, with a small admixture of mica and feldspar .

The

soil in the valleys consists of a fertile loam; and in the higher levels sand and gravel are found . The hills are covered with scrub, jungle and brushwood . In 1901 the population was 723,600, showing an increase of 22 % in the decade . The district is traversed by the Bangalore line of the Madras railway, with a branch ro m. long, known as the Kolar Goldfields railway . Gold prospecting in this region began in 1876, and the industry is now settled on a secure basis . Here are situated the mines of the Mysore, Champion Reef, Ooregum, and Nandidrug companies . To the end of 1904 the total value of gold produced was 21 millions sterling, and there had been paid in dividends 9 millions, and in royalty to the Mysore state one million . The municipality called the Kolar Gold Fields had in 1901 a population of 38,204; it has suffered severely from plague . Electricity from the falls of the Cauvery (93 M. distant) is utilized as the motive power in the mines . Sugar manufacture and silk and cotton weaving are the other principal industries in the district . The chief historical interest of modern times centres round the hill fort of Nandidrug, which was stormed by the British in 1791, after a bombardment of 21 days .