From the
reminiscences of an Englishmen….
Let me start by outlining a charming study of Calicut in the
1880’s, extracted from a chapter on Edwin Lester Linden Arnold’s capital two
volume book on coffee plantation in South India. Lester was the son of the
illustrious Indophile Sir Edwin Arnold, the founder of the Mahabodhi society
and author of ‘Light of Asia’. Lester was born in India and after education at
Cheltenham in England, first tried his hand at cattle breeding and then came to
Cochin to work as an assistant coffee planter (chik-doree) for the Cochin Raja
who had acquired a large tract in the hills. It was during this period that he
wrote the books about coffee cultivation after spending a year setting up a
coffee estate at Nelliyampati or Anamalai hills, after passing through Calicut.
Later he went back to Britain after contracting malaria and settled into a
career in journalism but later took to writing romance and mystery books as it
was a time when Conan Doyle and others were making hay, with those genres.
Like my last article, this obliquely touches the topic of
coffee, coffee plantations of Malabar and is set in May 1881, just a few years
after Edward Lear had passed through Calicut and made his accounts, a subject
which I had written about earlier.
So here goes.
We are looking at a period when there was famine and rice
shortage in Malabar and rice was being delivered from Ceylon. Lester’s ship ‘Africa’
laden with rice passes through Cochin where the waters are infested with
crocodiles which the British used for shooting practice. Calicut then from the
sea was not much, but just a line of open
shanties on the beach, a white lighthouse, and the usual flagstaff, from which
the Union Jack flutters gaily. The palm trees hide all the rest of the
town, and fringe the coast northward and southward as far as the eye can reach.
The author is surprised by the hat palm (toppi kuda) umbrella worn by people,
and is told that what was once a great emporia for trade and a source for Calico
cloth has gone down sadly in worldly
prosperity, and is now nothing but a police station and the residence of some
European coffee and mercantile agencies. He concludes that it once was a
great place since it still had a Jewish colony southwards of the town
comprising pale skinned Jews who are
supposed to be the direct descendants of those Solomon the Magnificent sent to
the "gorgeous East "to collect ivory and peacocks for his palaces.
The strand (shoreline – beach road) was a very animated
scene : in the background long low lines
of sheds for storing rice and merchandise, and a towering hedge of palm trees
rising behind them, with the tall white lighthouse overtopping even the palms ;
coolies were hurrying to and fro between the cargo-boats and storehouses,
bending under the weight of great rice-sacks ; half-caste writers in white
European garments, with white helmets on their heads, were standing at the
doors, entering each bag in their day-books ; native women, some gaily dressed
in white calicoes with green or red sarees, and some not dressed at all, were
running about with loads on their heads nearly as heavy as those carried by the
men ; scores of naked brown children, reveling and rioting in unlimited dirt
and sand, were fighting with dozens of mangy dogs for bones and scraps of melon
peel ; while above the busy crowd the cawing crows occupied every coign of
advantage, and the kites swept round and in and out among the masts and palm
trees in easy circles, every now and then coming down like meteors, and
flapping away triumphantly with part of a dead dog, a fish's head, or some such
tempting morsel.
He makes way to the club house (we talked about it before –
near the previous French Loge and was a planters club) which he describes thus.
This club house is a very comfortable
place, and much frequented by the English residents and stray planters, who
come down from the hills, when fever-stricken, to see the doctor here, and
imbibe the invigorating ozone of the sea-breezes. It boasts a capital reading-room,
with a wide verandah, well stocked with the peculiar long-armed easy-chairs of
the country, and opening directly on to the beach. Behind is a billiard-room,
and across the courtyard there is a row of half a dozen comfortable bedrooms
under a low thatched roof, with the inevitable verandah and punkah ropes
hanging by every door-post. Then one passes down a long passage under a shady
grove of palm trees, where the ripe nuts hang in great clusters at the top of
the tapering stems, until the feeding department is reached, where I "
tiffined " with two or three other Englishmen, one of whom subsequently
turned out to be bound for the same part of the jungles as myself.
A trip to the town in a bullock cart (buggy) is described
beautifully, and he concludes thus - In
this gilded pill-box I meandered down the various village streets and into the
open country beyond, at a pace little above a walk. I did not understand then
that, if you are in a buggy and want the bullocks to go faster, you have to
beat the driver, who will then transmit the "walloping" to his
"cattle." We soon pick up these things; but in my innocence, on that
first day, after a couple of miles of dawdling, my usually serene temper was
ruffled, and I got out and belabored the sleepy white oxen with my big white
umbrella a proceeding which seemed to afford the "mild Hindoo " who
was driving some gentle amusement, but did not take us on a hit faster. So I
got inside again, and, lighting a cheroot, resigned myself to fate with the
reflection that we must do at Rome as the Romans do.
He lodges at the bungalow of a British businessman, and is
taken for dinner to the Bungalow of the local Police Supdt (another brit) on
foot by his hostess and led by two torch bearers in front to light the path and
scare the snakes away. After dinner they puffed at their long
"Trichinopolies" (also called Trichies or Tritchies, is a type of
cheroot associated with the town of Tiruchirappalli) and sipping iced
brandy-pawnee (brandy, ice and water (pani)), with a white-clad servant behind
each chair waving a peacock-feather fan over their heads to keep away the
mosquitoes. We note from the conversation that Calicut was very poor then, for the town and all the neighborhood was
inundated with famine-stricken coolies at the last extremity for a meal, and so
the amount of crime was wonderfully small.
Next day he has hazri (refreshments before breakfast), a tub
bath and observes a rain drenched morning and the flight of many small
chattering finches. He details the habitat and movements all kinds of animals,
snakes, butterflies in forthcoming paragraphs, comparing them to their
counterparts in the blighty, if any.
Finally we get a description of the town, the Mananchira
tank and the streets. Let’s see what it looked like then. The road is something like a Devonshire lane, with high red banks on
either side, but the clumps of bamboos and palms spoil the comparison.
Occasionally there are European bungalows standing back from the track in
their-compounds, where little white children are often to be seen playing
about, attended by ayahs and men-servants. Further on there was a native
street, with little open shops on either side: one shop devoted to sugar-cane
hung up in bunches, and seeds and pulses exposed for sale in open vessels; another
to earthenware chatties, and another to tinware. Once the different trades used
to keep separate, but now they seem to be losing their exclusiveness, and take
up their quarters where they can fix them.
Every now and then a
string of women passed me, carrying enormous loads of grass on their heads and
going at a quick trot. They are not particularly prepossessing according to our
standard of female comeliness, and the hard work they do and the life they lead
spoil them very early. They wear only one garment a long strip of cloth called
a saree, which they wind round and round their waists so as to form a short
petticoat reaching to the knees, of which they bring the spare end up over
their left shoulder, and let it hang down behind. The old women do not stand on
ceremony in the matter of dress, and wear clothes only according to their
means. Generally they are very poor.
Occasionally a native
country gentleman was met going along in a private bullock cart at the usual
snail's pace, but looking perfectly contented. The native writers or clerks
have absorbed some English energy, and are brisker in their movements. I
actually saw one in a buggy urging the driver to go faster in very good
English, which he seemed to understand perfectly. The policemen also seem
conscious of their official position, and proud of their semi-European dress
and broad scarlet shoulder-strap with its brass plate and number.
There is a fine tank in
the centre of the town, enclosing about four acres of water, with flights of
stone steps all round, and four carved archways, which have been partially
destroyed by some Goths, and the material carried away to build houses. These Indian
tanks are the great institutions of the towns and villages. Here everybody
comes down to wash, and also to get drinking water, horrible to say. But it has
been so for the last few thousand years, so nobody minds; and one may any day
see groups of chattering girls and gossiping housewives dipping their brass chatties
close to where a fat old gentleman, with nothing on but a towel, is splashing
the water over his skin, and rubbing it in as if it were some precious ointment
not to be used carelessly. The frogs also inhabit these tanks, and their heads
and bright eyes are to be seen all along the margins until someone comes and disturbs
their reflections, when they at once retire to the deeper parts under the broad
green leaves of the lotuses in the centre of the pond. Nobody seems to mind
them, or fancy they give a peculiar taste to the water, and they and the cattle
and village dogs use the tank contentedly with all the villagers.
Round the tank the
official bungalows and Government offices form a wide amphitheater, with
graceful palms scattered everywhere, and filling up the background of the
picture with a waving sea of plumes.
He hastens to conclude -
Calicut seems to have a very miscellaneous trade, and the courtyard of the
custom-house was piled up with merchandise of every sort and variety, waiting
to be cleared, and meanwhile protected from the merciless beaks and claws of the
crows and kites, with which the roof swarmed, by strong netting spread from one
side of the courtyard to the other. It is a great pity, I repeat, no proper harbor
can be made here; if there were one, it would be of immense importance to the
"country side," and double the wealthy population of Mysore and
Travancore. Probably someday the railway which now ends at Beypore (you may
recall my article about the terminus completed in 1860 and was connected to
Calicut in 1888) will be brought on, and a breakwater erected to shelter the
shipping when the south-west monsoon blows. At present the vessels lie in the
open roads, and when a storm is seen to be coming on they have to up anchor and
make for the open sea, for woe to the craft which puts off sailing too long, as
she speedily comes under the palm trees fringing the beach
Lester Arnold moves on to Beypore after making a good study
of the people he met, remarking especially that Moplah women were merry ladies
with a twinkle in their eyes, and then to Palghat. From where he proceeds to Anamallai
or Nelliyampati and goes about setting up an estate, a topic we will get to
another day.
A review of his books in ‘The Nation Feb 1882’ summarizes
Arnold’s stay at Wayanad - The estate to
which he was sent was a new one, so that we have a very clear account of the
various processes by which the well-nigh impenetrable jungle is converted into
a coffee plantation. The life of the planter on a new estate is a very hard
one. His house is a flimsy hut, with a roof of grass and walls of a single
thickness of matting, through which both wind and rain have free access. He
must toil from early morning till night in the broiling sun, the terrible rain,
and the yet more frightful mist which lurks in the valleys. Add to all this his
solitude, the wretched food which he is often compelled to cook for himself,
and the inevitable fever, and it will be seen that the planter’s lot is
exceptionally trying. His amusements are few, consisting mainly of occasional
Sunday visits to a neighboring planter, and a holiday excursion now and then to
the plains. Hunting is almost out of the question from want of time, though
elephants, tigers, and bisons, to say nothing of smaller game, abound in the
forests about him. After a year principally spent in cutting roads, felling and
burning trees, and making holes for the coffee-bushes, Mr. Arnold was utterly
vanquished by the fever, and compelled to return to England to recruit.
That done and dusted, let us move back to the Calicut shore,
straddling the Arabian Sea. Now if I told you that there were places called
Conolly’s hill, Gillham rock, Coote Reef, Anchorage reef, Reliance Shoal,
Camel’s Hump, Dolphins Head etc, in those days, most people will think that I am under the
influence of something. In fact some of these terms are still used by mariners,
charting their journey through the western seas, or the Arabian Sea towards
Cochin or Trivandrum.
Connolly’s hill
Mr. Connolly’s house, is nearly three miles north of the
town of Calicut, being placed on an isolated hill. Steam vessels usually anchor
in 4 fathoms, mud, with the highest tree on Connolly Hill bearing 43°. Henry Valentine Connolly, who lived in the
then Collector’s Bungalow in what was later called West Hill, Calicut, is also remembered
there with a garden called ‘Connolly’s Garden.’ The bungalow now houses the
Pazhassi Raja Museum and on the campus is the V.K. Krishna Menon Museum
Gillham Rock
Named after Captain Gilham, Port Officer and lodge member - Gillham
Rock, on which the sea breaks occasionally, has a least depth of 1.8mts, and is
the southernmost danger in the vicinity of Calicut; lies 2 miles southward from
the old lighthouse, with its outer edge 1,400 yards from the shore.
Coote Reef
This place near Kallayi river mouth was named the Coote reef
after the late East India Company sloop-of-war Coote which was lost there. This
was the original Calicut harbor and extended westwards and southwards of the
grain godowns and lighthouse. This is also the location where Hamilton saw the
sunken ruins of Calicut and an Old Portuguese fort ruins. Coote Reef with a 0.9
mt depth, lies with its outer edge 1.1 miles south-southwestward from Calicut
Old Lighthouse and 1,500 yards from the shore. To the south and east of the
reef the bottom is soft mud, and small coasting craft anchor in about 2 fathoms
at low water, partially protected from northwest winds by the reef.
The Coote story - This fine sloop-of-war sailed from Bombay
under the command of Lieutenant J. S. Grieve, who had only joined her on the
15th of the Nov 1846, and, on the morning of the 1st of December, grounded on a
reef near Calicut, to which port she was bound. Every exertion was made by the
officers and men to get her off, but without avail, and, on the 3rd of
December, she was abandoned, after all her guns and a great portion of her
stores and ammunition had been safely landed. The crew were accommodated on
shore until the arrival of the 'Medusa,' which took them to Bombay. The hull of
the 'Coote' was sold for 10,000 rupees, but her purchaser sustained a total
loss, owing to her having grounded, while being towed ashore, on a mud bank,
from which it was impossible to remove her. Her unfortunate commander, Lieutenant
J. S. Grieve, brother to the late Commander Albany Grieve,both smart officers
and eminent surveyors, did not long survive the loss of his ship, but died at
Calicut on the following 7th of April.
Anchorage Reef
Anchorage Reef, with a 3.7 mts depth, lies with its
northwest edge 1.5 miles westward from Calicut Old Lighthouse, and about 800
yards (4 cables) inside the anchorage buoy. About 160 yards inshore of this
reef, and 1,100 yards westward from the old lighthouse, is a rocky patch of 1J
fathoms, northward of the small craft anchorage abreast the town.
Reliance Shoal
Reliance Shoal, rocky ground with 5.6mts depth, 0.5 mile
wide, and 2.5 miles in length, lies parallel to the shore, its southern
extremity being situated 3.5 miles west-northwestward from Calicut Old
Lighthouse. The bottom around consists of soft mud.
The Camels hump (Vavulmala
near Tanur)
The Camel's Hump, about 7,677 feet above high water, lies 26
miles northeastward from Calicut Lighthouse; it may be seen in clear weather as
soon as a vessel is on the bank of soundings; but in the hazy weather of March
and April it is frequently indistinct from the anchorage off Calicut. The
southern extremity of the Kunda Range is rather abrupt, the mountains thence
receding far eastward.
At 12 miles northwestward of Camel's Hump and 20 miles
eastward from Kadalur Point lies the mountain named Tanote Mullay, between
4,000 and 5,000 feet in height. Dolphins Head, lying southeastward 17 miles
from Calicut, shows well to a vessel coming from the north.
Dolphins head –
Urotmala
Lying south-east wards 17 miles off Calicut this is a wooded
hill, 900 ft above sea level can be seen by a vessel coming from the North.
References
On the Indian Hills – Edwin Lester Arnold
West Coast of India Pilot - H.O. Pub, Issue 159 US
Government 1920
Manual of the Administration of the Madras Presidency:
Chapters 1-9
Previous but related
posts