Report on the medical topography and statistics of the southern division of the Madras army.

  • Madras. Medical Board Office.
Date:
1843
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on the medical topography and statistics of the southern division of the Madras army. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    SOUTHERN DIVISION to the town is over a substantial bridge of three arches. It is on y in the vicinity of Salem that this stream approaches to the magnitude of a river, its increase of size at this point being occa- sionec y the erection of three dams, one near the entrance to t le town ; a second at the distance of about nine furlongs, at the point where the river ceases to form the western boun- dai^ anc^ w^ere from the right angle it takes, it would seem its course had been in some degree diverted, for the defence of the old dismantled mud fort, two sides of which are wash- cd by the river;—and the third at a distance of 9 or 10 fui longs lower down the stream. From its elevated source, and the circumstance, that the overflowings of one or more large tanks discharge themselves into the river, it becomes much increased, and occasionally rises above its banks dur- ing the rains, particularly in the vicinity of the dams; the town is well raised above the banks of the river, the bed of which is either stony or sandy, and the waters run off quickly leaving no alluvial deposit. The face of the surrounding country is studded with tanks. It has been said, that during the rainy season, from the brow of the Sheevaroy hills, not less than 200 tanks, or ponds of various sizes, can be seen; there are within a circumference of five miles eighteen of these tanks, varying from a furlong or two, to a mile and half in diameter; besides these and the dams across the river, there are likewise three other dams by which the waters of some smaller streams are pent up for the purpose of irrigation; but they all become dry between the months of December, and March or April. In a regular season the tanks are filled by the rains of the S. W. monsoon, between June and the end of August, and if much rain falls in September, the low grounds parti- cularly between Salem and the Sheevaroy hills, become in many places swampy; this superabundant water however usually disappears during the dry month of October; of late years the N. E. monsoon, which begins about the end of