Gódávari/Chapter 6
CHAPTER VI.
OCCUPATIONS AND TRADE.
Arts and Industries—Silk-weavers—Cotton-weavers; their numbers—Their methods—Tape-weaving—Gunny-weaving—Cotton-dyeing—Chintz-stamping—Mats and tattis—Metal-work—Painting—Pith-work—Musical instruments—Wood and stone carving—Ropes—Oils—Tanning—Shoes —Baskets—Bangles—Pottery—Country sugar-Mercury—House-building—Printing-presses—Rice-mills—Indigo factories—Ship-building—Dowlaishweram work-shops—District Board Workshops at Cocanada—Samalkot distillery and sugar-factory—Dummagúdem lace. Trade—Markets—Grain-dealing—Exports—Imports—Trade of Cocanada—The harbour—Port conservancy—European business houses at Cocanada—European Chamber of Commerce—Steamers visiting the port—Amount of trade—Character of trade. Weights and Measures—Goldsmiths' weights—Commercial weights—Measures of capacity—Miscellaneous commercial notations—Lineal measures—Land measures—Measures of time —Local monetary terms.
As in other districts, agriculture and the tending of flocks and herds employ the very large majority of the population. This is especially the case in the Agency. Precise statistics are not available for the district as it stands at present, as the census of 1901 was taken before its limits were altered. Agricultural methods have been referred to in Chapter IV above, and the breeds of cattle and sheep in Chapter I. Of the arts and industries, weaving employs a larger number of hands than any other.
The weaving of silk is done on only the smallest scale. Silk borders are often given to cotton cloths, but the pure silk cloths worn in the district are imported. The best come from Benares and Calcutta, but commoner kinds are brought from Ganjám and elsewhere by local merchants and pedlars. Silk is rarely employed for ordinary wear, but is very commonly used by the higher castes for what are called madi cloths, that is, the ceremonially pure garments which are worn at home at meal times. The only silk fabrics made locally are the turbans and kerchiefs made by a few Dévángas and Karnabattus at Peddápuram. These seldom sell for more than Rs- 10. The silk is obtained from Calcutta and Bombay and is dyed locally with violet, red, green and yellow aniline dyes. These colours are popular; and, since the cloths are not often washed, the fugitive character of the aniline pigment does not matter. This industry is a small one, and does not appear to be increasing. Though silk-weaving is rare, the manufacture of cotton cloths is largely carried on. Almost every other village in the plains contains a few weavers, and a fair number of them possess a large contingent. In Rajahmundry some 400 house-holds are so employed, in Jagannapéta (Nagaram taluk) 300, and in Tuni, Peddápuram, Bandárulanka (Amalápuram), Uppáda and Kottapalli (Pithápuram division) about 200 households. Four other villages each contain 100 weavers; and in about twenty other places the number of the craft is considerable. In the days of the East India Company, the exportation of cloth from the district was very large. Some seven lakhs of rupees were paid annually by the Company for local fabrics, and in some years the figure rose above ten lakhs, and in one year touched fourteen. The abolition of the Company's cloth trade had a most prejudicial effect on the weaving industry, and so on the prosperity of the district as a whole. The value of the piece-goods exported in 1825-26 was over fourteen lakhs; in 1842-43 it was less than two. In the import of cotton fabrics from Europe which followed, Gódávari shared to a much less extent than some other districts. English calicoes and longcloths are not now more popular there than the country fabrics, nor cheaper, and the use of them is very limited.
Most of the locally-woven cloths are white, and a visitor from the south cannot fail to be struck with the rarity of colour in the dress of the women. The men's cloths are often red, but the dye is applied after, and not before, the weaving. Of recent years the manufacture of coloured cotton tartans (lungis) for Muhammadans has been taken up by some of the weavers in a few centres. The white cloths worn by the women sometimes have coloured borders, but these are generally of the simplest kinds. They are very rarely of silk, but not uncommonly of 'lace,' that is, gold or silver thread; and the borders at the ends are sometimes embroidered with simple patterns in lace. This class of work is done at Uppáda, Kottapalli and Múlapéta in Pithápuram, at Totaramudi in Amalápuram and by a few weavers in Tuni and Rajahmundry.
The texture of the local work is often exceedingly fine. In Kottapalli and Múlapéta the weavers use counts as high as 200s, and 100s, 130s and 150s are employed in a good many places. The Kottapalli and Múlapéta fabrics are locally called Uppáda cloths, and under that name are well known as far south as Tanjore, and are said to be sent even to Calcutta and Bombay. Their prices run up to Rs. 10. There is hardly anything worthy of mention in the methods of the local weavers. These are extraordinarily simple everywhere, and form a remarkable contrast to the complications entailed by the more elaborate work done in the great weaving centres of the south. Where special patterns are embroidered on the loom, the warp is given the necessary changes by the laborious method of picking out with the hand, at each passing of the shuttle, the threads which have to be lowered or raised. The great majority of the weavers are Dévángas by caste. In Kottapalli and Múlapéta Pattu Sáles monopolize the work; while there are a few Padma Sáles in Cocanada taluk, some Sáles in Samalkot and Peddápuram, and some Karnabattus in the last-named place.
Tape for the cots so universally used in the district is largely manufactured, both in a number of scattered villages and in the Rajahmundry jail. It is woven from white cotton, and is of from half an inch to three inches in breadth. The work is usually done by Dévángas, but in the central delta Bógams (the dancing-girl caste), and elsewhere a few men of the Singam sub-caste of the Sáles are also engaged in it.
Gunny-bags are woven from hemp by a few Perikes in Vangalapúdi and Singavaram in the Rajahmundry taluk.
The dyed cloths for men already mentioned are sold in quantities in the district and are also exported by the Cocanada merchants to Bombay, Calcutta and Rangoon. The places best known for this dyeing industry are Gollapálaiyam (in Cocanada taluk), where some 70 men are employed, and Cocanada and Samalkot, where the number of workers is about 30. Most of them are Kápus, and the next most largely represented caste are the Tsákalas, or washermen. A few Rangáris and Velamas also assist. None of them weave the cloths themselves.
The most popular colours are red, dark blue, and pink, or 'rose' as it is called. There are three shades of red, two of blue, and several of pink. Aniline and alizarine dyes, bought in packets or casks, are always used. In Cocanada chay-root (sirivéru) was employed until recently for red, but was abandoned because it involved more trouble and expense than the imported dyes. Black is still made sometimes with iron filings.
The methods of dyeing are much the same as elsewhere, the cloth being treated with oil emulsified with the ashes of certain pungent plants, soaked in a mordant (generally a solution of gall-nuts or alum) and then boiled in a pot of dye to which the dried leaves of sundry jungle shrubs, believed to brighten the colour, have been added.
The same castes which do this dyeing also engage in the stamping of chintzes. Only two colours, red and dark blue, are used. The former is made with imported dyes and the latter sometimes from iron or from copper sulphate. The processes are again the same as elsewhere. The pattern desired is stamped with a pattern-block which is pressed on a pad soaked in a mixture of alum and gum. The fabric is afterwards immersed in boiling dye and then washed in clean water. The dye only takes where the alum mordant has affected the cloth, and washes out of the other parts. Sometimes the whole cloth is soaked in the mordant and then stamped with the dye itself. White spots on a coloured ground are produced as follows: The spots are stamped on the cloth with a pattern-block dipped in hot wax, and the whole cloth is then dipped into the dye-tub. The dye does not act where the cloth is protected by the wax spots, and the parts under these latter come out white. The wax is then removed by boiling the cloth.
Mats of grass are seldom made, the small demand being supplied from Madras and Bastar State. Plaited mats of palmyra, date and cocoanut leaves, and of split bamboo, are largely manufactured. Those of cocoanut leaves are chiefly made in the central delta, and the others everywhere in the plains. The date mats are generally used for packing, the cocoanut mats for tattis, and the palmyra mats for covering floors or, by the lower classes, for sleeping on. The first are made by Idigas and Yerukalas; the second by Málas; and the last by Mádigas and (more rarely) by Ídigas; split bamboo work is done by Médaras.
Some 25 Málas weave kas-kas tattis at Samalkot. These are made of a scented grass called vetti véru, found in some of the tank beds, and supply the local demand at Rajahmundry and Cocanada.
Metal vessels for household use are only manufactured on a very small scale. Kamsalas have a monopoly of the industry, which is stagnant, if not declining. Brass or bell-metal vessels are made by a few families in Cocanada, Gollamámidáda (in Cocanada taluk), Tuni, Rágampéta (in Peddápuram taluk), Pithápuram, Dowlaishweram, Rajahmundry and Peddápuram. At Marripúdi in the Peddápuram taluk ten or twelve men make bells of bell-metal. Copper is worked only by the Kamsalas of Cocanada. Vessels of lead and silver are made in that town and Amalápuram; and lead vessels by a few men in Rajahmundry and Peddápuram. Metal-work of all sorts is imported in large quantities from the Vizagapatam district, especially from Anakápalle and Yellamanchili, and hawked for sale at all the important festivals.
Of the local manufactures, the brass-work of Peddápuram and the bell-metal work of Pithápuram and Rajahmundry are of good quality and well known. The bell-metal vessels are always cast, but the brass ones are made of three or more pieces soldered together. The lead-work is cast at Rajahmundry, but everywhere else both lead and silver vessels are hammered out of one piece.
Besides the manufacture of household vessels, a little ornamental metal-work is done at Rajahmundry, Cocanada, and Peddápuram. At the two former places brass and copper armour and canopies are made for idols, and at Peddápuram and Dowlaishweram idols of copper are made. In both cases the work is first cast, and then finished with the chisel.
A little painting of a rude kind is done in the district. At Gollapálaiyam (eight miles south-south-west of Cocanada) a family of Kápus paint Hindu gods on curtains and punkah frills with a good deal of skill. Their only tool is a short sharp stick with a piece of cloth tied near the end; the point is used for drawing the outlines and the cloth for applying the colours, which are imported from Europe. Their work was considered worthy of being sent to the Delhi Durbar Exhibition, and they say that it is in demand in China, whither it is exported from Yanam. Two Múchis execute frescoes on walls at Rajahmundry, and one of them paints on cloth. A Múchi of Antarvédi in Nagaram taluk also paints figures on cloth gummed on to wood.
A little inferior pith-work is done by a few Muhammadans at Nagaram and Jagannapéta. They make flowers and images out of sóla pith.
Tamburas and vinas are made (by one Kamsala at each place) at Pithápuram and Rajahmundry, and also at Rájavólu, Sivakódu and Tátipáka in Nagaram taluk. The sounding-boards are carved out of solid blocks of wood. Teak and jack are used, but preferably the latter. The work done at Sivakódu is good.
Wood-carving of excellent quality is done in a number of places. In almost all considerable villages there are a few Múchis or Kamsalas who can carve furniture and door-frames, and make the váhanams, or carved platforms on which gods are carried. The work at Cocanada, Drákshárámam, Rajahmundry, Dowlaishweram and Sivakódu is especially noteworthy. A few stone-carvers are to be found at Rajahmundry, Jégurupádu in the same taluk, Venkatayyapálaiyam in Rámachandrapuram, and Vúbalanka in Amalápuram. They chiefly make images of the gods. The Jégurupádu work is well known in most parts of the district.
Ropes are made from the fibre of the cocoanut and palmyra palms and the sunn hemp and 'jute' (gogu) plants. The coir ropes are mostly made in the central delta, especially at Bendamúrlanka, Ambájipéta and Pérúru. Large amounts of hemp, palmyra and date fibre are also sent to Europe from Cocanada.
Very large quantities of gingelly, castor and cocoanut oils are manufactured. The castor oil is generally made in iron mills in regular factories. There are twelve or thirteen of such factories at Cocanada, four or five at Rajahmundry and Peddápuram, and others at Pithápuram, Tuni and Dowlaishweram. Gingelly oil is made in a factory at Tuni; but every- where else both it and cocoanut oil are made in the ordinary wooden mills. These are much smaller than those of the southern districts, are put up in the back-yards of houses, and are worked by a single bullock which is usually blindfolded to prevent its getting giddy from going round in such a small circle. Cocoanut oil is made in large quantities at Ambájipeta, Bódasakurru, Pérúru and Munjavarapukottu in the Amalápuram taluk. The oilmaking castes are the Telukulas (who correspond to the Vániyans of the south), Kápus and Ídigas. Gingelly oil is commonly used for cooking and oil baths, cocoanut oil for the same purposes (especially in the central delta) and as a hair-oil, and castor oil for lighting. This last is being ousted by kerosine, and considerable quantities of it are exported. Castor and cocoanut cake are used as manures, especially for sugar-cane, and the former is exported to Cochin and Colombo for use on tea and coffee estates. Gingelly cake is given to cattle and is also used in curries. Curry made with it is a favourite dish with both rich and poor and is even offered to the village goddesses.
Coarse leather for the manufacture of country shoes is made by the Mádigas all over the low country. Their method of tanning it is very elementary. The hides and skins are soaked in a solution of chunam to remove the hair, then in clean water for a day, next for ten days in a decoction of the bark of the babul (Acacia arabica) tree, and finally they are stitched into bags, which are filled with babul bark and soaked for a week in water.
In Rajahmundry three tanneries, owned by Labbais from the Tamil country, work in a less primitive fashion. The hides and skins are first soaked in clean water for a night, then in chunam and water for twelve days so that the hair may be easily scraped off, next in clean water for two days, then for two more days in chunam and water, next in a decoction of tangédu (Cassia auriailata) bark for a fortnight, and finally in a solution of gall-nut for three days. They are then rubbed with gingelly oil and are smoothened by being scraped with a blunt copper tool. Most of the leather thus produced is exported to Madras.
Rough shoes of home-tanned leather are made by Mádigas in almost all the low-country villages. Those produced in Siripalli in the Amaláapuram taluk are well known. Sanapalli-lanka in the same taluk had formerly a name for this industry. Good boots and slippers, excellent native shoes and Muhammadan slippers (sadávu) are i manufactured in several centres. The common work is done by Mádigas, and the better class by Múchis, who ornament the Muhammadan slippers with elaborate designs in silk and bits of metal. The handiwork of the latter is exported to Hyderabad and Rangoon through the local Muhammadan merchants. Cocanada and Rajahmundry are the chief centres of the industry, but the work at Peddápuram is good, and some is done at Samalkot, Tuni, Pithápuram and Dowlaishweram. Good boots and slippers are also made at the Rajahmundry jail.
Baskets are made from date fibre, palmyra leaves and split bamboo by Yerukalas, Mádigas and Médaras respectively, and from rattan by Yerukalas in parts of Pithápuram taluk.
Black 'glass' bangles are made in several villages, notably by a few Linga Balijas in Sítarámpuram and Hamsavaram in the Tuni division and at Rágampéta in Peddápuram and by some Kápus in Duppalapúdi in Rajahmundry. At Rágampéta the Linga Balijas also blow simple flasks or retorts of this 'glass,' which are used in making sublimate of mercury (see below) in the neighbouring village of Jagammapéta. The 'glass' is imported from Nellore or Madras, and is manufactured by lixiviating alkaline earth, allowing the salts to crystallize out in the sun, and heating them in a crucible for some hours with flint and bits of broken bangles. The vitreous mass so produced is melted in this district in circular furnaces and the bangles are made by taking a small quantity of the molten 'glass' on the point of an iron rod, which is then twirled rapidly round until the glass assumes a roughly annular shape. This ring is transferred, while still glowing, to a heated conical clay mould, which the workman twists rapidly round with one hand while with the other he shapes the ring into a bangle with a tool resembling an ordinary awl. The finished article is often decorated with a coating of lac, and into this are sometimes stuck bits of tinsel or looking-glass. Better class bangles are all imported, many of them from Bombay.
Ordinary earthen pots are made everywhere, and a few potters at Rajahmundry make good water-bottles (gújas) out of a mixture of white alkaline earth (suddamannu) and ordinary potter's clay. The earth is said to be brought by Gollas from a village called Punyakshétram in the same taluk.
At Rajahmundry a few families of Dévángas make sugar-candy and soft sugar. White crystallized sugar is made in the Deccan Sugar and Abkári Company's factory at Samalkot referred to below. Natives of the district are said to have some prejudice against this sugar because it is clarified with bone charcoal, but the prejudice disappears if it is converted into sugar-candy or soft sugar (bura). The 'factory sugar' is therefore boiled in water, with the addition of a little milk, until it attains a treacly consistency, and is then poured into shallow plates, where it is left for ten days. It crystallizes in these into sugar-candy, and the liquid which remains among the crystals is again boiled with the addition of a little water, and is then well stirred with a wooden instrument until it turns into soft sugar. A precisely similar industry exists at Hindupur in Anantapur district, and no doubt elsewhere.
Some five or six persons, mostly Dévángas, make white sublimate of mercury at Jagammapéta in the Peddápuram taluk. Four variellies are made, namely basmam(a white crust), a white solid substance called kárpuram, and a red powder of two kinds, one called sindúram and the other shadgunam. The basmam is made by heating salt and quick- silver in the proportion of one to five for fifteen or sixteen hours, with a pot inverted over the mixture. The fumes form a crust on the inverted pot, which is the basmam. This is then put in retorts of bangle 'glass' which are coated with mud, and heated for the same period, when it turns into kárpuram. Sindúram is obtained by mixing quicksilver, sulphur, and ardhalam (mineral arsenic) in the proportion of one, one-half, and one thirty-second, and heating them for one and a half hours. The resultant matter is pounded in a mortar, and then heated in a retort like the basmam. For shadgunam, quicksilver and sulphur are taken in the proportion of two to one and are pounded in a mortar; the mixture is then heated in a retort like the basmam, only for a longer period. The quicksilver is got from Bombay and Calcutta. The existence of a large supply of cheap wood fuel in the neighbourhood is Mercury. a great advantage in this industry, and is not improbably the cause of its existence here.
The art of house-building is much studied in the district. In every large town there are professional architects. Those of Rajahmundry and Dowlaishweram are well known and are employed in all the low-country taluks.
There are five printing-presses at Cocanada and the same number at Rajahmundry. Except two of those at Cocanada, namely the Sujana Ranjani press and Messrs. Hall, Wilson & Co.'s press, both of which employ about 25 men, these are very small affairs. In the former of the two, vernacular books and two Telugu periodicals, one weekly and one monthly, are printed; and the latter carries on a general business. Another monthly Telugu newspaper is printed at another press at Cocanada, and two more at Rajahmundry. At the latter town a weekly and a fortnightly paper are printed in English.
Several large rice-husking mills are at work in the district. The most important is that owned by the Coringa Rice Mills Company at Georgepet near Coringa, which employs a hundred men. There are also three more in Cocanada and four in Rajahmundry, two of which are not now working Another at Amalápuram has also stopped work for the present. The mills buy the paddy outright and export the husked rice, and do not husk paddy for payment, as is sometimes done.
There are several indigo factories in the Amalápuram taluk, of which seven employ 30 men or more in the season. Those at Vélanakapalli and Ayinavalli employ 75 and 150 hands respectively.
At one time a large ship-building industry was carried on in Tállarévu on the Coringa river. Some two generations ago, it is said, about a hundred big ships used to be built, and four times that number repaired, every year; and boats came for repairs even from Negapatam and Chittagong. What with the increasing use of steam, and the silting up of the Corirga river, the industry is now almost dead. As recently as 25 years ago, it is said, ten or fifteen sea-going boats were built every year and some fifty repaired, but in 1903 only five were built, in 1904 only one, and in 1905 none at all, while only two ships were repaired in 1903 and in 1904. The boats built and repaired were native brigs of a hundred tons or so.
Of the enterprises managed by European capital, the most important are the Public Works workshops at Dowlaishweram, which comprise a foundry, and carpenters', fitters' and smiths' shops. They employ a daily average of 145 men, and during the calendar year 1904 turned out work to the value of Rs. 1,63,600. The output consists chiefly of wood and ironwork and furniture for buildings constructed by the department; wooden and iron punts and staff boats for use on the canals; repairs to steamers and other floating plant; lock gates, sluice shutters and gearings; and repairs to engine boilers and machinery belonging to the department-. The shops also undertake work for other departments, municipalities, and private persons. These are charged ten per cent, on the cost of the raw materials plus fifteen per cent, on the total cost of the work.
The District Board also has workshops of its own. These are at Cocanada, and the work done in them consists of such items as the construction of iron and wooden ferry boats and ballacuts, small iron bridges, doors and windows, office furniture and iron sheds for markets (of which latter a large number have been made), and of repairs to tools and plant, including the steam road-rollers and the two steam ferry-steamers owned by the District Board. The shops are in charge of an overseer, subject to the control of the District Board Engineer, and all the hands are temporary men on daily wages. The value of the work turned out in 1903-04 was approximately Rs. 30,000, inclusive of materials.
An important industrial undertaking exists at Samalkot in the works of the Deccan Sugar and Abkári Company, Limited, established in 1897 and at present under the management of Messrs. Parry & Co., Madras. Excellent plant and buildings have been erected about half a mile south-west of the railway station, and the capital of the company is ten lakhs. The manufacture of both refined sugar and spirit is carried on, and about 400 men are employed daily. Sugar is extracted from jaggery by the usual process, and the final residue molasses form the staple material of the distillery. Both palmyra and cane jaggery are used, the bulk of them being obtained in this and the surrounding districts. Three kinds of sugar are manufactured; namely, a white granulated, a soft, and a brown sugar, and the total output in 1903 was 8,600 tons. In the distillery two stills and a rectificator are in use, and the usual method of spirit manufacture is employed. During 1903, 198,000 gallons of proof spirit were manufactured. Arrack is supplied from the distillery to this district and Kistna, Nellore and Cuddapah, for the supply of which the company hold the contract. Two artesian wells have been recently sunk in the company's compound.1[1] The wife of the Rev, J. Cain, the missionary at Dummagúdem, has started a lace-work industry at that station which is known even outside India. Lace-making was originally taught at the Church Missionary Society's boarding-school for girls; and during the famine of 1896-97 Mrs. Cain encouraged the young women who had learnt the art in the school to take it up as a means of livelihood. From that time forth, the industry spread among the wives of the natives round, and there are now 110 workers, most of whom are Christians. Mrs. Cain pays them for their work (Rs. 70 or Rs. 80 a week are expended in wages) and sells it in India, England and Australia. The lace is not the 'pillow lace' made elsewhere in South India, but what is called 'darned net work,' which somewhat resembles Limerick lace in appearance.
Fairs or markets are common in Gódávari. There are as many as 40 under the control of the taluk boards, and the right of collecting the usual fees at them sold in 19O4-05 for over Rs. 21,600. Those which fetched the highest bids were the great cattle-markets at Drákshárámam and Pithápuram, which were leased for Rs. 3,165 and Rs. 2,500 respectively; the Tuni market, which fetched Rs. 2,010; and the Ambájipéta cattle-market, which sold for Rs. 1,625. The markets which chiefly serve the Agency are those of Yelésvaram in Peddápuram taluk and Gókavaram in Rajahmundry. To these resort the petty traders who have direct dealings with the hill men in the interior, and, to some extent, the hill men themselves.
There are one or two centres in each taluk in which live the local merchants who collect grain from the ryots and either export it themselves or sell it to other and larger merchants. The money-lenders are generally also^ grain dealers, as their loans are often paid in kind. A common system, known as jatti, is that by which a ryot borrows money on the security of his crops and undertakes to sell these when harvested to the money-lender at less than the market price. Another usual arrangement, called the várakam or pattúbadi system, is for a ryot to keep a sort of running account with the moneylender, getting small loans from time to time and clearing off the debt, principal and interest, at harvest. Here, again, the grain is sold at less than the market price, the difference being about ten rupees per garce. The ryot is also expected to graze his creditor's cattle and to supply him with vegetables when called upon.
Almost the only noteworthy article of export from Gódávari is its surplus agricultural produce, but a fair quantity of the locally woven, dyed, or stamped cotton goods are sold outside the district, and so are the hides and skins from the tanneries of Rajahmundry. The distillery and sugar-factory at Samalkot also sends large quantities of its sugar and arrack to other parts of India. Of the agricultural products exported, rice is the largest item. Pulses, oils, fibres of various kinds and hemp are also shipped in great quantities.
The chief imports into the district include metal vessels, kerosine oil, iron. European and other piece-goods, leather and cattle.
The only considerable seaport in Gódávari is the flourishing town of Cocanada, which serves not only the district itself, but its neighbours to the north and south and an extensive hinterland which includes parts of the Nizam's Dominions.
The port of Cocanada is situated in the south-west corner of Coringa bay, a large but shallow sheet of water,five miles by five in extent, lying at the northernmost angle of the delta. The bay is something the shape of a horse-shoe and is only open from the north-east. The most northerly mouth of the Gódávari flows into it on the south, where it is gradually silting it up, and the everlengthening arm of Cape Gódávari, which is estimated to be advancing seawards at the rate of a mile in 20 years, encloses it on the east. The rapid shallowing of the bay has rendered it necessary for large ships to anchor five miles from the shore to the north-east of Cocanada town, but the anchorage is well-protected and exceptionally safe.
Goods have to be landed in cargo boats, but the channel leading from the anchorage to the harbour itself is deep enough to allow boats of 100 tons burden, and drawing as much as five feet of water, to reach Cocanada at certain states of the tide. The harbour consists of a tidal creek which receives the surplus of the Cocanada and Samalkot canals and the discharge of the Bikkavólu drain and the Yeléru river, which together enter the Samalkot branch of the creek just below the last lock of the Samalkot canal. The harbour shows a tendency to silt owing to deposits brought from above; and its mouth is also with difficulty kept clear of the sand and mud which is swept into the Coringa bay from the Gódávari on the south, from a drainage creek entering the bay just to the north of the harbour, and in stormy weather, from the open sea on the north-east. Two dredgers are therefore kept constantly at work, and it has also been found necessary to extend the mouth of the harbour by long groins. The harbour is revetted from the bridge leading to Jagannáthapuram, and the revetment is continued along the groins, its total length being 3,680 yards on the north and 3,780 yards on the south side. Of this extent 2,700 yards of revetment and 87 yards of groin on the north and 2,500 and 260 yards of revetment and groin respectively on the south had been erected as early as 1855; and the groins were extended considerably in 1887 and very largely about 1893. The chief difficulty is experienced from the mud creek which, as just mentioned, flows into the bay just north of the harbour mouth. Its course and mouth have altered with the foreshore, going further and further towards the east. This is the result of its own action combined with the construction of the groins. The northern wall crosses its mouth, with the result that the silt it brings down has formed a solid sand bank along the groin. This bank has extended with each extension of the groin and now threatens to choke the harbour's mouth. The groins have been given a turn to the north to endeavour to counteract this tendency, but without success. Further means of dealing with the difficulty are now being considered.
The port had originally four light-houses and two port lights. The latter still stand on the ends of the two groins, but two of the former are no longer in use. The light-house at Cocanada itself has not been used since 1877 (though it has been left standing as a landmark) and the Hope Island light-house, on what was once the most north-easterly extremity of the delta, was abandoned in 1902. There are now revolving lights at Vakalapúdi, some five miles to the north of Cocanada, and on the Sacramento shoal, over twenty miles south of the present Point Gódávari, to warn vessels off the point and shoal.
Cocanada possesses a Port Officer, and he and his establishment are paid in the usual way from port funds chiefly derived from dues on vessels visiting the place. 'Landing and shipping dues' are also collected from the local merchants at certain fixed rates on all cargo landed and shipped; and this money, with the rent of certain ground within port limits, is devoted, as elsewhere, to meeting all expenditure involved in the improvement of the port, such as the maintenance of dredgers, groins and the foreshore. The fund so constituted is administered primarily by the Cocanada Port Conservancy Board, of which the chairman is the Collector and the vice-chairman one of the members of the European Chamber of Commerce. This body fixes the rates of dues to be paid, looks after the ordinary measures of port conservancy, and initiates measures for the improvement of the port. Its expenditure is, as usual, under the control of the Presidency Port Officer and ultimately of Government. Several of the leading mercantile houses in the Presidency have agents in Cocanada (among them Messrs. Ralli Bros., Messrs. Gordon, Woodroffe & Co., Messrs. Volkart Bros., Messrs. Wilson & Co., Messrs. Ripley & Co. and Messrs. Best & Co.) and in addition the place is the head-quarters of several other substantial European firms, who are engaged in general trade and own local undertakings of various kinds. Messrs. Simson & Co. own a rice-mill and act as agents for the Asiatic Steam Navigation Company; Messrs. Hall, Wilson & Co. are agents for the British India line and were part-owners and local managers of the Oriental Salt Company, which until recently was working the salt-factory at Jagannáthapuram; Messrs. Innes & Co. are managers of the Coringa Rice Mills Company; and Messrs. Barry & Co. have a cheroot-factory where cheroots are made for export to Burma. There are also a great number of native merchants in the town. Indeed the mercantile importance of the place is so considerable that the Bank of Madras has a branch there under a European Agent, and both native and European Chambers of Commerce have been constituted.
The European chamber at Cocanada was established as long ago as 1868. Representatives of the leading European firms and the local Agent of the Bank of Madras are members. Its objects are 'to watch over and protect the interests of trade, to collect information on matters bearing thereon, to communicate with authorities and individuals upon the removal of grievances and abuses, to decide on matters of customs and usage . . . and to form a code of practice whereby the transaction of business may be facilitated,' and it has displayed much activity in all these directions. The practice of annually printing its chief proceedings, which was inaugurated in 1903, is to be continued. The native Chamber of Commerce is theoretically quite independent of the other; but generally the two bodies work hand in hand.
The port is visited by the British India steamers, as many as six or seven of which often call in a week; by the Asiatic Steam Navigation Company's boats, two of which call every fortnight; and by the Clan Line steamers, three or four of which come every month. The Austrian Lloyd steamers and those of a Venetian company call occasionally.
In 1902-03 (see the figures in the separate Appendix to this volume) the total value of the export trade of Cocanada amounted, in round figures, to Rs. 1,22,80,000 and that of the imports to Rs. 25,10,000, making up a total trade of Rs. 1,47,90,000 or £986,000. In the statistics of that year the port takes the fifth place among those of this Presidency — being passed only by Madras (total trade 1,406 lakhs), Tuticorin (388 lakhs), Cochin (320 lakhs) and Calicut (192 lakhs) — and the twelfth place among the ports of British India.1[2] The trade has naturally varied considerably in different years; but in only three out of the 27 immediately preceding 1902-03 did it rise above 200 lakhs in total value. These were 1889-90 (201 lakhs), 1896-97 (216 lakhs) and 1892-93 (239 lakhs). In 1878-79 it fell below 75 lakhs, but in no other year was the figure less than 100 lakhs. In 1903-04 the imports were valued at Rs. 38,73,000 and the exports at Rs. 1,67,31,000, making a total of Rs. 2,06,04,000. The exports have always been largely in excess of the imports. The proportion in 1903-04 is fairly typical of other years.
In that year, out of a total export trade of 167 lakhs, goods to the value of 84 lakhs were sent to ports outside India (including Burma) and the rest to Indian ports; of the latter, II lakhs went to the ports of this Presidency. The foreign export trade has generally been equal to or larger than the Indian export trade, and often much larger. The trade with the rest of the Presidency has always been small, and it has very largely decreased in the last seven years, probably owing to the competition of the railway.
In 1903-04 the foreign imports made up rather more than half of the total import trade; but the figures of that year are rather exceptional, as the imports from abroad are usually nothing like so large as those from India and Burma. In former years the imports from other ports in this Presidency were considerable and averaged in value about one quarter of the total imports; but, like the exports to other places in the Presidency, they have much decreased in the last six years.
Of a total foreign export trade in 1903-04 of Rs. 84,04,000, the exports of cotton were valued at Rs. 33,93,000; of rice and paddy (chiefly the latter) at Rs. 29,90,000; and of oil-seeds (castor and gingelly) at Rs. 9,25,000. Thus these commodities made up 73 out of the total of 84 lakhs. Food-grains accounted for Rs. 2,02,000, oil-cake for Rs. 1,69,000, fibre2[3] for brushes for Rs. 1,56,000, and castor oil for Rs. 97,000. The cotton is chiefly sent to France (Rs. 9,06,000), Holland (Rs. 6,42,000) and Britain (Rs. 3,32,000) as well as to several other European countries and Japan. Rice and paddy is chiefly taken by Ceylon (Rs. 8,67,000), Réunion (Rs. 6,63,000) the Straits Settlements (Rs. 5,23,000), Mauritius (Rs. 4,88,000) and Japan (Rs, 2,76,000). Gingelly oil goes chiefly to Ceylon and France, and castor oil to Britain and Russia. The fibres and the oil-cake go almost entirely to Ceylon. An important item is tobacco, which is sent unmanufactured in large quantities to Burma to be made up into cheroots.
Nearly the whole of the foreign import trade of 1903-04 was made up of unrefined sugar (Rs. 9,69,000), kerosine oil (Rs. 7,47,000) and various kinds of metal and metalware (Rs. 1,40,000). The sugar all came from Java, and the kerosine oil from Russia (Rs. 3,32,000), the United States (Rs. 2,61,000) and Sumatra (Rs. 1,53,000). The metalware was chiefly from the United Kingdom.
The coastwise import trade is small. The largest items were gunny-bags from Calcutta (nearly five lakhs), cotton twist and yarn principally from Bombay (some three lakhs), kerosine oil chiefly from Rangoon (two and a half lakhs), ground-nut oil from Madras ports and cotton piece-goods from Bombay (each about a lakh), and cocoanut oil, also from Madras ports, Rs. 84,000.
The coastwise export trade included thirty-six lakhs' worth of grain and pulse of various sorts, of which five-sixths was rice and the greater part was sent to Bombay. Nearly sixteen lakhs' worth of tobacco leaf was sent to Burma, and gingelly worth nine lakhs (of which two-thirds went to Burma) and castor seeds worth two lakhs (nearly all of which went to Calcutta) were other considerable items.
Outside the remoter parts of the Agency, where regular tables are little used, the following are the ordinary weights and measures in the district. The table employed by goldsmiths is generally: —
4 visams(grains of paddy) ... = 1 pátika 2 pcdikas ... ... ... = I 2 addigas ... ... ... = i 30 chinnanis ... ... ... = i CHAP. VI. Trade. patika. addiga. chtnnam. tola (180 grains.) The ordinary table of commercial weights is as follows: — 2 p am pus 2 yebulams 2 padalams 2 visses 4 yetiedus 20 maunds I ycbulam. I padaJatn, I viss ( = 5 seers, or 120 tolas). I yettedu. I maund (of 25 lb.). I putti (or candy). CHAP. VI. Weights and Measures.
In Pólavaram, between the maund and the putti, come the yédumu of 5 maunds, and the pandumu of 10 maunds. These words are respectively corruptions of aidu tumulu, 'five tums' and padi tumulu, 'ten tums.' Wholesale merchants also buy and sell in terms of bags (basthas) supposed to weigh 166 lb.
Oil and ghee are sold retail by weight in the shops, and wholesale or retail by measure by the Telukulas and Gollas; milk and curds always by measure; long chillies by weight, and short ones by measure, though at Rajahmundry and Pólavaram both kinds are said to be sold by weight. Jaggery and tamarind are described in kantlams in addition to the above weights; one kantlam being equivalent to nine maunds everywhere in the district except at Peddápuram, where it is ten and a half maunds. Tape is sold by weight in terms of yettus and its submultiples (half, quarter, etc.). Fuel in large towns is sold by the following table:—
| 5 | maunds | ... | ... | = | 1 | kávadi, yédumu or pattu. |
| 4 | kávadis | ... | ... | = | 1 | putti. |
Weights below a pattu are described in submultiples of that weight.
The table used in Bhadráchalam is quite different. That taluk is situated above the Gháts, and no doubt the influence of the Nizam's Dominions and the Central Provinces predominates. The weights are:—
| 2 | chatáks | ... | ... | ... | = | 1 | pávu sir. |
| 2 | pávu sirs | ... | ... | ... | = | 1 | ardha sir (= ½ seer). |
| 2 | ardha sirs | ... | ... | ... | = | 1 | seer (= 24 tolas). |
| 5 | seers | ... | ... | ... | = | 1 | viss. |
| 8 | visses | ... | ... | ... | = | 1 | maund. |
| 20 | maunds | ... | ... | ... | = | 1 | putti. |
Peculiar to this taluk is the selling of oil retail by weight. At Pólavaram a balance resembling the Danish steel-yard is used. One end of a longish stick is marked with notches denoting different weights. The article to be weighed is hung from this end of it, and the stick and article are lifted by a string loop which fits into the notches and is tried in one after the other of them until the stick hangs horizontally. The notch in which the loop then lies indicates the weight of the article.
Measures of capacity.
The following table of measures is recognized, with one or two exceptions, in all the taluks outside the Agency:—
| 5 | tolas weight of rice | ... | = | 1 | gidda. | ||
| 4 | giddas | ... | ... | ... | = | 1 | sóla. |
| 2 | sólas | ... | ... | ... | = | 1 | tavva. |
IIP 2 tawas ... ... ... = I manika or seer (holds 80 tolas weight of rice). 2 manikas ... ... ... = i adda. 2 addas ... ... ... = i kunchatn (320 tolas weight of rice). 20 kunchams ... ... = i yediimu or kdvadi. 2 yedufnus ... ... = i pandumu. 2 pandumus ... ... = i palle-putti (= 80 kun- chams). l palle-puttis ... ... = i garce {garisa) of 600 kunchams or 192,000 tolas weight of rice. The palle-putti of 80 kunchams is only found in the north-east of the district, i.e., in Cocanada, Peddapuram, Pithapuram and Tuni. In the other parts of the district the malaka putti of 200 kunchams (three of which go to the garce) is used, but not the yedumu or pandumu. In Polavaram the measures used are — 5 tolas weight c )f rice = I gidda. 8 glddas = I taw a. 8 tawas ... ^^ I kuticham (of 320 tolas weight of rice). kunchams = I tiimu. 4 tiimus = I goticdu. 5 goncdus or 20 //; tmus = 1 putti of 200 kunchams. 3 puttis I garce of 600 kunchams or 192,000 tolas weight of rice. In Bhadrachalam the scale recognized is- 10 tolas weight of rice 4 giddas 2 solas 2 tawas 10 tawas 2 kunchams 2 irusas 5 tumudus ... 2 yi'dumus ... 2 pandumus I gidda. I .'.vVrt. I /rtZ'z/rt or seer (holding 80 tolas weight of rice). I nuuilka (of 160 tolas weight of rice). I kuncham (of 800 tolas weight of rice). I irusa. I tumudu. I y{'dumu. I pandumu. 1 ////// (of 80 kunchams or 640,000 tolas weight rice). CHAP. VI. Weights AND Measures. 120 GODAVARI. CHAP. VI. Weights AND Measures. Miscel- laneous commercial notations. Lineal measures It will be noticed that the Bhadrachalam gidda and tavva are twice as large as those elsewhere, and the Bhadrachalam kuncham two and a half times as large. Ghee and oil, as already stated, are sold wholesale by measure. The largest measure used for oil is the kuncham, and for ghee the seer. Butter-milk and curd are measured in small pots called miDithas. It is the practice in this district to set milk for curd in a number of these small pots, instead of in one large pot as is done in some southern districts, and the pots are sold separately. There are four usual sizes of them ; namely, the quarter anna, half anna, three-quarter anna and anna munthas, so called according to the price (and so the capacity) of each. An anna miintha holds about half a seer. Milk is sold by the seer and its submultiples. Large quantities of milk are sometimes spoken of in terms of the kadava or kdvadi, which hold 20 and 40 seers respectively. Popular phrases to denote capacity are the closed handful, called guppedu or pidikedu, the open handful or chdredu, and the double handful or dosed 11. Fruits {e.g., mangoes, plantains, cocoanuts and guavas), palmyra leaves, and dung cakes are sold by ' hands,' one hand or cheyyi being equivalent to five. Twenty cheyyis make one salaga, and for every salaga one cheyyi extra is thrown in as kosani or ' for luck.' Kosarn means ' bargaining.' Betel leaves are sold wholesale by the nwda. This is a varying quantity equivalent generally to 200 or 300 leaves according to their thickness. It is supposed to be the quantity that can be held in the two hands, when the hands are pressed together at the wrist, as when catching a cricket ball. The leaves are sold retail by the katta, which contains lOO leaves. The old native scale of measures is in use alongside with the English inch, foot and yard. The native scale is :— I angida ... ... ... = the breadth of a man's thumb, or f inch. ... ... = I y'tt/zfl (span). = I mura (cubit). = I hara (fathom). = I kbss {7 miles). 1= I nmada (about nine miles). 6 kosscs ... ... ... = 1 majlH (march, or halt- ing place ; about i;; miles). Besides these, there are the betta, or the breadth of four fingers placed together, and the loditha, or half span, made by 12 angulas 2 janas 4 muras 2,000 bilras 4 kbsses extending the thumb and forefinger as far apart as possible. The bára is the distance between the tips of the fingers of the two hands when the arms are both stretched out horizontally to their greatest extent. In describing heights and depths above five feet or so, natives always use the terms niluvu and ara (half) niluvu. The niluvu is equivalent to the height of an average adult person. In the Agency chalaka and mancha, which (see below) are really square measures, are used to denote distances. They each represent about 70 yards.
Some of these measures of length are used much more frequently than the English standards. Thus the jána and. the mura are very commonly used for measuring cloth, and the mura and bára for measuring ropes. Again the kóss and the ámada are in very common use for long distances, and the majili is not rare.
Acres and cents are only of recent introduction, and are less familiar to the natives than the English lineal feet and inches. The native table of land measures is the same throughout the district except in Tuni, Bhadráchalam, Yellavaram, Chódavaram and the wilder parts of Pólavaram, and is based on the quantity of seed required to cultivate a given area of land. Thus a mánadu is the quantity of land that can be sown with a mánika or seer of seed, and is equivalent to about two and half cents. An addedu is five cents, a kunchedu ten cents, an iddumu neresa is an acre, an yédumu two acres, a pandumu four acres, and a putti eight acres. A different and vaguer terminology is used in Tuni. There wet land is spoken of in terms of the out turn of paddy — or in 'garces'; and dry land in terms of the number of days it would take a pair of bullocks to plough it — namely in yéllu or ploughs. Thus one yéru or 'plough' of dry land is the quantity of land that a pair of bullocks can plough in one day, or about half an acre. A 'garce' of wet land is said to be about two acres.
There appears to be no precise table of land measure known in Bhadráchalam, perhaps because there is no need for one among the inhabitants of those uncivilized parts. The zamindars' accounts are said to be kept in acres and cents. In the wilder tracts of this taluk and of Pólavaram, and throughout the Agency, areas are described in terms of chalakas, manchas and kattipóu. Mancha is the raised bamboo platform put up in the middle of a field, on which the watcher sits to scare away birds and animals. The term is used to describe the amount of land which can be commanded by one watcher, or about two acres. The chalaka is the same as the mancha in extent. It literally means 'a piece.' Kattipódu has a reference to pódu cultivation, and denotes as much land as I gadlya (or 24 minutes.) I ganta (or English hour). I jamu (or watch). can be cleared in one day by one katti or billhook. This extent is said to be about an acre.
English minutes and hours are well understood and are used equally with the native measures of time. The latter are: — 60 vigadiyas ... 2 2 gadlyas 3 gafitas
Of these, the vigadiya is rarely, if ever, used, the term being only known to the educated. Periods shorter than twenty-four minutes are generally expressed in English minutes or in terms of fractions of the gadiya.
In telling the time of day or night a native calculates the number of gadiyas or jámus that have elapsed since 6 A.M., or 6 P.M., as the case may be. Thus 7 12 o'clock, whether A.M. or P.M., would be 'three gadiyas,' and 9 o'clock would be 'one jámu' or 'seven and a half gadiyas.'
There are also, however, in this as in every other district, a number of expressions in common use which denote various times of the day. Those which occur most frequently here are 'the rising of the star Venus' (tsukka podichétappudu), which is of course variable;' the time when the first cock crows' (3 A.M.); 'the time when the second cock crows' (4 A.M.); 'the time to begin ploughing' (6 A.M.); 'cock-crow time'; 'the time to sprinkle cow-dung-water' and 'the time to make butter-milk,' both of which indicate 6 A.M.; 'the time to milk the cows' (7 A.M.); 'the shepherds' breakfast time' (9 or 10 A.M.); 'the time to let the cattle out to graze,' which is very variable; 'the time when the feet burn' (midday); muppoddu vela, ' when three jámtis have passed' (about 3 P.M.); 'time to begin cooking' (4 P.M.); 'sanda játnu,' about three hours after nightfall, from sanda, evening ; and ' the thief time ' or midnight. A variation of the last, found in the Agency, is ' the time when the cock crows at the thief.' The Agency people also use the phrase java vein, or ' kanji time.' for 10 A.M. or breakfast time ; and sometimes call it muntlia vela, or 'porringer time,' from the vessel in which they eat it.
Besides the ordinary currency, cowries (gavvalu) are very commonly used in making small purchases throughout the low country, except in Pithaáuram and Tuni. They are imported from Bombay and sold by weight. Ninety-six cowries make one three-pie piece; but there are a number of terms denoting smaller numbers. Thus 4 cowries = I punjam; 3 pimjams = I toli; 2 tolis = I dammidi (three-quarters of a pie); 2 dammi- dis = égáni (or 1½ pies); 2 égánis — I dabbu, káni, or kotta dabbu, which are the ordinary names for a three-pie piece. The value of a cowry, punjam and toli are not absolutely constant, but vary slightly with the market price of cowries. The dabbu is also a term of varying application. In Pithápuram, Tuni, and the Agency it means four pies, and is synonymous with a páta dabbu ('old dabbu'). In this case an égáni means two pies and a dammidi one pie; but the káni and the kotta dabbu ('new dabbu') still denote three pies.
For sums above an anna a variety of curious terms are used. Thus,
| 4 | kotta dabbus | ... | ... | = | 1 | anna. | |
| 2 | annas | ... | ... | ... | = | 1 | béda. |
| 2 | bédas | ... | ... | ... | = | 1 | pávula or dúlam (=4 annas). |
| 16 | páta dabbus | ... | ... | = | 1 | tankamu (or 5 as. 4 ps.). | |
| 2 | pávulas | ... | ... | = | 1 | half rupee or chavulam. | |
| 3 | pávulas | ... | ... | = | 1 | muppávula (12 annas), | |
| 1 | pávu | ... | ... | ... | = | 1 | rupee. |
| 1 | máda | ... | ... | ... | = | 2 | rupees. |
| 1 | varáha (pagoda) or punji | = | 4 | rupees. | |||
| 1 | puli varáha | ... | ... | = | 3½ | rupees. | |
| 1 | vanda | ... | ... | ... | = | 100 | rupees. |
In Tuni, and perhaps elsewhere, the dúlam (4 annas), chavulam (8 annas), pávu (rupee), máda (2 rupees) and punji, or pagoda of 4 rupees, are used to denote percentages. Thus if a man wants to say he is giving 6¼, 12½, 25 or 50 per cent, he will say he is giving a dulam (one-sixteenth of a pagoda), chavulam (one-eighth), a pávu (one-quarter) or a máda (one-half) respectively. No doubt the use of the pagoda as a unit of reference is the cause of the name pávu for a rupee, the word literally meaning 'a quarter.'
In Bhadráchalam, besides the usual British Indian coins, those of the Nizam's Dominions are also in common use.
- ↑ 1 See Chapter IV, p, 90.
- ↑ 1 The larger ports outside this Presidency were Bombay (11,172 lakhs), Calcutta (10,381 lakhs), Rangoon (2,868 lakhs), Karáchi (1,929 lakhs), Moulmein (440 lakhs Chittagong (283 lakhs) and Akyab (240 lakhs).
- ↑ 2 Chiefly palmyra fibre extracted from the thick stem of the leaf. This item has much increased in the last year or two.