UDAIYARPALAIYAM TALUK.
The Udaiyarpalaiyam taluk lies in the north-cast corner of the district. It is bounded on the south by the Coleroou and on the north partly by the northern Velhir, and it is traversed by the brackish Marudaiyar. The country is generally rather flat and barren, but pai-ts of it arc well wooded. Its population has increased more rapidly in the last thirty years than that of any other taluk.
The taluk contains 27 square miles of forest and 44 square miles of Government cultivable waste. Only 32 square miles of the assessed land are irrigated ; namely, 20 square miles from tanks, lU from river channels and two from wells. The soil (which is about equally divided between black and red) is of fair quality, nearly all the dry land being assessed at between one and two rupees an acre, but the indifferent nature of the u'rigation results in nearly all the wet laud being charged only from two to six rupees. The average rainfall (-lO'^B inches) is the highest in the district. The chief crops are rice, camVm and varagu, but cholam and ragi cover con- siderable areas, and the extent under ground-nut is far greater than that found in any other taluk. Other statistics will be found in the separate Appendix.
The taluk pays a smaller income-tax per head of the assessces and per unit of the population than any others except Kulittalai and Pcrambalur. The Ariyalur cattle-faii- is one of the largest in the south of India. A good deal of weaving is done. The satins of Ariyalur, though now made only in small quantities, are very well known, and cotton, and silk and cotton mixed, are woven on a fairly large scale at Jayankonda-Cholapuram (the taluk head-quarters Udayanattam, Karuppur, Tadainpettai-Paluvur, Sendiu-ai and Vanadii-ayanpattanam. Large quantities of coarse cotton fabrics arc made at ten other ^"illages in the taluk and a few cotton carpets at Udaiyarpalaiyam and Marudur. The dyeing and stamping of chintzes is done at Karuppur, and one household at the same place paints figu-cs on curtains. Brass vessels and idols are made at Kannarapalaiyam, and great quantities of bangles at Kavarai- palaiyam, a hamlet of Vilandai. Some of the bangle-makers turn out glass-ware of fair quality. Good country shoes are made by a Dumber of Chakkiliyaus at Udaiyarpalaiyam.
