Coorg

Coorg, formerly an independent principality on the E. side of the Western Ghats in Southern India. Since 1834 it has been a province of British India. It is very mountainous, having a mean elevation of 3,000 feet, and is drained by the Cauvery and its tributaries, which are frequently rendered torrents by the heavy rainfall amounting annually to 160 inches. Owing to humidity, dense jungles and bamboo forests cover much of the area, but recently these have been cleared away, to the improvement of the climate, which is not unhealthy. The inhabitants are a fine race of agriculturists. The Kodagas are the chief tribe. Being of Dravidian origin they speak a Canarese dialect, retaining their primitive devil-worship and several peculiar customs, such as the community of wives between the brothers of a family. Throughout the district are great artificial ramparts (Kunnidegs) of unknown origin. Coorg preserved its independence from 1583, or earlier, to 1773, when Hyder Ali seized on the country and imprisoned the young rajah, who, however, escaped and joined the English in breaking Tippoo's power. But alleging the misrule of a later sovereign as a pretext, Lord William Bentinck dispatched General Fraser in 1834 to annex the country. The area of the province is about 1,600 square miles. The exports are rice, coffee, and cardamoms, coarse blankets being the only manufacture.