The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c15.35

v1.c15.35

Madras city, like the other seaports of modern India, has grown from the smallest beginnings within the European period. It has now a population of more than half a million. Until within recent years, however, Madras had no harbour. Communication was maintained with ships in the open roadstead by means of surf boats. Two piers have now been built out into the sea at right angles to the shore. At their extremities they bend inward towards one another so as to include a quadrangular space. None the less there are times when the mighty waves sweep in through the open mouth, rendering the harbour unsafe, so that the shipping must stand out to sea. Almost every summer half a dozen cyclones strike the east coast of India from the Bay of Bengal. When the Madras harbour was half completed the works were overwhelmed by a storm, and the undertaking had to be recommenced. If we consider the surf of the Coromandel coast, and the barrier presented by the Western Ghāts behind the Malabar coast, we have some measure of the comparative isolation of southern India.