Kasaragod Taluk, 1908
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Kasaragod Taluk
Southernmost taluk of South Kanara Dis- trict, Madras, lying between 12 degree 7' and 12 degree 57' N. and 74 degree 52' and 75 26' E., with an area of 762 square miles. It contains 114 villages. The demand for land revenue and cesses in 1903-4 amounted to Rs. 2.42,000. The population in 1901 was 231,280, compared with 210,323 in 1891, showing an increase of 10 per cent. Much of the surface consists of a bare treeless plateau ; but the valleys are deep, well-watered, and very fertile, and, especially in the northern half of the taluk, admirably adapted for areca cultivation. The chief products are rice, coco-nuts, and areca-nuts. In the coast villages in the south a considerable amount of tobacco is raised by the Mappilla cultivators. In eighteen survey villages adjoining Coorg and Malabar the shifting system of cultivation known as kumri is still carried on, the crop being usually a mixed one of hill rice, pulse, and cotton. The jungle on selected spaces on the hill slopes is cut down, usually in December, and burned when dry three or four months later.
The seed is sown in the ashes, sometimes without ploughing, when the rains come, and in good years fine crops are secured with little further trouble. A catch-crop is sometimes raised the following season ; and the spot is then abandoned for a period of from seven to ten years till there is sufficient fresh growth, when the process is repeated.
