India Company. The French settlement, which still exists, was
founded in 1698. The town was taken in 1765 by Hyder Ali, who expelled
all the merchants and factors, and destroyed the cocoa-nut trees,
sandal-wood and pepper vines, that the country reduced to ruin might
present no temptation to the cupidity of Europeans. In 1782 the troops
of Hyder were driven from Calicut by the British; but in 1788 it was
taken and destroyed by his son Tippoo, who carried off the inhabitants
to Beypur and treated them with great cruelty. In the latter part of
1790 the country was occupied by the British; and under the treaty
concluded in 1792, whereby Tippoo was deprived of half his dominions,
Calicut fell to the British. After this event the inhabitants returned
and rebuilt the town, which in 1800 consisted of 5000 houses.

As the administrative headquarters of the district, Calicut maintains
its historical importance. It is served by the Madras railway, and is
the chief seaport on the Malabar coast, and the principal exports are
coffee, timber and coco-nut products. There are factories for
coffee-cleaning, employing several hundred hands; for coir-pressing and
timber-cutting. The town has a cotton-mill, a saw-mill, and tile, coffee
and oil works. A detachment of European troops is generally stationed
here to overawe the fanatical Moplahs.

CALIFORNIA, one of the Pacific Coast states of the United States of
America, physically one of the most remarkable, economically one of the
more independent, and in history and social life one of the most
interesting of the Union. It is bounded N. by Oregon, E. by Nevada and
Arizona, from which last it is separated by the Colorado river, and S.
by the Mexican province of Lower California. The length of its medial
line N. and S. is about 780 m., its breadth varies from 150 to 350 m.,
and its total area is 158,207 sq. m., of which 2205 are water surface.
In size it ranks second among the states of the Union. The coast is bold
and rugged and with very few good harbours; San Diego and San Francisco
bays being exceptions. The coast line is more than 1000 m. long. There
are eight coast islands, all of inconsiderable size, and none of them as
yet in any way important.

_Physiography._--The physiography of the state is simple; its main
features are few and bold: a mountain fringe along the ocean, another
mountain system along the east border, between them--closed in at both
ends by their junction--a