e disappeared. Jews are
notorious all the world over as money-lenders, and it may perhaps be
wondered why none of them survived as money-lenders in Madras; but the
fact that Coral Merchants' Street is now the habitat of Nattukottai
Chetties, who are past-masters in the art of money-lending, suggests
that even the Jews were unable to compete with Madras sowcars in the
business of usury, and that the Chetties displaced the Jews who used
to live in the street. The little Jewish cemetery in crowded Mint
Street is an interesting spot. One of the antique tomb-stones has been
caught in the branch of a tree and has been lifted high in air, and is
a quaint sight; and the deserted little Hebrew graveyard itself is
symbolic of the dispersion of the ancient people.

It is a curious fact that the Company's employees in South India never
spoke of Indian Mohammedans as Mohammedans or as Moslems or as
Mussalmans, but always as 'Moors.' It is thus that the name of 'Moor
Street' is to be accounted for. The original 'Moors Street' was a
street in which Mohammedans used to live, and the fact that one
particular street in a large city should have borne such a name is
evidence of another fact, namely, that in the earlier years of Madras
very few Mohammedans resided in the town. It should be remembered that
Madraspatnam, Triplicane, Egmore, and the other hamlets that went to
make up the city of Madras were all of them Hindu villages; and it was
only now and again that Mohammedans, in some capacity or another,
found their way into the town. In the earlier years of Madras a single
mosque sufficed for all the few Mohammedans therein. The mosque was
located in 'Moors Street' in old Black Town, a street that was the
predecessor of the 'Moor Street' of to-day. It was not till nearly
fifty years after the acquisition of the site of Madras that a second
mosque was built--in Muthialpet; and these two small mosques supplied
Mohammedan requirements for many years. The fact is that Madras was so
frequently troubled by successive Mohammedan enemies--the King of
Golconda; Da-ud Khan, Nawab of the Carnatic; Haidar Ali, Sultan of
Mysore; his son Tipu, and others--that the Company was disposed to
regard all 'Moors' with mistrust, so much so that they discouraged
Mohammedan residents; and a measure was passed with the special
intention 'to prevent the Moors purchasing too much land in the Black
Town.' There are large crowds of Mohammedans in Madras now, groupe