TRICHINOPOLY, the capital of the above district, on the Cauvery, 30 miles W. of Tanjore, and 190 S.W. of Madras. It is regularly laid out, with straight and broad streets; but the houses are of the most wretched description, being for the most part mere huts, low, dark, and dingy in the extreme. It is pretty strongly fortified by walls about two miles in circuit, lofty, thick, and in some places double. There is also a fort built on a sienite rock about 600 feet high, commanding a wide view over the plain. In it stand the arsenal, commissariat, various storehouses, hospital, and jail. The inhabitants of Trichinopoly are celebrated for their skill in making hardware, cutlery, and jewellery; and there are also manufactured here good saddlery and harness, and large quantities of cheroots from the excellent tobacco grown in the vicinity. Two or three miles S.W. of the town is a large cantonment, containing barracks for a large number of troops, the residences of civil and military officers, an English church, and a small Roman Catholic chapel. Trichinopoly was subject to a Hindoo rajah until 1732, when the Nabob of Arcot gained possession of it; and in 1741 he was in turn dispossessed by the Mahrattas. During the wars between the French and English, the place was much contested; and in 1757, when besieged by the former, it was relieved by the rapid march of an English force under Captain Calliaud. Pop. estimated at 30,000, exclusive of the military.