the largest and most northern division of the country lying on the western side of the Bay of Bengal, called the Northern Circars. It was anciently called Kuling or Calinga, and extends between the 17th and 20th degrees of north latitude, though it is not above one degree in breadth. It is subdivided into two districts, one of which lies between the river of Sellavaram on the south, and that of Poondy on the north; while the cross hills approaching the sea near both extremities form a kind of amphitheatre, inclosing a semicircular territory which extends along the coast 180 miles, and stretches inland to the high mountainous region on the west about sixty miles. It comprises an area of 4400 square miles. The second subdivision of this province is of a triangular figure, of which the longest side stretches along the shore about eighty miles from Poondy to Moland, the southern frontier of Cuttack, and the shortest to the angle at Goomsur. It contains an area of about 1600 miles, exclusively of that portion of territory which in this district, as well as in all others southward to the Godavery, extends in variable breadths to the great ridge of inaccessible mountains on the west. The climate of Cicacole, which forms so large a portion of the Northern Circars, will be more particularly described in the account of that country. In the mean time, it may be observed that it is much more temperate in the hot season than to the south of the Godavery. This country produces rice, bajarry, and maize, as well as other species of grain.

The northern division of Cicacole, with a better soil than is found in other parts of the Circar, is watered by four rivers, which have their outlets in the respective ports of Vizagapatam, Bimilapatam, Cicacole, and Calingapatam, besides many lesser streams, which, though inconsiderable at other times, overflow during the season of the rains. In advancing northward, and in the territory of Jephore, the river Ganjam, swelled by the union of various streams and small rivers, fertilizes the country. The province of Cicacole is encroached upon by the hilly districts from the west. It has few extensive plains, and its hills increase in frequency and magnitude as they approach the vast range of mountains that bounds this and other districts to the north-west. This district was ceded to the French by the nabol Salabut Jung, subahdar of the Deccan, in the year 1753; at this time it extended from the river Godavery to the Chilca Lake. It was conquered by the British in 1759, to whom it was confirmed in 1765 by a grant from the Great Mogul.