This tract of country extends along the western coast of India, from Cape Comorin to the River Chandragiri, in N. Lat. 12° 30'. The British province of Malabar is a particular portion of this tract, which is situated between the 10th and 13th degrees of N. Lat. To the N. it is bounded by the province of Canara, to the S. by the raja of Cochin's territories, to the W. by the ocean, and to the E. by the chain of the Western Ghauts, below which the country lies, extending about 200 miles along the sea-coast. The country may be divided into two portions, the first of which borders the sea-coast, and consists of a poor sandy soil, seldom above 3 miles wide, and in general not so much. Low branches of hills extend from the Ghauts to a considerable distance to the westward, and sometimes even to the sea. The strip of country bordering upon the sea is well adapted for the cultivation of rice; and it is remarkably intersected by inlets of the sea, which often run for great lengths parallel to the line of coast, receiving the various mountain streams, and communicating with the ocean by different narrow and shallow openings. In other places, the fresh water, as it descends from the mountains into the low lands within the downs upon the sea-coast, in the rainy season, totally overflows them, as the water has no issue, and must consequently stagnate until it evaporates. By this natural irrigation the lands are fitted for some particular qualities of rice. There are a few mountain streams and rivers; and the distance of the mountains from the sea is too inconsiderable for the formation of any large river. By far the most extensive portion of Malabar lies in the vicinity of the Ghaut Mountains, and consists of low hills, separated by narrow valleys, which are in general extremely fertile, being the receptacles of the fine particles of mould carried down from the hills. The hills are seldom of any considerable height, and have mostly level summits, which are bare in many parts, especially towards the N., and expose to the view large surfaces of naked rock, with remarkably steep sides. They are in general very industriously cultivated; their sides, which possess the best soil, being formed into terraces. The valleys are in most cases watered by rivulets which carry off the superfluous water, and where there is no issue, it overflows the adjacent lands. The upland is barren, and the cultivation much neglected; and it is in the valleys and extensive ravines, and upon the banks of the rivers, that the inhabitants chiefly reside. Dr Buchan mentions in his Journey from Madras, &c., vol. ii., that some parts of the country which he passed through in this province were the most beautiful he had ever seen, being equal to the finest parts of Bengal, but the trees were loftier, and the palms more numerous. In many places the rice grounds are interspersed with high swells, that are crowded with houses; whilst the view to the N. is bounded by naked rocky mountains, and to the S. by the lofty forests of the Travancore Hills. The climate is moist; the low country of Malabar, as well as the whole region which lies under the Western Ghauts, becomes excessively hot in the month of February; and the vapours and exhalations are so thick, that it is difficult to distinguish objects at the distance of even 5 miles. These vapours become visible around the mountains, where the cold is very severe. The moisture collected increases with the heat; and in March and April a prodigious quantity is accumulated, and floats in the atmosphere, sometimes ascending nearly to the tops of the mountains, where it is checked or condensed by the cold; but, descending immediately after, it is again rarified by the heat of the lower atmosphere into vapour, before it reaches the earth. At the setting in of the western monsoon, the whole is condensed into rain, which falls very heavily, partly in the low country, and partly in the mountains; and a small portion escapes and is blown across Mysore. These heavy rains serve to bear away the soil, and leave nothing but loose stones and sand upon the hills. The country abounds in lofty forests, which are sometimes intermixed with corn fields and plantations of fruit trees. The teak is produced in great abundance, mostly about Manarghaut; but it is too remote from any navigable river to be transported with a profit from the place of its growth. Sandalwood is also exported from Malabar, though it is not the produce of the country; at least such as is found within the limits of Malabar is not of a good quality, being entirely devoid of smell; but, growing as it does immediately to the eastward of the Western Ghauts, all that is produced towards the sources of the Canvery naturally comes to Malabar, which affords the nearest ports that can be found for its exportation. The palm is produced in the greatest abundance about Palighaut, and, with proper care, an excellent spirit might be extracted from it. These forests, unlike others in India, were the private property of the land-holders, who exercised the right of selling and mortgaging the trees to Moplay merchants. The demand for teak timber was so great that the woods were fast becoming exhausted.

With a view to the restoration of these forests, extensive tracts of waste land have been converted by the government into teak plantations. In the latter part of 1843, and the spring of the following year, no less than 50,000 young trees were planted in these nurseries. Cocoanut trees abound in the province. Black pepper is produced abundantly in Malabar, and forms the chief export by Europeans, who usually purchase about five-eighths of all that is produced, and carry it principally to Europe directly, or to Bombay and China. The remainder is chiefly exported by native traders to the Bay of Bengal, Surat, Cutch, Scinde, and other countries in the N.W. of India; and a considerable quantity finds its way to the Arabian ports of Muscat and Mocha, and to the British port of Aden. They use scarcely any horses or asses in Malabar; and such as are required for the use of the inhabitants are imported from the east. They have a small breed of cattle and buffaloes; but even these are but little used in the transportation of goods, which are usually carried by porters. Poultry have been introduced into the country by the Europeans; and common fowl may be had in abundance. Until a recent period slavery existed in Malabar; but in 1843 a legislative enactment was passed by the government, by the provisions of which slavery has been abolished throughout the whole extent of our eastern possessions. The country is distinguished by the neatness of its villages, which are superior to any in India, being built of mud, neatly smoothed, and either whitewashed or painted. Their picturesque effect is heightened by the beauty and elegant dresses of the Brahmin girls. The villages, as well as the bazaars, are the work of foreigners, the aboriginal natives of Malabar living in detached houses surrounded with gardens. The higher ranks use little clothing, but are remarkably clean in their persons; and all ranks are free from cutaneous distempers, excepting the very lowest castes.

The country being intersected by many rivers, and bounded by a high wall of mountains, was protected by these natural obstacles against the torrent of Mohammedan invasion which desolated other parts of India; and it was not till 1766, when it was invaded by Hyder Ali, that it was subjected to a foreign yoke. Hence the original manners and peculiar customs of the Hindus have been preserved here in much greater purity than in other parts of India. Besides the Hindus, who form the great proportion of the inhabitants, the population consists of Moplays or Mohammedans, Christians, and Jews. The Hindus are divided into the following castes, namely, Namburies or Brahmans; the Nairs of various denominations; the Teers, or Tias, who are cultivators of the land, and freemen; the Malears, who are musicians and conjurors, and also freemen; and, lastly, the Patias, who were slaves or bondmen. Of these castes, the most remarkable are the Nairs, the pure Sudras of Malabar, who all lay claim to be born soldiers, though they are of various ranks and professions. There are altogether eleven ranks of Nairs, who form the militia of Malabar, under the Brahmans and rajahs. They are proud and arrogant to their inferiors; and in former times a Nair was expected instantly to cut down a cultivator or fisherman who presumed to defile him by touching his person, or a Patiar who did not turn out of his road as a Nair passed. It is a remarkable custom amongst this class, that a Nair never cohabits with the person whom he calls his wife. He gives her all proper allowances of clothing and food; but she remains in her mother's or brother's house, and cohabits with any person or persons she chooses, of equal rank; so that no Nair knows his own father; and the children all belong to the mother, whose claim to them admits of no doubt. This state of manners also prevails in the neighbouring countries of Travancore, Bednore, and Canara.

As in Malabar the ancient Hindu state of property and manners prevails, almost the whole land, cultivated and uncultivated, belongs to individuals, and is held by a right which conveys a full and absolute property in the soil. There are many traditions and conjectures respecting the origin of landed property in those countries; and upon this subject a very full detail will be found in Mr Thackeray's report on the land tenures and assessments in Malabar, in the Fifth Report of the Select Committee on India Affairs, p. 799, in which he, along with Colonel Munro and others, strongly contends, that in the southern parts of India, namely, in Malabar, Tanjore, Trichinopoly, &c., the private right of property in the soil has been established from time immemorial. "The occupants of the land," says one of the collectors of the revenue in Southern India, "by whatever name distinguished, have the right of selling, bestowing, devising, and bequeathing their lands, in the manner which to them is most agreeable." The succession to property, in consequence of the extraordinary customs of the Nairs, depends on the mother, about whom there can be no mistake, though the father is frequently uncertain.

Christianity appears at a very early period to have made considerable progress on the Malabar coast; and there is a greater proportion of persons professing that religion in this than in any other part of India. Three ecclesiastical chiefs—two appointed by the Portuguese church at Goa, and one by the see of Rome—rule over this establishment, besides the Babylonish bishops who preside over the Nestorian community. At the time of Buchanan's visit 44 churches composed the Nestorian communion, which had been reduced from 200,000 souls, its amount before the arrival of Vasco de Gama, to about 40,000. The total number of Christians on the Malabar coast, including the Syrians or Nestorians, is computed to amount to 200,000, of whom 90,000 are settled in Travancore. The Jews are estimated at 30,000.

It is supposed that Malabar was, at a very early period, conquered by a king from above the Ghauts. The Nairs may have been established at the same time by the conqueror, or called in by the Brahmins, as a military body, to support the government. In process of time they obtained settlements in the land; and the chiefs, taking every opportunity to aggrandize themselves, became rajas, and from a remote period continued to govern Malabar like independent princes until Hyder's invasion in 1760. Tradition, and the general opinion of the inhabitants, contradict the notion that any land-tax existed in Malabar prior to that event. No conclusive evidence is supplied on this subject by the doubtful analogies of the neighbouring states, in some of which, such as Travancore, no land-tax was said to exist, whilst in Canara a regular land-tax has been imposed for centuries. There does not seem to have been any urgent necessity for the establishment of a general land-tax, as there was no army besides the militia, nor indeed any expensive establishments. Hyder subdued the country in 1761, and expelled all the rajas, except such as conciliated him by immediate submission. Disturbances were occasioned by these proceedings; but he succeeded in establishing his authority, and in 1782 appointed a deputy, who made still further progress in subduing and settling the country. In 1788 Tippoon, his son, proposed to the Hindus to embrace the true faith, and began by levying contributions on his infidel subjects, and forcibly circumcising many of the Brahmins, Nairs, and others. This produced a serious rebellion, which, however, was soon quelled by his vigorous administration; and in the meantime the country was laid waste by these tyrannical proceedings. On the breaking out of the war between Tippoon and the British in 1790, the refractory rajas and Nairs, who were leading a predatory life in the jungles, were encouraged to join the Company's army. After the war, they were reinstated in their authority; but they made such large claims to independence, whilst they failed at the same time to fulfil their engagements for the payment of the revenue, and were also so tyrannical in their proceedings, that they were finally deprived of all authority, and allowed one-fifth of their revenues for the support of their dignity. Many of them, in consequence, had recourse to rebellion; but they were put down by a military force, and some of them punished. Since this period, under the management of the British collectors of revenue, the country exhibits comparative tranquillity, and is said to be advancing in prosperity. The population, according to the census which was taken in 1850, amounted to 1,514,909.

Under the name of Malabar is distinguished a large tract of country, extending along the western coast of India from Cape Comorin to the River Chandragiri, in N. Lat. 12° 30′; and the term is frequently erroneously applied to the whole country from Bombay to the southern extremity. The above account applies chiefly to the British province of that name.

Malabar Point, a promontory of Hindustan, on the S.W. extremity of the island of Bombay, remarkable for a cleft rock, in great repute for its sanctity amongst the numerous Hindus who resort thither for the purpose of being purified from their sins, which is effected by passing through the aperture, which is of considerable elevation, being situated amongst rocks of difficult access that in the stormy season are incessantly washed by the billows. In the vicinity are the ruins of a temple, said to have been blown up by the Portuguese; and a beautiful Brahmin village, built round a fine tank of considerable extent, with broad flights of steps down to the water.