a considerable town and seaport of Hindustan, in the Northern Circars, and the principal place of the district of the same name. It is defended by a fort, which is of a rectangular figure, 800 yards in length by 600 in breadth, and situated in the midst of a salt morass, close to an inlet or canal, which communicates with the sea and the Krishna, so that the adjoining grounds may be inundated at pleasure; and this constitutes its principal defence. The port is not capable of receiving vessels beyond the burden of 300 tons, the shore being flat and the water shallow; ships are consequently compelled to anchor at some distance from land. The town is situated on a piece of ground rising above the fort, a mile and a half to the N.W., and communicates with it by a straight causeway 2000 yards in length. Many of the houses are large, and well built of brick and lime mortar, with upper storeys and tiled roofs, and most of the dwellings of the poor are commodious and clean, in consequence of the neatness indispensably required for the manufacture of cotton chintzes, for which the place has been long famous. The population of the town has been returned at 27,884; Lat. 16° 10', Long. 81° 13'. The district, of which this town is the chief place, has an area of 5000 square miles, with a population amounting to 544,672. It forms one of the Circars which were obtained by the French in 1753, and remained in their possession till 1759, when Clive transferred them to the East India Company, to whom they were formally ceded in 1765 by the Emperor of Delhi.