a district of British India, in the presidency of Madras, lying between N. Lat. 10° 37' and 11° 31', E. Long. 78° 13' and 79° 37', bounded on the N. and N.E. by the district of South Ascot; S.E. by that of Tanjore; S. by the native state of Poodovcottah; and the district of Madura; W. and N.W. by those of Coimbatore and Salem. Its length is about 94 miles, its breadth 60, and its area 3243. It is quite a flat country, being broken only in some places by granitic or trap rocks of considerable height. The chief river is the Cauvery, which flows through the district from west to east, and divides near the capital into two branches, the northern called the Coleroon, and the southern retaining the name of Cauvery. The stream is very low in the early part of summer, but in the beginning of June the annual inundation raises the water to such a volume as to fill all the tanks and canals for irrigation, and render the river a vast torrent miles wide. From this state it gradually falls during the rest of the year. The soil is very fertile, but as the climate is hot and dry, it depends much for its moisture on the rivers and canals. Rice, millet, maize, and cotton are the chief crops raised in the district. Sugar-canes and tobacco are also grown; and there are some plantations of cocoa-nut tree. Cotton cloth, indigo, and nitre, are exported; glue, oil, pepper, &c., imported. Pop. 709,196.

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 stonite 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 Calland. Pop. estimated at 30,000, exclusive of the military.