Nanguneri Taluk, 1908
Nanguneri Taluk, 1908
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Southern taluk of Tinnevelly District, Madras, lying between 8° 9' and 8° 38' N. and 77° 24' and 77° 55' E., with an area of 730 square miles. It is the least thickly peopled taluk in the District, having a population of 202,528 in 1901, compared with 1 74,418 in 1891, the density being only 280 persons per square mile. But though this is much below the average in Tinnevelly, it is above that for the Presidency as a whole. There are only two towns, Nan- guneri (population, 6,580), the head-quarters, and Vadakku Vallivur (6,903), both situated on the trunk road between Tinnevelly town and 'I'rivandrum. The number of villages is 231. The demand for land revenue and cesses in 1903-4 amounted to Rs. 3,65,000. The taluk is composed of red clay, loams, and sands, excepting a strip parallel with the sea and extending from 3 to 10 miles inland, where white sand and teri (blown sand) tracts prevail. Palmyra palms abound throughout, and in the east and south are almost the sole means of support of the inhabitants. In the north-east and centre are numerous tanks, both rain-fed and supplied by mountain streams, and a very large number of wells are to be found in the south. The villages at the foot of the Western Ghats, which form the western boundary of the taluk , are well supplied during both monsoons with water from that range, which is more picturesque here than elsewhere in the District and is clothed with dense forest to the very top.
