The Land of the Permauls or Cochin: Its Past and Its Present

This book, originally published in 1863, provides the comprehensive information about Cochin. The eighteen chapters describe its history, legends, people, politics, commerce and produce, flora and fauna, foreign?settlements,?wars,?customs?and?so?forth. It is a remarkable description of Cochin in the mid-nineteenth century. The author, a surgeon and medical officer to the government of the Rajah of Cochin, provides a number of detailed chapters on the fauna of the?state. Both H.H. the Rajah of Cochin, and S. Menone, the Dewan, provided information on many subjects connected with the native State. Assistance was also received from General Cullen, who for nearly twenty years was the Resident, and intimately acquainted with the people,?their?manners,?customs,?and?laws?of?the?State. About the Author Francis Day (1829-1889), was an army surgeon and naturalist, who later became the Inspector-General of Fisheries in India and Burma. A pioneer ichthyologist, he gave description of more than three hundred varieties of fishes in his The Fishes of India (two-volume series), and was responsible for the introduction of trout culture into the Nilgiri hills.