ABSTRACT
The town of Cochin is a "British Possession," reckoned as an outlying portion of the Malabar District of Madras Presidency; its hinterland is a Native State, presenting in its little area an illustrative epitome of the whole history of civilization. The Trichur factory was pleasantly situated in a shady compound, and was airy and cool, and the workers, who were all Nair women, as scrupulously clean as others of their caste, were a pleasing sight. The State of Cochin forms the central portion of the territory over which the Malayali language and culture predominate, which comprises also the State of Travancore on the south and British Malabar on the north. Cochin is the stronghold of that ancient Indian Church which was founded, according to tradition, by St. Thomas the Doubter, and which must have been nearly as ancient in its origin as his time, since it was represented in a general synod of Christian Churches about a.d. 200.
