ABSTRACT
West Coast Indians living in Madras have but a poor opinion of the fish they get there, but to one who has only been accustomed to what passes through Billingsgate it seems excellent—delicious even. When Francis Day, in 1640, persuaded the East India Company to choose Madras as the site of its factory, one of his arguments was that there was a natural harbour capable at all times of taking ships up to fifty tons burden. The Cooum winds through Madras in wide loops. A pleasant road bordering on the grounds of Government House runs along the bank of the Cooum opposite the Gymkhana Club to the next bridge beside the bar, to join the broad road that skirts the shore, the "Marina," a favourite evening resort for the carriage folk. The area between the Cooum and the Adyar contains the ancient trading port of Meliapuram, now called Mylapore.
