CALICUT, or Kolikod, a seaport town of India on the western coast, in the British district of Malabar and the presidency of Madras, situated about 560 miles S. of Bombay, in 11 15' N. lat. and 75° 52' E. long. The town stands on the sea-shore in a low and unsheltered position; and as there is neither river nor harbour, ships are compelled to anchor in five or six fathoms water, about two or three miles from land. The houses are for the most part built either of sun-dried brick or laterite, and have a tidy appearance. In the quarter of the Moplahs or Mapillas there are several mosques, and the Portuguese quarter possesses a Roman Catholic church One of the largest buildings is the jail, which can accommodate 600 prisoners. The port is frequented by vessels from the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, which return with freights of rice, cocoa-nuts, ginger, cardamoms, sandal-wood, and teak. The weaving of cotton, for which the place was at one time so famous that its name became identified with its calico, is no longer of any importance. Calicut is of considerable antiquity; and about the 7th century it had its population largely increased by the immigration of the Moplahs, a fanatical race of Mahometans from Arabia, who entered enthusiastically into commercial life. It was the first place in India visited by any European navigator, for it was there that Vasco de Gama arrived in May 1498, ten months and two day s after his departure from Lisbon. At that time it was a very flourishing city, and contained several stately buildings, among which was especially mentioned a Brahminical temple, not inferior to the largest monastery in Portugal. In 1509 the Marshal Don Fernando Continho made an unsuccessful attack on the city; and in the following year it was again assailed by ...