'The
Roadstead Of Old Cael (Kayal) Is Still Used By Native Craft When Upon The
Coast And Meeting With South Winds, From Which It Is Sheltered.
The depth
of water is 16 to 14 feet; I fancy years ago it was deeper....
There is a
surf on the bar at the entrance (of the river), but boats go through it at
all times.'
* * * * *
"I am tempted to carry this long account of Kayal a little further, so as
to bring to light the Kolkhoi [[Greek: kolchoi emporion]] of the Greek
merchants, the situation of the older city being nearly identical with
that of the more modern one. Kolkhoi, described by Ptolemy and the
author of the Periplus as an emporium of the pearl-trade, as situated on
the sea-coast to the east of Cape Comorin, and as giving its name to the
Kolkhic Gulf or Gulf of Manaar, has been identified by Lassen with
Keelkarei; but this identification is merely conjectural, founded on
nothing better than a slight apparent resemblance in the names. Lassen
could not have failed to identify Kolkhoi with KORKAI, the mother-city of
Kayal, if he had been acquainted with its existence and claims. Korkai,
properly KOLKAI (the l being changed into r by a modern refinement - it
is still called Kolka in Malayalam), holds an important place in Tamil
traditions, being regarded as the birthplace of the Pandyan Dynasty, the
place where the princes of that race ruled previously to their removal to
Madura.
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