Cochin is situated on the sea-coast, and, according to J. Hamilton Moore, in the latitude of 10° N. but according to observations made on board the Calypso in 9° 57′. In the Malabar language it is called _Cocci_, and obtained that name from a small river which formerly discharged itself there into the sea. In the year 1341, however, when the sea threw up the small island of _Vaypi_ on the north side of Cochin, the waters, which during the rainy season pour down from the Gauts, broke through the banks of the river _Cocci_, and overwhelmed the village of the same name with such violence that it swept it away, and formed in that district a very large river, a lake, and a harbour so spacious that the largest ships can now lie at anchor in safety on the north-east side of Cochin, where the river runs into the sea. In the months of August and September this river commonly washes away the sand hills, which the sea in the months of June and July, when it is most boisterous, throws up at its mouth. At that period nature always exhibits here a most magnificent spectacle, as a violent contest then arises between the sea and the rain water which falls down in torrents from the mountains. If the latter is sufficiently powerful, it forces its way through every thing that opposes it; cleanses its bed, and drives the sand before it into the sea; but if the sea proves victorious, the mouths of the river, the canal, and even the harbour, are choaked up with sand. The sea then overflows its banks, inundates the adjacent country, and, forming in one place an island, and in another a lake obliges the inhabitants to abandon their dwellings, and gives to many districts a totally different appearance. In this manner new towns and harbours gradually arise; and the old ones are so destroyed, that, at the end of four or five centuries, their former site can scarcely be discovered[69].