INTRODUCTORY. 3 



cliiefly within the southern and central talukas of the Kaladgi Col- 

 lectorate,* but extends southward into the northern part of the Dharwar 

 district. Between the Kaladgi and Belgaum Collectorates lie the^small 

 Mahratta States of Jamkhandi, Mudholf and Ram Durg, and the Kolha- 

 pur Jaghir of Torgal. The Belgaum Collectorate, which encloses detached 

 portions of the Sangli and Kurundwad States, together with the southern 

 part of the Kolhapur State, occupies the area westward to the edge of 

 the Ghats, below which the State of Sawantwari and the southern part 

 of the Eatnagiri Collectorate extend to the sea. A very narrow strip in 

 the south-west corner appertains to the Portuguese colony of Goa. 



Topographical Features. 

 The hydrological system of the South Mahratta Country is very 

 simple, as almost every part of the country above 

 the Ghdts is drained into the Krishna or its tri- 

 butaries. The actual line of watershed lies, as a rule, close to the edge 

 of the Ghat-scarp and but very rarely bends as much as a mile to the 

 eastward; there are only a few cases above the Ghats in which the 

 drainage is carried by streams flowing westward, and these are of trifling 

 magnitude. The chief of these are the Mahadayi (Maadwee) river, an 

 affluent of the Goa B/iver, the Tilar, a small river a little to the north of 

 the former. The other cases are of small importance, as the drainage 

 area of each stream rising above the scarp is limited to four or five square 

 miles at the outside.f 



The western off'-flow is conveyed into the sea by a number of small 

 rivers, the principal of which, besides the two already named, are in a 

 south to north sequence, the Tirekhol or Pirnim River, the Wurad or 



* The KaMdgi Collectorate was formed in 1864 by uniting the eastern taluks of the 

 old Belgaum district with the northern taluks of the old Sholapur district. 



t Spelt Moodhul in Atlas sheet 41 ; a spelling which is, phonetically, quite incorrect. 



X The other streams rising above the Ghat scarp are the Kunkumbe (Khoonkoombeh) 

 and Chorleh Nullahs, the Talk at Ghat stream, that rising north of Rangna fort, and two or 

 three others of still less importance still further north. 



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