GRANITOID AREAS. 33 



seem due to a system of jointing l ; near the middle of the western ridge, 

 which is rather the lower, stands the well known old drug, or hill fort, 

 now an extensive but most picturesque ruin well worthy of a long visit 

 by every lover of grand rock scenery. 



The western slopes of both ridges are much more precipitous than the 

 eastern ones. The highest summit, called Sheikh Adam ka Pahar, after 

 a Mussulman saint whose tomb stands close to the summit, attains the 

 height of 1,680 feet above sea-level. 3 In some of the hollows near the 

 summit there remain a few patches of thick jungle, showing that the 

 present barrenness of the hills is due to human agency, and not to any 

 barrenness of the soil. 



It is noteworthy that the three principal hill fastnesses in this quarter 



have been built on the granitoid hills ) they are 

 Bellam Konda Drug. 



Kondavidu, just described, Bellam Konda, and Rani- 



giri. Of the three, Bellam Konda Drug was much the strongest by posi- 

 tion, as it occupies the whole summit of the mountain, whose flanks are 

 very precipitous. Like Kondavidu it is very picturesque, and commands 

 a most interesting view over the singularly faulted and broken eastern 

 boundary of the Kadapa rocks. If the great northern peak of the 

 Bellamkonda could be made accessible so as to get an unbroken view of 

 the Kadapa boundary up to the Kistna, it would afford to the stratigraphi- 

 cal geologist a panorama worthy of a long pilgrimage. 



Kanigiri Drug is formed by the fortification of the crests of two hi^h 

 ridges enclosing a narrow valley running north-east in its northern, and 

 south-east in its southern half. Very little remains of the old buildings 

 except a couple of gates at the northern and south-western ends, but 

 in olden times it was a place of great note, and the object of a good deal 



1 The time at my disposal was unfortunately so much curtailed hy a serious illness, that 

 I was ohliged to forego the pleasure of climbing to the highest points on the hills, from 

 which alone the real relation of the bedding and jointing on a large scale could be made 

 out. 



2 This is the height according to the measurement made by the officers of the Revenue 

 Survey Department. The old Trigonometrical Survey measurement gave 1,749 feet. 



c ( 33 ) 



