ALLUVIAL DEPOSITS. 95 



the south-west or north-east monsoon may be prevailing. The mouth 

 of the Masulipatam river is now quite different from what is shown in 

 Atlas-sheet 95, edition of 1828. A long spit has been formed which 

 has thrown the bar much further to the north. 



In the region round the mouth of the Gundlakamma river, traces 

 of marine beds were noted at considerable distances inland at three 

 places : to the east of Uppu Gundur ; also at Vinnawaddaroydipalem, on 

 the north bank of the river, where subfossil marine shells are found in a 

 clay bed about 4 miles inland ; and at Biramgunta, on the south side of 

 the river, where similar subfossils occur at a distance of 3 miles from the 

 sea. The sandy character of the sea board holds good generally down the 

 coast as far south as Ramapatam. 



To turn to the fresh-water alluvia : they are all of river origin in 



this part of India, and represent largely the char- 

 Fresh water alluvia. . 



acter or the soil prevalent in the several hydrolo- 



gical basins. Thus the alluvium of the Kistna, which flows through enor- 

 mous tracts of cotton soil in the Deccan, consists 

 Characters of alluvia 

 of different rivers : of the mainly of washed-up regur. Gritty sand and sands 



are comparatively rare. The Gundlakamma allu- 

 vium is chiefly sandy, and the alluvia of the other small rivers to the south 

 of it are variable, according to the diversified tracts they have drained. 

 The alluvial basin of the Gundlakamma is the most interesting of the 



smaller ones. The river has changed its course 

 Of the Gundlakamma. 



near its mouth, and flows mainly through the 



southern arm which flows past Gundiapalem, and was an unimportant 

 branch when the trigonometrical survey was made. The northern or 

 Pedda Devarampadu branch, then the main stream, is now nearly aban- 

 doned and fast silting up. 



A singular mistake occurs in the old Atlas-sheet 76 in connection 

 with the Gundlakamma valley, a couple of hills being shown close to 

 the river, near the crossing of the road from Ongole to Ammanabrolu. 

 These hills have no real existence ; their site is a perfect flat, covered with 

 reddish-sandy loam. 



( 95 ) 



