14 FOOTE: GEOLOGY OF THE BELLARY DISTRICT. 



extensions. These too have been utterly denuded of their normal 

 covering of forest. The most striking feature of the whole taluq, and 

 indeed of the whole district, is its extreme treelessness. Excepting 

 in topes and gardens around towns and villages trees are but rarely 

 visible, and this is most markedly .the case over the great black 

 cotton soil tiacts. 



As a rule, without any important exceptions, the foot of every im- 

 portant hill is surrounded by a belt of red soil of variable width, but 

 in general proportionate to the size of the hill. In some apparent 

 exceptions to this rule a close examination of the neighbourhood 

 will show that this has been effected by wet cultivation, whether in 

 former time or by cultivation still in progress. 



The description of Bellary taluq applies very closely to the Alur 



taluq, the latter consisting of a wide plain di- 

 Alur Taluq. . , , . r 



vided in the centre by a group of hills, the main 



axis of which runs north-west to south-east. The watershed be- 

 tween the Haggari and the Hindri (a small river flowing into the 

 Tungabhadra at Karnul town) is formed by the high regur-covered 

 tract on the eastern side of the taluq. A few square miles only drain 

 eastward into the Hindri, but the southern and western sides are 

 drained into the Haggari and the northern side into the Tungabhadra 

 through the Kariji Vanka. Alur taluq is as treeless, as a rule, as 

 Bellary taluq, if not more so, thanks to the folly of the people, The 

 greater part of the taluq is occupied by cotton soil. 



Adoni or Adwani taluq, which includes the old Nagaldinni taluq, 

 as well as the Adoni taluq proper, has a very 



Adoni Taluq. . . J 



hilly centre, but is fiat on the west, north, and 



north-east sides. The centre and south-east part of the taluq is 



almost entirely covered with red soil in its sandy or loamy varieties. 



The western and northern sides of the taluq consist on the contrary 



of cotton soil (regur) in typical treeless plains of great extent. 



To turn southward again, Raya Drug taluq is mainly flat ; the 



northern half of the taluq is entirely so, only 

 Raya Drug Taluq. , . , ,, . 



two or three unimportant hillocks standing out 

 ( 14 ) 



