INTRODUCTORY. 17 



ern parts. The right bank of the Tungabhadra is fringed in many 

 places with extensive beds of coarse river shingle lying at levels of 

 from 30 to nearly 100 feet above the present level of the river and 

 much above the levels attained now by even the highest floods. The 

 shingle beds are usually of a pale cinnamon brown or pale raw sienna 

 colour from the great quantity of quartz pebbles they contain. 



Like the greater part of the district, Haddagalli taluq is remark, 

 able for its bare and treeless aspect. 



We come lastly to the Hospet taluq (formerly the Kampli 



(Kumply) taluq), the most central of all and the 

 Hospet Taluq. , .,, _ . , . . J , 



most hilly. It includes the western, north- 

 eastern, and eastern flanks of the Sandur hills and the western flanks 

 of the Sugadevi Betta (Copper Mountain) ridge, while its northern half 

 is occupied by a great triple group of rugged granite gneiss hills lying 

 north of the railway and the Gadiganur Valley. This group includes 

 the Hampi (Vijayanagar) hills at its north-western and the Daroji hills 

 at its south-eastern extremity. The whole group abounds in wild 

 rocky picturesque scenery. The view from the top of Martanga 

 Parvatam, a temple-crowned hill, occupying nearly the centre of the 

 famous old Hindu capital, is one of great but strange beauty : across a 

 perfect maze of wild rocky hills and huge tors to the west, north, and 

 east, while to the south, across a rich undulating plain, rise, wall-like, 

 the Sandur hills, culminating at this end in the bold peak of jambu Nath 

 konda (2,980 feet high). Just a little north of the Martanga hill lies a 

 deep and narrow gorge through which the Tungabhadra now flows 

 northward, while both to the west and east its clear waters flow in a 

 variety of broad or narrow reaches and add greatly to the beauty of 

 the scene. The contrast between the bareness of the block-covered 

 hills and the luxuriant vegetation in the narrow valleys between them 

 is a very striking feature. 



Climate and Meteorology. — Bellary district lies in the " Dry zone," 



of from is to 10 inches of annual rainfall, and in 

 Rainfall. JO 



the hyetographic map, compiled by the Meteo- 

 rological Department, is credited with a mean annual rainfall of 15 

 B ( 17 ) 



