INTRODUCTORY. 



19 



is great, but not so great as in the adjoining districts to the east, 



in which the hot, generally westerly, winds attain to a much higher 



temperature. Owing to the dryness of the atmosphere, the heat is to 



most people far less injurious than the lesser but damp heat of the 



coastal districts. 



In the western taluqs the winds hardly attain to a sufficiently 



high temperature to deserve to be called hot 

 Hot winds. . 



winds, but to the eastward of the Sandur hills 



their temperature rises rapidly and by the time they have reached 

 Bellary town they are decidedly hot, but only moderately so as com- 

 pared with the heat attained by the winds passing over Karnul, 

 Northern Cuddapah, and Nellore districts. On the whole Bellary 

 district rejoices in one of the best and healthiest climates in Southern 

 India, and is for nine months in the year very enjoyable. 



The range of temperature in Bellary district is great, as is the case 



all over the Deccan plateau, the nights being 



often very cold and the middle of the days 



very hot. The effect of this on the rocks is very marked in the 



extraordinary amount of fracture they have undergone in places where 



no other external forces could have affected them. 



The range of temperature in Bellary town, from registered ob- 

 servations as given in the District Manual, appears to me much 

 too small, doubtless because based on a very brief series of obser- 

 vations. 



The prevalence of westerly winds has already been pointed out. 

 Prevalence of west- A noteworthy geological proof of this is the 

 erly winds. f act f ^ e accumulations of blown sands raised 



from the generally dry, broad, sandy bed of the Haggari river, all 

 lying on the right or eastern bank of the river. The trees on the 

 summits and most wind-swept ridges of the different hill ranges and 

 groups frequently show a strong tendency to lean to the eastward, 

 though this feature is not nearly so marked in Bellary district as on 

 the high plateaus of the Sahyadri Mountains, or Western Ghats, in 

 the Belgaum country and Southern Kolhapur. 



B2 - (I 9 ) 



