192 FOOTE: GEOLOGY OF THE BELLARY DISTRICT. 



The Kamalapur smelting furnaces work up an ore derived from 



a spur of the Jambanath Konda, which is crossed 

 At Kamalapur. . 



by the lowest of the haematite bands in that part 



of the Sandur synclinal. The ore is soft purple haematite of very 

 fairly rich quality, and yields an iron which is much prized for the 

 manufacture of the large bowl-shaped boilers extensively used for boil- 

 ing the cane-juice derived from the extensive sugarcane crops raised 

 along the valley of the Tungabhadra from near Hospet to below 

 Kampli, wherever the river-fed irrigation channels extend to. Most 

 of the Kamalapur iron goes to make such boilers, the locally made 

 iron-plate being much preferred to imported sheet iron. 



The cost of a boiler 1 1 spans in diameter was in 1886 R120 and it 

 would with fair treatment last five to six years. The boilers are 

 used till worth patching no longer, and many old ones showing a most 

 extensive series of mendings are to be seen lying about disused 

 near the sugar-growing villages. The old iron is never used again 

 by the natives as far as I could ascertain. 



The smelting furnaces were in work when I last visited Kamalapur 

 (in 1886) ; but I did not witness the operation of hammering the 

 refined blooms into sheets. Several boilers I inspected were very 

 creditable pieces of smith's work. 



Kamalapur lies 7 miles north-east by east of Hospet, and close 

 south of the ruins of the famous old Hindu city of Vijayanagar, the 

 capital of the great dynasty of that name. 



The second iron-smelting centre is that of Kannevihalli, a village 



just outside the Oblagandi Canon, or pass, 



the western gorge by which the Narihalla enters 



the Sandur synclinal. The industry is not an important one, and was 



not in an active condition at the time of my visits to the neighbourhood. 



The soft but rich ore here used is a reddish-purple weathered 

 haematite brought down on bullocks' backs from the old iron mine of 

 Adargani, ij mile west of the famous Kumaraswami temple on the 

 south-west plateau (see page 121). Kannevihalli village belongs to 

 Sandur State. 

 ( 192 ) 



