310 Iiiier Dunes on the lavks of flic Hogrfaud Pvnnaur. | Arnii 



of five fcot. In order to prevent lln^ lecurronco of surli a (lisa^^tcr, llit* 

 villagers allow the intervening babuf, and other trees to grow, \vhi( li 

 they were formerly in the hahit of cntting down. The present distanc e 

 between the ne;)vest sand-hill and the village d:>cs not exeeod more than 

 400 yards. In the memory of the oldest ivilive of tlu^ spot, the sand 

 was confined to the immediate vicinity of the river hanks: Ik^ attributes 

 its advance to the cutting down of the jungle, and the comparatively 

 dry seasons that have since }>revailed. 



The village of Bodnrti, in the Conignl district, about three koss 

 Iience, was totally overwhelmed about 10 or I2 years ago- I visited the 

 site of this village, and found it, with the exception of a foot or two of 

 the old walls rising above the sand, completely buried under a large 

 dune. The expelled inhabitants have built another village, not far from 

 the site of its predecessor, whose name it now bears. I have met with 

 sand dunes on the banks of the Pennaur in the Cuddapah district, and 

 liave ridden over the remains of an old village and pagoda, in the vici- 

 nity of Jummnlmudgoo, now completely covered by the sand. They 

 occur also on the Malabar Coast, and contribute greatly to the formation 

 of those singular lakes of sea and fresli-water, termed back waters. 

 These sand hills resemble the dunes extending from the mouth of the 

 Garonne to the district of Bayonne, described by De la Beche, blown up 

 by the westerly winds, and preventing the drainage of the country, and 

 forming marshes in their rear. It would be worth while to examine the 

 deposit now forming in the Malabar back-waters. In those of the Ga- 

 ronne are often found alternations of marine, fresh-water and terrestrial 

 deposits. 



