1836.] 



of the Southern Mahratta Country. 



139 



Gokauk, Padshapore, and into the Kolapore country. Within this 

 tract, however, are many extensive plains of cotton ground. The 

 sandstone hills are invariably in long ranges, the general direction of 

 which appears to be north-west and south-east. Many of the valleys 

 between these ranges possess a soil of pure sand, the debris of the 

 neighbouring hills. The hills are generally bare ; and where they 

 possess a slight covering of soil ; produce only a few stunted shrubs, 

 consisting principally of cacti, mimosas, and the cassia auriculata. 



Another range of hills of much less extent than the sandstone hills, 

 and which could not be included in any of the above divisions, deserves 

 to be noticed in the physical geography of the district. It is called 

 the Kupput-Good-Range. It consists of granite and schists ; and ex- 

 tends from near Guduk, in a south-east direction, as far as the Tum- 

 boodra. Were it not for this range of hills, the cotton ground plains 

 would extend uninterruptedly from the southern extremity of the dis- 

 trict to Gudjunderghur and Konoor. 



Five rivers water this district, viz. the Kistnah, the Tumboodra, 

 the Gutpurba, the Mulpurbah, and the Wurdah. The two first are 

 by far the most considerable, and form the northern and southern 

 boundaries of the district. The three others are reduced to compara- 

 tively small streams in the hot season. They all take their rise in the 

 western gauts. Besides these, there are numerous streams, or nullahs, 

 as they are called, the most considerable of which is the Beyny nullah, 

 which has its source among the hills in the neighbourhood of Mis- 

 erecottah, flows northward through the black plains, and falls into 

 the Mulpurbah. Most of these nullahs are dried up in the hot season. 



These rivers and nullahs, except in the western parts, are devoid of 

 beauty ; being sluggish and muddy. They cut their way through the 

 deep cotton ground, which, in the dry season, forms precipitous banks, 

 deep, black, and bare ; and thus, in many places, the river has more 

 the appearance of a great artificial ditch, than of a natural stream. 

 The banks, which in many places are from twenty to thirty feet deep, 

 are often overflowed during the rains. Nowhere are to be seen the 

 sloping banks covered with verdure, with trees and flowers, which 

 make the river scenery so beautiful in temperate climates. 



Meteorology. — The most opposite climates are met with in different 

 parts of the southern Mahratta country ; for the western parts, towards 

 the gauts, may be reckoned among the wettest parts of the Indian 

 peninsula, and the eastern among the driest. The average quantity 

 of rain in the latter may be reckoned at from 20 to 26 inches ; in the 

 former, a larger quantity than this often falls within one month*. The 

 climate becomes gradually drier as we proceed eastward, from the chain 

 of the western gauts ; and as this chain runs N. NW. and S. SE. We 

 have consequently a drier climate in the northern part of the district, 



* Vide Statistical Report of part of the Southern Mahratta Country, by the late Dr, 

 Marshall,, 



