BY W. KING,, ESQ. 



77 



and its adaptability as a small sanatarium for the residents 

 ofKurnool and the district; these being, as far as I can 

 see, the present main ways of turning the mountains 

 to account. 



The last Report of the Conservator of Forests shews that 

 the forests are worked considerably for timber, and may be 

 made much more productive, while there is a large surplus 

 revenue to the credit of the department ; and with such an 

 immense area of country to the westward (where there is 

 scarcely any timber) needing wood more or less for its many 

 requirements (the railway more especially), there is little 

 doubt but that the forest land, with very little more expen- 

 diture and care, may be made much more valuable. 



The desirability of a sanatarium is not a matter of such 

 great importance now that the hill-stations of Southern India 

 are more within reach of Kurnool through the gradual ap- 

 proach of the railway ; but there will still be some people 

 who are necessarily left during thehot weather in the station 

 or district, and.it is for these that a few bungalows with their 

 gardens, perched upon the mountain scarp opposite Yella- 

 gode, would be very pleasant places of retreat. 



Cummum and the Yellagode Cunnama. 



Mr. Foote and I made our first expedition into these 

 mountains from Cummum on the east side, by the Bolapilly 

 valley in December 1865. Cummum is famous for its 

 splendid tank, an extensive spread of water dammed in 

 behind one of the outlying ridges of the Nullamallays. 

 This ridge has two narrow rifts or passes in it, through 

 one of which the Cummum river used to flow; but across 

 these, and especially across the river'pass, great bunds have 

 been built. The calingula is built in the smaller ravine. When 

 we were therein December, the waters were getting low, but 

 even under this disadvantage the tank with its low hilly 



