PART 1.] 
Blavford: Scuidstones of the Godavari valley. 
27 
abounding in iron peroxide and probably derived indifferently from the surface of the 
sandstone and of the metamorphics. The blast is obtained from hand bellows of a larger 
size than usual, each worked by one man, two bellows to each furnace, the out-turn from 
each furnace appeared to be considerable, 60 or 70lbs. per diem from sunrise to sunset. It 
is refined by the same men, not sold in the impure state. 
The low rises south of Golapali are covered with the remains of old diggings, said to 
, . „ , have been diamond mines. I could not learn how long 
Old Diamond mines at Golapali. . . “ 
a time has elapsed since the works had been abandoned; 
an old man, at least 60 years of age, told me there had been no mining within his recollec¬ 
tion, and the pits have all fallen in, the whole country being covered over with thick bush 
jungle. The diggings appear not to have been in the sandstone itself, but in the very 
gravelly laterite which rests upon the sandstone, but the surface is so much broken and 
altered by the pits that it is difficult to say. The workings evidently cover a very consi¬ 
derable area, and are part of the old diamond mines of Golconda,* the ancient name of the 
hill range north of the Godavari and the adjoining country. 
Similar low flat topped hills of Kamthis extend across the country north of Ellore, 
becoming gradually less distinct to the eastward. The 
Rocks north of Ellore. , ® " . . , - T , , 
character ot the rocks is precisely the same as near Nuzed. 
South of the low rises, there is a belt, generally three or four miles broad, of undulating 
grounds, very sandy, and evidently derived from the waste of the sandstone, which is pro¬ 
bably but a short distance below the surface. Without closer examination it is difficult to 
say whether the sandstones can be sufficiently traced in this tract to justify the drawing of 
the alluvial boundary to the south of it, but probably they can. Thence to the sea all is 
believed to be flat alluvium. 
The hills scattered over the country north-east of Ellore appear to be a continuation of 
„ the same Kamthis. Hard ferruginous gritty hands are 
Country north-eaat of Elloro. , „ „ , ° ° . ,, 
common, and fragments ol them are conspicuous on the 
surface. In the hills near Kunlacherow, 16 miles north of Ellore, Vertebraria occurs in a 
grey compact hard stone, which appears to he calcareous. 
The hill just south of Tandkalpudl consists of fine hard variegated sandstone, with 
something of the peculiar vitreous character and conchoidal fracture, typical of particular 
bands in the Kamthi beds at Bokhara near Nagpur, the tank of Talaigaon, near Mangii, 
and on Malargar west of Chanda. The dip is to the east and very low, not exceeding 
2° or 3°. 
South-east of this there is much laterite stretching away to the borders of the sandy 
alluvium. As a rule, however, laterite is but poorly developed in this country, and there is 
no well marked belt of it along the edge of the alluvium as is the case to the northward in 
Orissa. 
On the hills east of Ragavapiliram there is a very low south-east or east-south-east dip 
of about 1° or 2°. Twelve miles further to the east-north-east, and north of Gopalapuram, 
the dip is south or south-south-east. The beds seen in the latter locality are very nearly 
the base of the scries, as metamorphics come in just north of them, and amongst the Kamthis 
a dark purplish sandstone of fine texture, highly ferruginous, ielspathic and slightly mica¬ 
ceous is well developed. The same is seen to a considerable extent in the bills to the north¬ 
east near Bimulii, also close to the boundary. On this rock there is often a coating of 
See Voysey, J. A. S. B., 18:33, p. 403; Newbcild, J. Jt. A. S., VII, p. 232. 
