Page:A descriptive and historical account of the Godavery District in the presidency of Madras (IA descriptivehisto00morrrich).pdf/20

 2 THE GODAVERY DISTRICT,

particularly near the coast, The north is mountainous, The hills, which commence near the coast in the north-east, and extend along thé whole northern frontier of the District proper, are very unhealthy. The highest point is to the west of the magnificent gorge through which the Godavery enters ihe District. It is called Papi-konda by the natives, and the Bison Range by the English. Its elevation is 4200 feet. The scenery of these mountains, particularly in the neighbourhood of the river, where the charm of water is added to the beauty of mountain and forest, is exceed- ingly picturesque. The sides of the mountains are clothed with luxuriant forests of teak, interspersed with bamboo and a thick undergrowth of forest shrubs.

The river Godavery rises at Trimbak, a village about sixteen tiles west of Nasik, and about fifty miles from the sea. The place which is traditionally regarded as the source of the river is on a hill behind the village. It is approached by a flight of 690 stone steps, flanked by a low stone wall. At the top of these steps is a stone platform built at the foot of the rock, out of which, drop by drop, issues the water of the stream, and an image under a canopy has been so placed that the water trickles through its mouth into a reservoir. *

After loaving Nasik, the Godavery flows in an easterly direction, slightly declining towards the south, until, after it has completed a course of 659 miles, it receives, at Sironcha, the noble aftluents, the Wardhs, the Painganga, and the Wainganga, united in the single stream called the Pranhita. The remaining course of the Godavery to the sea is 200 miles, and before it enters this District it receives on the left two more considcrable affluents, namely, the Indravati and the Sabari. The following account of the course of the river from the Falls of the Wardh4 to the gorge is taken from a deserip- tion by Sir Richard Temple, who was formerly Chief Commissioner of the Central Provinces :—

«Starting from the Falls of the Wardh4 near Hinganghat, the voyager would sce on the right hand the wild hilly country of the Nizam’s dominions, and on the left, or British side, a broad level yalley covered with cultivation. Further down the river, past the junction of the Painganga, as tho third or upper barricr is approached, the rich valley on the left becomes narrower and narrower, moro


 * Madras Chureh Miseionary Record for March 1873,

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