Page:A descriptive and historical account of the Godavery District in the presidency of Madras (IA descriptivehisto00morrrich).pdf/23

 GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE DISTRICT, 5

When it enters the plain, the river widens. It passes the large villages of Dévipatnam and Purushottapatnam on the left bank, and Pélavaram and Giitdla on the right. Before reaching Gutala, it passes round the picturesque island of PAta-Patesham, on which there is a Hindu temple situated on a craggy hill, whither hundreds of pilgrims flock at the annual festival in the month of February. Here, and in the whole of its future downward course, the rapid stream continually forms new islands or modifies old ones; and these constant changes are the fruitful source of litigation between the riparian proprietors, Tho friction of the water, which every year, during the freshes, brings down in its course the most fertilis- ing alluvial soil, renders these islands exceedingly fruitful, the tobacco for which this District is noted being the crop most commonly grown, Tt has received the name of “Lanka tobacco,” from the word lanka, whieh signifies “an island.” Many of these islands are covered in December and January with the reflz or flowering reed, which, when its wavy white flowers bend before the breeze, is as beautiful as a ficld of ripened wheat. As the river draws near Rajahmundry, it presses against the right bank, which is, in many places, cut down precipitously by the action of the stream, and Télapadi, and other villages, which used to be a little distance from the river, are now on the very verge of the bank. Passing Rajahmundry on the left bank— where the court-house, the judge's residence, the great pagoda, and the houses in the western part of the town, with tho hills in the distance, form a charming scene—it is barred at Dowlaishweram by the celebrated Annicnt, by which the water is kept back during the dry season, and distributed in every direction throughout the delta by innumerable watercourses and canals.

At Dowlaishweram the Godavery is divided into two large streams—the eastern, flowing past Yanam and Nilapalli, and falling into the Bay of Bengal near Capo Gordeware or Godavery; and the western, flowing nearly due south, and entering the bay at Point Nursapore. A few miles above this mouth another large branch separates from the river, and fulls into the bay near Bendamurlanka, forming the island of Nagaram. The three early English factories, Injaram, Bendamirlanka, and Madapollam, were situated near these three prineipal mouths of the Godavery. The rich delta was formerly known by the name of Kéna Shima. The Hindus say that there -are seven branches by which the river debouches into the sea, the principal of which are the Gautami, the Vriddha �