Page:A descriptive and historical account of the Godavery District in the presidency of Madras (IA descriptivehisto00morrrich).pdf/26

 8 THE GODAVERY DISTRICT,

namely, the Cocanada canal, the Samuleotta canal, the Coringa canal, the Yanam canal, the Mandapéta canal, and the Injaram canal, These are used both for irrigation and navigation. There aro numerous minor irrigation channels, which are branches of the above main canals,

The products of the Taluk are chiefly paddy, Bengal gram, horse gram, green gram, black gram, red gram, gingelly and lamp oil seeds, hemp, coriander, fenugreek, mustard, jonna, eumboo, raggy, tobacco, sugarcane, chillies, onions, garlic, turmeric, yams, country yams, and sweet potatoes.

The soil is of ten different sorts and classes, as follows :—Allu- vial, permanently improved, regur pure (égadi in Telugu, usually called the black cotton soil), regur loamy, regur sandy, red clay, red loamy, ved sandy, arenaceous loamy, and arenaceons sandy,

Most of the Taluk is flat, only a few villages being on high rocky ground.

There are swamps in a few villages. The Gautami branch of the Godayery flows to the south and east of the Taluk, and falls into the sea near a village called Tirtdlamondi in the Taluk of Amalé- param.

Tu the Gautami Godavery there are several islands, usually called in this District lankas, which have been formed by the accumulation of sand and alluvium brought down by the freshes. These lankas are continually changing, some years being fertilised anew by the Godavery freshes ; but sometimes they are completely washed away or covered with sand, and thus rendered unfit for cultivation.

The Taluk is productive and healthy; but in the cold season it is feverish, because almost all the ground lying round the villages is under water. The principal towns of the Taluk, together with their population, aecording to the last census, are entered below.

Toswns. Population. Mandapéta 2 z A 5440 Drdkshérama e ‘ ‘ 2845 Alamiru - DB A 2395 Rémachandrapuram 5 c 2095

There is no special industry in this Taluk. The trade is chiefly in paddy, grain, oil seeds, dc., as well as in cloths manufactured in the �