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Rh again subdivided into clays, loams and sands. The figures sub-joined show the percentage of the assessed area of each of the three taluks which is covered with these different kinds of earths:—

It will be noticed that three-fourths of them consist of red soils and only one-fourth of the richer black earths; that the loams (the most fertile of the subdivisions for wet crops) are not uncommon; that a third of the red land is of the sandy, the least fertile, variety; and that Pálkonda and Sarvasiddhi are far more favoured than Golgonda, in which last nine-tenths of the soil is of the red kinds. This final paint is clearly brought out by the figures of assessment given on p. 100 below, which show that only one-eighth of the assessed dry land in Golgonda is rated at more than Re. 1 per acre and less than one-fourth of the wet land at more than Rs. 4-8-0. The black soil occurs chiefly in the alluvial valleys of the streams and rivers, the higher land being usually red.

Though no accurate figures can be quoted, it may be stated in general terms that (except in these valleys) the prevailing soil of the whole of the plains, of the Párvatipur division, and of the 3,000 feet plateau is red, while on the 2,000 feet plateau beyond it the black soils become commoner. The red earth is often of the most vivid colour and adds not a little, by its contrast with the green trees and crops, to the picturesqueness of the district.

The rainfall in Vizagapatam is referred to in some detail in Climate, Chapter VIII (p. 140) below. The average fall in the plains is 41 inches and in the Agency, which receives more of the south-west monsoon, 57 inches. Jeypore gets as much as 75 inches, while some stations on the coast receive less than 35.