NELLORE. 261 stretching from the base of the Veligonda hills to the sea. Its general aspect is forbidding. The coast-line is uniformly constituted by a fringe of blown sand. Farther inland, the country begins to rise. But the soil is not naturally fertile, and a large area of the District is either a rocky waste or covered with dense scrub jungle ; few fine trees are to be found in the neighbourhood of village sites. Along the western frontier rises a barren range of hills, which throws out numerous spurs into the plain. The highest peaks are Penchalakonda, rising to an elevation of about 3000 feet abore sea-level, and the detached hill or drúg of UDAYAGIRI, which has an elevation of 3079 feet, and is a prominent landmark in the District. A remarkable natural feature is the island of SRIHARIKOTA, a low ridge of sand which divides the LAKE OF PULIKAT from the main sea. Inhabited chiefly by scattered families of the wild tribe of Yanadis, most of it has never been brought under cultivation ; but Jadras city is regularly supplied with fuel from this otherwise unprofitable waste. The chief rivers of Nellore are the PENNER, the SUVARXAMUKHI, and the GUNDLAKAMMA, which all rise in the table-land above the Gháis, and flow east through the District to the sea. The numerous minor streams are little more than mountain torrents, unavailable for irrigation. The Penner runs through the District for a total course of about 70 miles, passing by the town of Nellore. For nine months of the year its bed, which is rocky among the hills but sandy lower down, is almost dry, with deep pools here and there, into which the fish collect. The season of flood (full or partial) lasts altogether for about go days. The chief irrigation work on the Penner is the anicut at Nellore town, from which two main channels, with a system of sub-channels, are led off on the south bank. Another anicut is in course of construction at Sangam, 20 miles west of Nellore town, which will irrigate a large tract of country on the north of the river. The floods of the Suvarnamukhi also supply a series of irrigation channels. Throughout the District generally, the underlying rocks belong to the metamorphic series, which occasionally crops up in the form of gneiss, schist, and quartz, and is intersected by veins of quartz and volcanic rocks. The Eastern Ghats, on the other hand, are capped by a series of sedimentary formation, chiefly altered sandstone and slate, known as the 'Cuddapah Group. Organic remains of fern-like plants have been found in several places. A band of laterite, varying greatly in width, extends almost continuously for several miles inland, and is largely quarried for building material, and for the metal of roads. Copper was discovered in the western hills in 1801. The ore was found on assay to yield a large percentage of metal, and European capital was attracted to the spot. But the enterprise repeatedly prored unsuccessful, and no fresh attempt has been made since 1840.
