embankments breached and serious inundations were caused. Most of them have been raised since 1900. Drainage, though Other not so burning a question as in the Tanjore delta, is a matter of great difficulty near the coast, where the fall of the land is very gradual. Large tracts there are liable to be flooded by a heavy north-east monsoon.
As above remarked, the district contains 31,800 acres protected in all seasons by minor channels and tanks, and 53,800 acres safeguarded in ordinary seasons. Of this extent, the greater part lies in Rajahmundry (20,300 and 27,300 acres respectively) and Peddápuram (18,400 acres in ordinary seasons). In Pólavaram, Cocanada and Bhadráchalam only 2,800 acres, 1,300 acres and 100 acres respectively are protected by these sources in all seasons, and in ordinary seasons 2,800 acres in Yellavaram, 100 acres in Chódavaram and an additional 1,700 acres in Pólavaram. Tanks occur in all these tracts. The largest in the district is at Lingamparti in Peddápuram taluk, which irrigates 4,686 acres. Other considerable reservoirs are the Kottapalli tank (970 acres), the Kápavaram tank (823 acres), and the Ganapavaram tank (686 acres), all in Rajahmundry. The only considerable minor channels are those from the Yeléru, which irrigate some 8,000 acres in Peddápuram taluk and a further extent in the Pithápuram zamindari. A small area in Peddápuram is also irrigated from the Ravutulapúdi stream.
Irrigation from wells is very rare in the uplands and the Agency, and the only taluk in the district in which over 100 acres is so watered is Amalápuram. Cheap temporary wells are sunk in small numbers in parts of Peddápuram, Tuni, Cocanada and Rámachandrapuram. In the two latter they are only used for about two months in each year, average 12 feet in depth, and hold some six feet of water. In Cocanada they are called doruvu wells. In Tuni they last much longer and more labour is expended on them. On the Yalésvaram river shallow wells are dug which last for five or six years. It is only in Nagaram and Amalápuram taluks that permanent revetted wells are found. They are very large, from 18 to 24 feet deep, hold from six to twelve feet of water, are revetted with bricks and are said to be very ancient. They are sometimes called 'Jain' wells, and are supposed to date from the days when the Jain faith prevailed in the country;1[1] in Amalápuram they are sometimes called 'Reddis' wells.' They are largely used for the irrigation of areca and cocoanut palm plantations, and the supply in them is said to be practically perennial. The ordinary water-lift employed in the
- ↑ 1 See Chapter III, p, 39.
