As a rule (the appearance of the various taluks is referred to in more detail in Chapter XV) CHAP. I. Hills. the hills in this part of the district are covered with stunted forests ruined by constant felling and burning, while the valleys are open expanses of park-like land cultivated with a little paddy and much dry crop. The forests here and elsewhere are briefly described in Chapter V and the roads and passes in Chapter VII.
The hills on the west of the coastal plain consist of three main plateaus. The 3,000 feet plateau. The highest and largest of these, which is made up of the main line of the Eastern Ghats and runs parallel to the shore of the Bay, is usually known as 'the 3,000 feet plateau.' It sweeps down from the southernmost limit of the wedge-shaped bit of Kalahandi State already mentioned on the north, right through the middle of the district, to the Godavari boundary on the south and is about 110 miles long with an average width of 40 miles. The whole of it is tilted slightly to the west and its eastern edge is boldly marked by a line of the biggest hills in the district and drops sharply to the plains. Between this escarpment and the low country proper, however, often intervene range behind range of lower foot-hills, hidden among which are secluded valleys of all sizes and shapes, cut off from the outer world except for rough tracks across the passes, but inhabited and cultivated. Viewed from the plains, these outer hills lend the main plateau a charm which is lacking in ranges not thus attended. It does not stand boldly forth to be appraised at a single glance; only its higher peaks can be seen, peering over the shoulders of their lesser vanguard and across the mysterious-looking valleys which divide the ranks of this latter.
Except a narrow strip on its high eastern side which falls away to the plains, the whole of this 3,000 feet plateau drains westwards into the basin of the Godavari through the Indravati, Kolab,Macheru and other tributaries of that great river. Some description of the plateau will be found in the accounts in Chapter XV of the various taluks of which it is made up, and it is sufficient to say here that it consists of a table-land of red soil profusely scattered with hundreds of little red hills of remarkable similarity of appearance. In the north, the hills and valleys have long since been denuded of almost all their forest and cultivated, but in the south, especially in the Golgonda taluk, all but the tops of the hills are still covered with heavy forest.
According to the maps, the highest point on this plateau (and
therefore in the district) is Deomali hill, seven miles due north of Pottangi and on the edge of the eastern scarp, which is 5,470 feet