disposed of it to its present owners, the Vizianagram family. The latter was given by him to his daughter, the mother of the present zamindar, as her dowry, and is still in her enjoyment.
In the next two years further arrears accrued, but the Collector found that they were being purposely permitted so that the property might be bought up in small bits by the relations of the zamindar's second (and favourite) wife to the detriment of his heir Jagannátha Mallappa Rázu, a son by the first wife whom he bitterly disliked. In 1869, therefore, the estate was again taken under management for five years. In 1875 Kotikapenta, which had been sold by the courts 1[1] and bought by Kákarlapudi Nílayamma, was registered as a separate estate. It also was afterwards purchased by the Mahárája of Vizianagram. In 1879 Dattivalasa and Márlavalasa were similarly sold 2[2] to the same lady and eventually bought from her by the Mahárája.
In 1880 the zamindar Annam Rázu died and was succeeded by Pedda Mallappa, the elder son of his second wife, who died in June 19U6 and was followed by his eldest son Lakshmi Narasimha Rúpa. The property was again in arrears and was again attached. The new incumbent was urged to enquire into the extravagant alienations made by his predecessors and to put the estate on a sound footing by resuming as many as possible, but instead of doing so he took to raising money by alienating afresh a number of villages which had already been parted with, and thus leaving the ryots at the mercy of two or more claimants to their assessments. The lawless oppression of these mokhásadars has necessitated on more than one occasion the intervention of the authorities; vetti, or forced labour, is still commonly exacted; and recently the zamindar attempted arbitrarily to double his assessments, with the result that a number of the ryots emigrated to the Nandapuram country of the Jeypore estate.
In 1905 the zamindar asked Government to treat him as an incapacitated proprietor and take the estate under their management, but the insolvent state of the property rendered this step inadvisable. The Mahárája of Bobbili holds a decree for some 3¼ lakhs against the property and the civil courts have ordered its sale. Four villages, including the head-quarters Páchipenta, have already been sold and bought by the zamindar of Tuni, and others must also be brought to the hammer at an early date.
Sálúr, the head-quarters of the taluk, is a union of 16,239 inhabitants situated 570 feet above the sea on the bank of the Végavati, five miles from the foot of the Pottangi ghát. It
