GAZETTEER
OF THE
GÓDÁVARI DISTRICT.
CHAPTER I.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION.
General description—Chief towns—Etymology of the name—Natural divisions. Hills—The Ghats. Rivers—The Godavari-Its sanctity-Its islands and encroachments—The season of its floods—Its tributaries-The Yeleru. Soils. Geology—Physical changes now in progress. Minerals—Coal—The Gauridevipeta field—Bedadanuru—Gold—Iron-Graphite—Mica-Building stone—Rock-crystals, garnets, sapphires. Climate—Rainfall—Temperature—Wind and weather. Flora. Fauna-Cattle—Buffaloes—Sheep and goats—Cattle-breeding—Feeding methods-Cattle diseases—Cattle fairs—Game—Fish—Native sportsmen.
The Godavari district lies on the north-east coast of the Madras Presidency. CHAP. I.
General description. It has an area of 5,634 square miles and extends from 16° 20' to 18° 4' N. and from 80° 52' to 82^ 36' E. It is bounded on the north-east by Vizagapatam, on the north by the same district and the Bastar State of the Central Provinces, and on the west and south-west by the Godavari river, which separates it from the Nizam's Dominions and Kistna. The district, however, extends across this river at one point to include the Polavaram division. Godavari is roughly triangular in shape, its base being formed by the line of the coast from the western mouth of the Godavari river to the Vizagapatam border, one side by the Godavari river itself,
and the other by the irregular frontier of Vizagapatam and the
Central Provinces.
The district is made up of ten taluks and two deputy tahsildars' divisions; namely, the taluks of Nagaram,1[1] Amalapuram, Ramachandrapuram and Cocanada, which make up the fertile delta of the Godavari river; the upland taluks of
- ↑ 1 Nagaram taluk is also commonly known as the Tatipaka sima ('country') from the village of that name within it, and Amalapuram taluk as the Kona sima ('the end country').
