124
and possibly the colour may have resulted from old vegetable organic forms,
long since obliterated. At present the soil does not appear to be noticeable
for any organic forms.
158. In the rainy months the black soil is retentive of moisture. It seems
doubtful, however, whether it fills with water to any great depth below the sur-
face. I am informed that in the construction of bridges, more water-way has
to be allowed in the districts where this soil occurs than elsewhere, and the
inference drawn from the fact by the Railway Engineers is, that the soil does not
readily absorb water. I am not quite sure, however, that this is really the fact.
The average depth of the cotton soil is between two and four feet, and below
the soil there is practically no absorbing medium, for solid rock (the surface
only disintegrating) lies immediately under the soil. My impression is that in
the rainy season, the black cotton soil at average depths is saturated with mois-
ture, and that the cause of the heavy floods after unusual rain is that the rock
underneath the black cotton soil is practically non-absorbent. When the surface
soil is saturated, the excess of water must be discharged in floods.
Prevalence of Mala-
ria during desiccation
of soil.
159. The drying up of the soil after the seasonal rains is a slow process, and
the period of the year in which it occurs is always marked by
an accession of malarious fevers. Since 1866, a year of heavier
rain-fall than ordinary, there has been an excessive development of fever in the
Ceded Districts. The mortality from fever however began to diminish in 1870.
The people of the cotton soil districts suffer a good deal from fever in the cold
weather; guinea-worm is a common disease, and occasionally the " fungus
disease" of the foot, (of Carter) is seen in the Bellary and Cuddapah Districts.
160. The potable water of the district generally is precarious in quantity,
and much of it probably of doubtful quality. The wells sunk in rock, or decom-
posed rock, often fail in the dry weather, and the water obtained from them is
hard, though tolerably free of organic constituents. During and after the rainy
season much water of the surface drainage falls into shallow pools and tanks,
which are a good deal resorted to by the poorer people; and judging from the
appearance and taste of such water, it must often be very unfitted for use.
These surface waters, as they begin to evaporate, leave a residue of saline
Water-supply of cot-
ton soil districts.
inflorescence, carbonates of soda, magnesia, and chloride
of sodium,* while they all hold alumina in suspension. The
water of a new well at the Railway Station, Raichore, sunk
in decaying granite, was found to be particularly free of putrescent organic
matter, and an examination of specimens of water at Grhooty and Bellary, showed
that the well water was generally free of organic matter. The use of the
impure surface water of the district is doubtless objectionable, though from the
scattered populations of the villages which have wells, the labour and expense
of well-sinking, and the custom of natives to drink from the nearest source, it
is very difficult to see how the use of such water can be prevented. It is quite
easy to understand how, in cholera seasons, the surface collections of water
may become dangerously fouled, so as to aid in the dissemination of the disease.
Agriculture.
161. The culture of the cotton plains is very general. Indeed, it becomes a
source of wonderment in journeying through the country,
where the people come from who till the lands. The traveller
may proceed for miles without coming upon a village, but all the land, where
* Until recently, earth salt was made from certain tracts of soil of the Bellary District.—(W. R.. C.)