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Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 7, p. 174.

174 BELLARY DISTRICT boards, four are at taluk and one at a deputy-tahsilddr's head-quarters. They have a total accommodation of 95 beds, 57 for males and 38 for females. The Bellary hospital, founded in 1842, with a small endow- ment of Rs. 2,500, has 40 beds. There are also five dispensaries maintained by the boards in certain of the larger villages, and two more by the municipality at Bellary. The total number of cases treated in 1903 was 129,000, of whom 900 were in-patients, and 3,000 operations were performed. 'The total expenditure was Rs. 3i,000. There is a hospital for women at Bellary town, built from subscriptions to the Victoria Memorial Fund, and two others are to be opened shortly at Adoni and Hospet. Vaccination has been efficiently performed in late years. In 1903-4 the number of persons protected was 32 per I,ooo of the population, compared with the average of 30 for the whole Presidency. Vaccination is compulsory in the two municipalities of Bellary and Adoni, but in none of the nineteen Unions. [For further particulars of the District see the Bellary Gazetteer, by W. Francis (1904).] Bellary Subdivision.-Subdivision of Bellary District, Madras, consisting of the BELLARY and RAYADRUG taillks. Bellary Taluk.-Eastern ta/tuk of the District of the same name, Madras, lying between 14° 57′ and 15°44′ N. and 76° 40′ and 77° 10′ E., with an area of 962 square miles. The population in I901 was 193,401, compared with I80,353 in 1891. The taluk contains two towns, BELLARY (population, 58,247), the head-quarters and the capital of the District, and SIRUGUPPA (5,805); and 156 villages. The demand for land revenue and cesses amounted in 1903-4 to Rs. 4,23,000, being the highest in the District. As much as four-fifths of the total area, a higher proportion than in any other taluk, is covered with black cotton soil, the remaining fifth being red land. Except in the extreme south, where it is bounded, and in places broken up, by the spurs of the Copper Mountain, it forms a wide level expanse diversified only by low granite hills. It slopes north and north-eastwards towards the Tunga- bhadra and the Hagari; the Pedda Vanka, one of the streams which carry its drainage into the latter, is of a respectable size. It is the largest, most populous, and best-educated taluk in the District; and it contains the highest proportion of Musalmans, nearly four-fifths of all the Christians, and an unusual number of the few Jains who are found there. More than half the population speak Kanarese, only a fifth speaking Telugu. The land served by the Tungabhadra channels about Siruguppa is the most fertile in the District. Cholaam and korra are the staple crops, but the area under cotton is large and a considerable amount of cambu is grown. The forest area is smaller than in any taduk except Alur, and the rainfall is the lightest in the District.