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Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 11, p. 5.

PHYSICAL ASPECTS 5 in almost solitary grandeur, like Ambatebetta near Virarajendrapet, Bittangala, Kundadabetta, Siddesvarabetta, and Maukalbetta, others subsiding into the undulating slopes of the eastern elevations, enclos- ing innumerable rice-fields, some of which are the most extensive in Coorg. The Bengunad range also extends eastwards in two ridges south of Mercara. One culminates in the pointed peak of Nurokkal- betta, the other takes a zigzag line towards Fraserpet, its highest point being Kallurbetta, clothed with teak forest. From Kotebetta northwards run the Santhalli hills, terminating in the bluff Mukribetta. From the northern frontier a range runs south to the Cauvery, in which are the fine conical peak of Malambi (4,488 feet) and the Kanagalu hill. The chief river of Coorg is the Cauvery, which rises at Tale-Kaveri in Brahmagiri in the Western Ghats. It flows east-by-south across the country to Siddapur. From here it turns north-by-east and forms the eastern frontier as far as Sirangal, where it diverges into Mysore. Its important tributaries, the Hemavati and Lakshmantirtha, drain respectively the north and south of the country. The Hemavati forms the extreme northern boundary between Coorg and Mysore, and runs east into the latter. The Lakshmant rtha rises in the Brahmagiri hills on the southern frontier, and runs north-east through Kiggatnad into Mysore. Within Coorg the Cauvery receives from the south the Kakkabe from Tadiandamol, the Kadanurhole in Beppunad, and the Kummehole in Yedenalknad; from the north the Muttarmudi, which collects the drainage south of the Mercara ridge, and the Chikkahole, that of Horur-Nurokkalnad. North of Fraserpet it receives from the west the Hatti or Harangi, into which fall the streams that drain the north-west: namely, the Kakkehole from Somvarpet, the Choranhole from Santhalli, and the Madapur and the Hattehole from Kotebetta. The only important stream flowing to the west is the Barapole in the south-west, which descends to Malabar. Another, called the Sarat, is said to form falls with a clear drop of 434 feet. During the monsoon months (June, July, and August) the rivers are generally in full flood, and can be crossed only with the aid of ferry-boats. After the monsoon they fall rapidly, and during the hot season are fordable on foot. They are not navigable, and are little used for irrigation, which is rendered unnecessary by the copious rainfall and the multitude of small rivulets rising in the wooded ravines. There are no lakes, nor any tank of important size, but some tanks exist in the Nanjarajpatna taluk. In Kiggatnad the streams in certain places form, during the rains, considerable sheets of water called kolli. In the hot season these dry up, leaving only a few pools here and there. The Coorg mountains consist of the metamorphic class of rocks gneiss, syenite, and mica schist. Near Mercara is found clay-slate or