346 1YALLAMALAIS
which ends in a beautiful waterfall descending into a sacred pool
called Nemaligundam ('peacock pool'). Many other peaks of the
range are between 2,ooo and 3,000 feet above the sea. Geologically,
the rocks of which it is composed belong to what is known as the
Cuddapah system, a series some 20,000 feet in thickness. They
consist of quartzites (and some sandstone), overlaid with slaty forma-
tions which are unfortunately too irregular in cleavage and soft in
texture to be of economic value. The exact stratigraphy of these
rocks was little understood for many years, owing to the difficulty
of geological research in a country which was for the most part
overgrown with forest and ill supplied with roads, but Dr. King
of the Geological Survey eventually unravelled the tangle. A striking
feature of the system is the foldings into which the rocks were forced
by a period of great strain and stress acting from the east. In
some places immense thicknesses have been thrust over westward
and completely inverted.
The Nallamalais contain several plateaux, and more than one
attempt has been made by Europeans to settle upon them; but,
though they are healthy for much of the year, the great scarcity
of water and the prevalence of fever after the rains in June will
probably always render them undesirable places of residence. The
low plateau of SRISAILAM was inhabited in the days of old, and the
remains of ancient towns, forts, temples, reservoirs, and wells testify
to the prosperity of the residents. At present the only people who
live upon the range are the forest tribe of the Chenchus, who dwell
in small clusters of huts dotted about it. They used to subsist largely
on fees paid them by the adjoining villagers for guarding the foot-
paths and tracks across the hills. After the present police force was
organized these fees were less regularly paid ; and the tribe now
lives by breeding cattle and sheep, collecting honey and other products
of the jungle, or serving as watchmen in the forest.
Practically the whole range is covered with unbroken forest, but
except in places on the western slopes, where there is some sand-
stone, little of this is really dense or large. The annual rainfall
is usually less than 40 inches, and the rocks are so deeply fissured
that much of it runs away as soon as it falls. There is thus too
little moisture for the growth of large trees. The characteristic of
the timber on the range is its hardness. Terminalaa, Hardwickia,
Pterocarpus, and Anogeissus are the commonest species. Teak has
been planted but did not flourish. Now that the railway from
Guntakal to Bezwada crosses the range, great quantities of timber,
firewood, and bamboos are carried by it to the neighbouring Districts.
The railway runs along the pass known as the Nandikanama, or
bull pass,' which is so called from a temple to Siva's bull Nandi
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