NALLA MALLA, a chain of mountains, between lat. 14° 43' and 15° 14' N., long. 78° 43' and 78° 58' E., 16 miles broad, which separate the Ceded Districts from the littoral tracts border ing the Bay of Bengal. Twelve passes lead across them. Their highest points are situated between C uranium, in the Cuddapah district, and Amrabad, a Hyderabad town north of the Kistna, and vary in height from 2000 to 3055 feet above the level of the sea. Sandstone breccia is seen in all parts of the Nalla Malls mountains at various depths from the surface. In one instance, at a depth of 50 feet, the upper strata being sandstone, clay slate, and slaty limestone. A stratum of breccia is 2 feet in thickness, and immediately above it lies a stratum of pudding-stone, composed of quartz and hornstone pebbles, cemented by cal careous clay and grains of sand. It is thought likely that this stratum would be found product ive in diamonds, and that the gems found at present in the bed of the Kistna are washed down from these, their native beds, during the rainy season.
At Banaganapilly, about 12 miles west of Nan dial the breccia is found under a compact sand stone rock, differing in no respect from that which is found in other parts of the main range. It is composed of a beautiful mixture of red and yellow jasper, quartz, chalcedony, and hornstone of various colours, cemented together by a quartz paste. It passes into a pudding-stone composed
of rounded pebbles of quartz hornstone, etc. The miners sift and examine the old rubbish of the mines, from an opinion which prevails among them, and which is also common to the searchers for diamonds in Hindustan, and to those on the banks of the Kistna, at Parteala, Malavelly, etc., viz. that the diamond is always growing, and that the chips and small pieces rejected by former searchers actually increase in size, and in process of time become large diamonds. The only rock of this formation in which the diamond is found is the sandstone breccia.
The wild races occupying the hills are the Chenchuar and Yanadi, but the ruins of extensive fortifications, stone wells, pagodas, the Purvut pagoda called Sri Sailam, with tanks and small fortresses, show that the range was formerly largely occupied. It is now very sickly, and wild beasts infest the jungles. The inner valleys contain a large number of lakes, or, as they are termed, Lankas. All these lankas or lakes are connected with fabulous tales. There are five plateaux on these hills. The highest peak is Gundla Brah nneshwaram, 3055 feet above sea-level, said to have been the seat of the great Mimi (Saint) Jamadagni. The four principal passes are the Nandikanarna,. Jotikanama, Ma-ntralamakanama, and Kortikanama.