Two long mountain ranges, the Nallamalais and the Yellamalais, extend in parallel lines, north and south, through the centre of the district. The principal heights of the Nallamalai range are Biranikonda (3149 feet∖ Gundlabrâhmeswaram (3055 feet), and Durugapukonda (3086 feet). The Yellamalai is a low range, generally flat-topped with scarped sides; the highest point is about 2000 feet. Several low ridges run parallel to the Nallamalais, broken here and there by gorges, through which mountain streams take their course. Several of these gaps were dammed across under native rule, and tanks formed for purposes of cultivation. One of these is the magnificent Cumbum Tank, closed in by a dam across the Gundlakamma river. It covers an area of nearly 15 square miles. The principal rivers are the Tungabhadra and Kistna, which bound the district on the north. When in flood, the Tungabhadra averages 900 yards broad and 15 feet deep. In 1860 an anient or weir was built across the river at Sunkesala, 18 miles above Karmll town, and a canal dug for irrigation and navigation. The Kistna flows here chiefly through uninhabited jungles, sometimes in long smooth reaches, with intervening shingly rapids. The Bhavanâsi rises on the Nallamalais, and falls into the Kistna at Sun-gameswaram, a place of pilgrimage. Below their junction is a whirlpool which is regarded as holy by the native pilgrims. There are three recognized forest divisions in the district—the Nallamalai, the Vellikonda, and the Yellamalai. The first two are conserved by the forest department. The chief timber-trees are teak and yepi, In the northern parts, where the jungle is poor, there are extensive level grassy lands, which afford pasture to numerous herds of cattle. The jungle products consist of gall-nuts, honey, wax, tamarinds, stick-lac, and bamboo rice. Tigers are numerous in the Nallamalais, and commit great havoc among the herds of cattle pastured in the jungles. The other animals include cheetahs, wolves, hyaenas, foxes, bears, spotted deer, wild goats, several varieties of antelopes, bison, porcupines, and pigs.

The population in 1871 numbered 914,432, of whom 819,453 were Hindus, 60,579 Mohammedans, and about 3844 Christians, chiefly Roman Catholics, whose principal station is at Polur. The Catholics originally belonged to the Kapu caste, and their conversion to Christianity has not made any material change in their manners and customs. They eat and drink with Hindus, and in several cases intermarry with them. The Protestant converts are almost entirely low-caste natives in rural tracts. The wild tribes or Chenchus live on the Nallamalais in small communities called gudems. Each gudern includes several tribes, and has a portion of the hills allotted to it by common consent. The Chenchus are unwilling to cultivate, but are sometimes employed by the villagers in the plains to watch their fields during the harvest, and some of them are employed as road watchmen. During the hill festival they collect fees from pilgrims. Some of them also enjoy free lands for guarding the jungles. The principal towns are Karnτil (population in 1871, 25,579), Nandial (9378), Cumbum (7137), Gιidur (5825), Meddikera (8586), Kodumur (6064), and Paikali (5076).

The chief crops are rice, wheat, and other cereals, gram, cotton, tobacco, indigo, sugar-cane, betel, chillies, &c. The staple of the district is cholam {Sorghum vulgare). The total area under cultivation in 1877 was 2,089,689 acres, area uncultivated but capable of cultivation 1,017,389 acres, and uncultivable waste 1,396,602 acres. There is not much waste land in the plains, but there is a good deal in the Nallamalais, which was cultivated in ancient times, but is now overgrown with jungle. The main canal of the Madras Irrigation Company, intended for both irrigation and navigation, runs 142 miles within Karmil; the extent actually irrigated in 1875-76 was 10,479 acres. Both Karmil and the neighbouring district of Bellary suffer from droughts at periodic intervals; and, the mass of the population being small landowners, with no reserve capital, the failure of a single monsoon involves general distress; 1804, 1810, 1824, 1833, 1854, 1866, and 1876 were all years of drought and consequent scarcity. In the famine of 1876-77 nearly £600,000 was spent on relief works, yet the number of deaths recorded from 1st October 1876 to 30th June 1877 was 48,000, as compared with 19,974 in the corresponding period of the previous year. The chief manufacture in Karnul is weaving. Iron is worked at the foot of the Nallamalais. Of late years this industry has greatly diminished, native iron being superseded for agricultural implements by imported iron. Diamond mines have been worked from early times in the quartzite beds of the Yellamalai hills, which are now rented out by Government for about £20 a year. Quarrying stones is an important industry. Indigo and sugar are also manufactured. Weekly markets are held in most of the towns and important villages. There is little or no export of grain. Salt is imported from the eastern coast, but earth salt is largely manufactured. Cotton, indigo, tobacco, and hides, with cotton carpets and cotton cloth, arc the chief exports. European piece goods, areca-nut, cocoa-nut, and various dry condiments required for native households_are the chief imports. The total net revenue of the district in 1870-71 was £196,468, the total civil expenditure £46,998; the land revenue was £135,929. Education is backward, only 4 per cent, of the population in 1871 being returned as able to read and write. In 1875 there were altogether 263 schools, with 5781 pupils. The climate is on the whole healthy. The prevailing ν' 6 wes ^ an ^ nor ^h^ eas b and the mean temperature is about 85 Fahr. the total annual rainfall is about 35 inches. In the villages along the foot of the Nallamalais, a severe type of fever prevails, accompanied by enlargement of the spleen.

Karnül, the headquarters of the above district, in 15 49 58 N. lat. and 78° 5 ’ 29" E. long., had a population in 1871 of 25,579. It is a hot unpleasant town, built on rocky soil at the junction of the Hindri and Tungabhadra rivers. The old Hindu fort was levelled in 1865, with the exception of one of the gates, which was preserved as a specimen of ancient architecture, and in some measure restored. In the famine of 1877-78 Karmil and the surrounding country suffered terribly, owing to their isolated position. The nearest railway station is Gooty, 80 miles distant; and it was only by extraordinary efforts that food was conveyed to the town. The population is half Hindu and half Moslem, this unusual proportion marking the long rule of the Pathân nawâbs.