known officially as the North-east line of the Madras Railway. It enters the district from the south at Rajahmundry over a fine bridge across the Gódávari, and, skirting the north- western edge of the delta, finally runs from Samalkot parallel with the coast till it passes out of the district at Tuni. From Samalkot a branch runs to Cocanada, the inhabitants of which have always protested vigorously against the chief commercial centre on the section being thus left off the main line. The bridge over the Gódávari at Rajahmundry is one of the finest in the Presidency. It is built of steel girders laid on masonry piers which are sunk from 48 to as much as 100 feet below low water level and stand over 44 feet above that level. It has a total length of no less than 9,000 feet, or over 1½ miles, between abutments, and consists of 56 spans of 150 feet each. It was opened to goods traffic in 1900. The railway was opened from Rajahmundry to Waltair (in the Vizagapatam district) in 1893 and the Cocanada branch in the same year.
In 1904 there were altogether IIO travellers' bungalows in the district, of which 79 were maintained from local funds, 21 by the Forest department, and ten by the Public Works department. A detailed list is given in the separate Appendix. Of the local fund bungalows, nine were in Bhadráchalam taluk, and, since the Local Boards Act has been recently withdrawn from operation in that tract, are now managed by the Revenue department. Those maintained by the Forest department are designed primarily for the use of its own officers, but are also available for private individuals on payment of fees. Nineteen of them are in Bhadráchalam. That taluk contains 29 rest-houses in all, and Chódavaram eleven. These buildings are necessarily numerous in the Agency, where only short marches are possible and tents can only be carried with difficulty. Tuni and Pithápuram divisions only contain three and four bungalows respectively. The accommodation in the travellers' bungalows ranges from furnished and terraced buildings to empty thatched sheds, the latter predominating. With a few exceptions, the local fund bungalows are of an inferior type.
There are eight endowed chattrams under the management of the local boards, six of which have considerable incomes. Their total annual revenues are some Rs. 18,000. They were all bequeathed by private individuals to the taluk boards. The largest is the Nallacheruvu choultry in Peddápuram taluk, the income of which is Rs. 5,500. There, and at two other large institutions at Peddápuram and Kottipudi, people of all
