of the Soutftern Mahratta Country. 119 



sometimes an obscure cuboidal form. It may be said, however, 

 to have no distinct structm*e, and merely to form enormous over^ 

 lying masses, which extend over a very large part of the penin- 

 sula of India. 



In some places the clay stone contains numerous small no- 

 dules of clay iron-stone, which seldom exceed the size of a wal- 

 nut. These are picked up by the natives, and are smelted by 

 means of charcoal in a very small rude furnace, blcSrjl b^^the 

 hand-bellows, common all over India, and still used in Europe 

 by the Gypsies. If any profit can be obtained from such^ very 

 rude and tedious process, to what good account might not the 

 rich ores of haematite and magnetic iron be put .'* 



Many of the hills composed of this rock are nearly devoid of 

 vegetation ; their surface being bare and smooth, and of a red or 

 black colour. The soil produced by its disintegration is not 

 very productive ; and so liable is it, in some places, to consolidate, 

 when deprived of its mosture, that, if it be not constantly cul- 

 tivated, it soon becomes hard and bare, and checks all vegetation. 



I have seen no secondary rocks in India above the old red ^nd- 

 stone, except the trap and ferruginous claystone. Dr Adams 

 mentions, that he found rolled pieces of coal in the bed of the 

 Towa river, which falls into the Nerbudda* ; but he did not see 

 the coal in situ ; and the existence of the coal formation, there- 

 fore, in the peninsula of India, still forms an interesting subject 

 of enquiry for future observers. 



Cotton Ground. 



Immense deposites of a black alluvial clay are met with in va- 

 rious parts of India. It is denominated cotton ground, from 

 the circumstance of that plant being always cultivated upon it. 

 It is the rcgur soil of the ryuts. It forms large plains through- 

 out the whole of the Decan ; some of them sufficiendy extensive to 

 bring to mind the descriptions given by travellers of the Pampas 

 of South America, or the Steppes of Russia. 



Its depth extends from two or three to twenty or thirty feet. 

 Its colour is greyish black or brownish black. In many places 

 it is perfectly unmixed with any foreign ingredient. In other 

 instances it contains nodules of calcareous tufa f , agates, calcedo- 



* Vide Memoirs of the Werneriaii Society, vol. iv. p. 61. 



t This substance is well known by the name of Kunkur in India. 



