118 Dr Christie on the Meteorology^ Geology, S^c. 



the Decan, in Mysore, in the district of Cudapah, and in 

 Orissa.* It is met with also in Ceylon ; and is almost the 

 only rock which occurs in Malacca. •(- 



This rock may be described, generally, as consisting of clay- 

 stone, more or less impregnated with iron, and having a massive, 

 perforated, or cellular structure. It frequently contains, im- 

 bedded in it, small masses of clay, quartz, or ironstone. In its 

 native beds, a short way under the surface, it is so soft that it 

 can be easily cut with a hatchet or spade ; and, when sufficient- 

 ly compact, and not containing imbedded portions of quartz, &c. 

 it is cut into square masses like bricks, and is used as a building 

 stone. Hence Buchanan gave it the name of Laterite ; and its 

 names, in the native languages, are derived from the same cir- 

 cumstance. When these square masses are exposed to the air 

 for some time, they become very hard ; and, when not exposed 

 to constant moisture, they answer admirably as building stones. 

 Most of the handsome Roman Catholic churches at Goa are 

 built of this claystone or laterite. In the principal fronts of 

 these churches it is covered with plaster ; but, in other parts, it 

 is left bare, and completely retains its hardness when exposed 

 to the atmosphere. 



The ferruginous claystone occurs in different parts of the 

 Darwar district ; but principally in the western parts, and on 

 the summits of the Gauts. Scarcely any other rock is seen in 

 the Goa territory, and it extends almost uninterruptedly from 

 Goa to Honoor. It is found resting in different situations, on 

 granite, transition rocks, trap, and sandstone. It is a very 

 curibus and interesting circumstance in regard to the geognos- 

 tical situation of this rock, that it is found resting upon granite 

 and transition rocks along the coast, and is again found resting 

 upon the same rocks at the summits of the Gauts, at an eleva- 

 tion of several thousand feet {. It forms, along the coast, a suc- 

 cession of rounded hills ; and, towards the sea, it generally pre- 

 sents mural precipices. I have never seen beds of any other 

 rock alternating with it; and it is no where stratified. Some- 

 times it forms table-shaped masses on the summits of the Gauts ; 

 and, where it is split into separate masses on the coast, these have 



• Vide Asiatic Researches, vol. xv. p. 177. 



f Vide rinlayson's Missian to Siam and Hue, p. 37- % Vide Section, fig. 1. 



