of the Southern Mdhratta Country. lOS 



rest on the sides, and are represented by the dotted hnes, would 

 be more liable, from their inclined position, to be worn down, 

 and to slide into the neighbouring valley, than that part which 

 rests horizontally on the summit ; and were the mass a to be 

 left, it would protect the portions bade immediately below it, 

 while the other parts were gradually disintegrated and removed ; 

 and thus a rude column, composed of a number of separate 

 blocks abcde of granite, would be formed. As the different 

 masses rest horizontally on each other, and have their surfaces 

 (except where these have been much acted upon by the weather) 

 accurately adapted to each other, we cannot for a moment sup- 

 pose that they have been conveyed from a distance, and arran- 

 ged in this manner merely by chance. On the other hand, we 

 have every reason to conclude, that they are the slight remains of 

 laminae, the other parts of which have been gradually worn down 

 all around them ; and that they now stand as monuments of 

 what the height and nature of these laminae formerly were. 



It is by no means uncommon to meet with a vein of quartz, 

 felspar, or trap, passing from one loose block of granite into 

 another, or frpm a hill into a mass, resting loosely upon its sur- 

 face ; which clearly prove that these continue to occupy the 

 situations in which they were originally formed. Upon a super- 

 ficial view, one is naturally led to suppose that the confused 

 heaps of granite blocks are the result of some great convulsion 

 of nature. But by merely tracing the small veins of quartz, fel- 

 spar, &c. which traverse the granite from one contiguous block 

 into another, and by attending to the accurate adaptation of 

 some of the contiguous parts of these blocks, we can prove that 

 a great proportion of them continue in their original situations ; 

 and that all the appearances of c-onfusion which they exhibit, 

 are the result of a partial and irregular disintegration. It is 

 only in the valleys that transported masses are found. We have 

 generally reason to conclude, that all the separate masses, on the 

 sides and summits of the hills, continue to occupy their original 

 places, however confused these may now appear. 



We have no reason to suppose that all the granite which has 

 been disintegrated and washed away, was of a hardness and du- 

 rability equal to that of the masses left entire. Had this been 

 the case, their destruction would have required a length of time. 



