Geology of the Meifwar Dixtrict. Sfl 



vial formations. These boundaries arc, of course, purely geo- 

 logical ; and although they include much more than the district 

 which I myself have seen, yet the following remarks derived 

 from all that I have heard upon the subject, and from the spe- 

 cimens I have examined, will apply pretty generally to the 

 whole. 



1* The rocks which principally occur in the southern portion of 

 the district are mica, clay, and chlorite slates, quartz rock, ser- 

 pentine (of which very beautiful tables and other ornaments are 

 fabricated), granite, gneiss, and syenite. These rocks pass in- 

 to each other by insensible gradations, so that it is often difficult 

 to determine to which formation they belong. Quartz-rock is 

 of very frequent occurrence, and very often forms entire hills. 

 It varies much in its texture in different situations. The finest 

 variety is in the form of a white very compact rock, which is in- 

 distinctly stratified, and which contains imbedded masses of a 

 nearly transparent variety. From this to the clay-slate there 

 appears to be a regular gradation. The quartz, in other situa- 

 tions, passes into gneiss and mica-slate. This is more particu- 

 larly observable in the neighbourhood of the Dhabar lake, and 

 in other situations hereafter to be mentioned. 



A striking feature in very many of the hills in this district, 

 and, indeed, throughout Meywar, is derived from the occur- 

 rence of a thin bed of quartz rock of a pure white colour, and 

 seldom more than two or three feet in thickness, which is obser- 

 ved running along their ridges, throughout their whole extent, 

 and forming a sharp angle, from which the darker coloured and 

 softer clay-slate slopes on either side. 



In correspondence with the diversity and hardness of the 

 rocks in this district, we have a diversity in the shape of the 

 hills. The ridge-shape is the most common; and from ihe 

 sharpness of the angle, and the regularity of the outline formed 

 by the quartz-rock, as above described, their summit appears, 

 in the distance, to be occupied by a table-land. The deception 

 is increased by their frequently assuming the appearance of a 

 truncated cone. In this variety, the sharp ridge still exists. It 

 is continued, for some distance, in a line parallel to the horizon, 

 and then suddenly slopes at a very acute angle. Frequently, 

 too, we have the appearance of denticulated ridges; and in many 

 situations, peaks, often of fantastic forms, are seen rising above 



