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oe 
ON THE STATISTICS OF DUKHUN. 225 
occurrence of strata of red ochreous rock; in fact, M‘Culloch’s 
ferruginous clay underlying thick strata of basalt or amyg- 
daloid, precisely as is seen to be the case in the Giant’s 
Causeway in Ireland. It passes through every variety of tex- 
ture, from pulverulent, friable, and indurated, to compact 
earthy jasper. The stratum is from an inch in thickness to 
many feet. The rock makes a red streak on paper, with the 
exception of the very indurated kinds, and does not affect the 
needle: it is pulverulent near the basaltic columns at Serroor, 
friable under subcolumnar red amygdaloid, near the source 
of the Seena river, indurated under basalt at Kothool. Al- 
though hard, it is here so cellular as to have the appearance 
of sponge, and, reduced to powder, looks like brickdust. 
Pulverulent Limestone.—Limestone is met with in the 
Dukhun only in three states—pulverulent, nodular, and 
crystalline. ‘The first occurs in thin seams on the banks of 
rivers and water-courses, and at the base of hills in debris: 
the seams are from an inch to three feet in thickness, covered 
by a few feet of black earth; sometimes in whiteness it re- 
sembles pounded chalk, and is then used by children to smear 
their writing boards. 
Nodular Limestone.—The nodular limestone, which is the 
well-known kunkur of India, (kunkur being a native word for 
nodule,) occurs like the preceding, disseminated or diffused 
in the soil, and also on the surface. I have never seen the 
nodules of a regular crystalline form; they vary in size from 
a marble to a twelve-pound shot, and many of them are ex- 
_ ceedingly irregular in shape, particularly those dug from the 
banks of rivers; they are sometimes obscurely lenticular; they 
are so abundant in certain localities that they appear as if 
showered upon the earth, and disguise its colour. Dr. Bu- 
chanan mentions the same fact in Rajmahl. When upon black 
soil they are usually minute, and tolerably uniform in size ; 
on other soils their form is variable. In the Ghats, neither 
pulverulent nor nodular lime is met with. It is unnecessary 
to particularize the localities of the nodular kind, as it is of 
common occurrence eastward, from the hilly tracts of the 
Ghats, and is the only source of lime for mortar; a class of 
—o" making a livelihood by collecting the larger nodules. 
hen carefully burnt they make an excellent cement. 
Captain Dangerfield describes the occurrence (in Malwa) 
in some parts, particularly near the bottom of the small hills 
and banks of the rivulets, of a thin bed of loose marl or 
coarse earthy limestone. Captain Coulthard says, ‘‘ In Sagar 
_awhite patch of this limestone mouldering by the weather is 
VOL. VI. 1837. Q 
