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" laid thick beds of clay, the result of the decomposed rock), the 

 " weight of the superincumbent mass, together with the almost 

 " vertical position of the stratum, made it slip hurling rock, soil, 

 " and jungle into the valley below, leaving a deep ravine, bounded 

 " to the north by a mural precipice of undecomposed rock, some 

 " hundred feet high, and to the south by the remainder of the decli- 

 " vity, which is seen undisturbed in its place, having the same alti- 

 " tude as the opposite boundary." On ascending the Ghaut, the 

 view from all points of the ascent is described as really grand, 

 Dr. Benza does not recollect having seen anywhere such a wild, 

 yet magnificent, spectacle as the ravine formed by the two hills 

 " the one of the Avalanche chain, the other one of the eastern 

 " range of the Koondahs. The thick impervious jungle, extending 

 " its whole length, occupies also the lower half of the steep declivity 

 "of both the hills, and is then succeeded by the usual carpet-like 

 " covering of dense turf, which extends to the veiy pinnacles of 

 " their prodigious altitudes. While ascending this pass, at every 

 " turn of the road a most striking and superb coup d'ail presents 

 " itself the nearly vertical side of the Avalanche hill, with its pre- 

 " cipitous battlement-like summit the enormous prismatic masses, 

 " three or four in number, bursting, as it were, through the turf- 

 " covered soil of the steep declivity of the hill ; one of which, in 

 " particular, looks like a huge martello-tower stuck to the nearly 

 " vertical side of the mountain while the magnificent ravine to the 

 " left completes the striking view before us. This assemblage of 

 " wild and grand objects cannot but produce sensations of wonder 

 " and admiration. On arriving at the gorge of the pass, of course 

 " the view, becoming more expanded and enlarged, has a superior 

 " degree of beauty, particularly that of the extensive undulated table - 

 " land, of which the Doodabetta group to the east, and the Koon- 

 " dah and Himigala ranges to the west, are the boundaries. The 

 " expression undulated table-land is used, because such is the 

 " appearance of that track, of the country, seen from such a height, 

 " although many of these apparent undulations have thousands 

 " of feet of elevation. 



" Sispara, or Murraypet, is at the head of the long and deep 

 '' ravine, enclosed between two almost perpendicular ridges ; along 

 " the side of one of which the ghaut is to be constructed. Lieut. 



