96 MANUAL OF THE NILAGIRI DISTRICT. 



CHAP. Y. applied to the whole of the band, but variations in the prevalency 

 Geology and °^ °^® mineral over the other are very frequent. On the Gudalur 

 Mineralogy, side, or in the lower part of the valley, the rock is more qiiartzose, 

 at times garnetiferous, and is of a light grey color ; while the more 

 hornblendic varieties, or as they are sometimes called syenitoid 

 gneisses, are higher up, and range through the Neduwattam 

 country and among the more elevated coffee plantations. Towards 

 the south-west there are frequent traces of veins of white quartz 

 traversing the gneiss in a direction nearly at right angles to the 

 foliation, or about north-north-west, south- south-east, with a dip 

 to the eastward ; and these are evidently southerly prolongations of 

 some of the numerous gold-bearing reefs of South-East Wainad. 

 Gold— There is, however, no knowledge of gold having been obtained 



^^^ ■ from any of the valley veins, though it appeared evident from the 



debris of quartz lying about the surface at one or two places nearthe 

 outcrop of the veins, together with the broken character of the 

 ground, that search for gold, if not actual workings, must have been 

 carried on at some former period. The quartz-reefs are also not so 

 strong as around Devala, being from about two to four feet in width, 

 and this narrowing or nipping out from the generally greater width 

 of the lodes traversing the softer gneisses of Devala resembles 

 what has happened to the same reefs still further west, where they 

 traverse the hard quartzose gneisses of the Marapannaddi ridge. 

 As the veins are crossed from the Nadgani or south-west end of 

 the valley towards Gudalur they become less and less distinct, 

 when also they gradually assume a granular structure and are 

 largely interspersed with mica, until at Gudalur itself they become 

 quite granitic in their constitution. This change in the character 

 of the contents of the lodes is, as in Wainad, marked by an 

 absence of gold, at least in any appreciable quantity ; and this 

 gi-anitic and barren quality exists for some miles to the eastward 

 into the Mysore country. 

 Nilagiris. Since the late resuscitation of the gold industry in Wainad, 



attention has been directed to the possible auriferousness of 

 the few quartz veins on the Nilagiri plateau, but as yet no j 

 definite exploration has been made among these. At the time 

 of the geological survey in 1857 no trace of gold was found, 

 nor did there appear to be any tradition of its existence. The 

 veins were also so insignificant in number and size that anything 

 like prolonged search was not considered advisable. Still, during 

 the examination of Wainad, the appearance of many old sites of 

 working-places and diggings for gold soon recalled to mind the 

 existence of irregular patches of dug -up earth and quartz debris 

 along the banks of the Lovedale streams, and again in a smaller 

 valley to the south of and behind Bishop's Down which at this 



