No perceptible Crater. 191 



stance, resembling mineralized charcoal, lying 

 between the layers of basalt. In addition to 

 the other proofs of the volcanian origin of basalt, 

 the presence of this substance seems to have 

 decisive weight ; yet, as the subject has been 

 much controverted, it may not be improper to 

 advert to the observations of Mr. Hodges, in 

 his late Tour through India : that a cliff called 

 Montages is wholly composed of basalt ; and 

 that under the cliff is a spacious cavern, which 

 he thoroughly examined by the assistance of 

 torches, and found that charcoal was imbedded 

 in the solid substance of the stone, throughout 

 the whole extent of the cavern. 



The singular appearances accompanying the 

 above columnar bodies, with respect to charcoal 

 being imbedded in the substance of the stone, 

 seemed to have been an effect produced at a 

 time when the stone or mineral was liquefied by 

 fire. 



>i >'J r^ni '^fh'Miy/ { uoi'- 



But, notwithstanding the preceding observa- 

 tions, doubt may nevertheless arise, from the 

 circumstance that no crater, or other vestige of 

 an extinguished volcano, is now to be traced 

 in this neighbourhood. Whence then can have 

 been produced such immense torrents, of which 

 the remains are now spread over so great a part 



