OF AVESTERN AND CENTRAL INDIA. 25 



Postscript. — I have omitted in the preceding paper to notice 

 in detail opinions npon the traps expressed by many Avriters^ because 

 to have examined into every question seriatim, would have taken too 

 much space. Most Indian geologists have made observations under cir- 

 cumstances of considerable difficulty ; many of them have never had the 

 opportunities which Europear^ geologists possess of access to libraries 

 and museums, or of communication with the leading scientific men of 

 the day. That some crude ideas, distinguished more by originality 

 than by probability, should have been put forth by men thus isolated, 

 especially upon the subject of rocks so remarkable in many respects as 

 are the Deccan and Malwa traps, is not to be wondered at, and it is 

 quite unnecessary to call attention to them. 



Amongst these I have, however, from inadvertence, allowed the 

 remarks of the Brothers Schlagintweit to remain unnoticed, and as these 

 gentlemen possessed the advantage of previous scientific training and 

 some European experience, and had even attracted the attention of 

 geologists in Europe before their mission to India, their opinions evi- 

 dently deserve attention. I am sorry, however, that I find myself 

 unable to agree with them. They consider (Report of the Proceedings 

 of the Ofiicers engaged in the Magnetic Survey of India, No. I, p. 6,) that 

 the traps are unstratified, and also that they were poured out at the 

 bottom of the sea. This last view was subsequently modified by Adolphe 

 Schlagintweit (Report No. VI, p. 34,) who, after seeing more of the 

 country, came to the conclusion that the " eflPusion had taken place at the 

 bottom of extensive freshwater lakes.^^ I have already given reasons for 

 coming to a different conclusion, and as especial proof of the sub-aerial 

 origin of the traps, I would point out the extreme irregularity of the 

 surface upon which they rest. Yet, although this irregularity is so great 

 that in places, as in the. Vindhyan hills, north-west of Hoshung'abad, 



vallies in the subjacent formations, upwards of 1,000 feet in depth, have 



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