24 W. BLANFORD, WESTERN INDIA. [PaRT I. 



briefly to describe the features of the dividing range of hills which 

 intervenes between them. 



This range, known under various names, the most widely applied 



Features of Satpoora ^^ '^^^^^ ^PP^^^^ to be the Satpoora,^ is well 

 ^^^^' defined to the westward, and from Rajpeepla 



to Asseergurh consists of a belt of mountainous country 40 or 50 

 miles in breadth, and of an average height, at the crest of the 

 chain, but little under 2,000 feet above the sea, while many peaks 

 rise above 3,000, and some, and even some small table lands as 

 Toorun Mull, are as high as 4,000 feet. Nearly the whole of this range, 

 both hills and valleys, consists of trap, but towards- the west, along the 

 northern boundary of Khandeish, a series of craggy peaks are met with 

 such as are but rarely seen in the trap region. Elsewhere, the summit 

 of the range is more or less a table land. Just east of Asseergurh there is 

 a break in the range, through which the railway from Bombay and Khan- 

 deish to Jubbulpoor passes, the highest part of which is only 1,340 feet. 

 It is worthy of notice that this break leads from close to the junction of 

 the two alluvial plains on the Taptee and Poorna to a flat tract lying 

 between the two Nerbudda plains. East of this break the trap hills 

 continue till south of Hoshungabad, where sandstone and metamorphic 

 rocks emerge, and form a great portion of the hills of the Puch- 

 murry and Baitool country. There is a table land of considerable extent 

 around Baitool, which extends far to the eastward beyond Chindwara and 

 Seonee, and joins the high plateau of Umurkuntuk. Upon this plateau 

 trap still predominates, and a great spur from it extends between the 

 Taptee and Poorna, forming the northern boundary of Berar, as far as 

 the confluence of those rivers. This range is also of considerable height, 

 in places nearly 4,000 feet; like most other ranges it has no definite name 

 and is generally looked upon as a portion of the Satpoora. The only 

 distinctive term ever applied to it appears to be that used by Voysey, vk., 



* Properly the Satpoora or seven ranges comprises several other hill-chains — ^the Syhadi-ee, 

 Vindhya, &e. 



■* ( 186 ) 



