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



seems clearer as a case of induction than the inference that the black 

 soil is solely derived from decomposed trap. , 



And yet it is no more necessarily decomposed trap than the red 

 soil itself. As Newbold shewed, long- ago, there are hundreds of square 

 miles in Southern India, in the vallies of the Pennar, Palar, Kavery, 

 and other rivers still further to the south, in which the surface is com- 

 posed of precisely similar '' regur " to that of the Deccan. True, it is, 

 as a rule, far less fertile, but it is notorious that 



Derived from waste of ^ ^ ^ ^ -i P -mr T T • 7 • J? • 



metamorphic rocks in the black SOU 01 Western India vanes ad infinikim 



Southern India. .. r> ,•■,•, n^^ • , im p 



m its lertility. There is not a solitary reason tor 



supposing that the basaltic Deccan trap ever existed in the valleys of 

 the rivers above named, nor can there be any reasonable doubt that the 

 alluvial flats contained in these vallies are mainly formed from the de- 

 tritus of metamorphic rocks. 



Hislop appears to have pointed out the most probable origin of the 



black soil. Its characteristic colour, he considers, is 

 Hislop's theory. 



due to the surface impregnation of various argil- 

 laceous soils by organic matter [a) . Every thing observed in Western 

 India tends to confirm this view, and it appears probable that any argil- 

 laceous soil may become regur under favorable conditions. 



That it is a mere surface condition may be seen frequently on 

 Regur merely a super- the aUuvial plains SO often alluded to. In these, 

 ficial variety. where the wash of rain has swept away the 



surface on the sides of hbllows, the clay is brown ; on the flats above it 

 is black : the black soil, however, washed from the sides of the hollows, 

 has frequently accumulated towards the lower portion of them. It is 

 also a common thing to see in the trap country a reddish soil upon the 

 slopes of the hills, while the black soil occupies the bottom of the 



(a). The resemblance between the regur of India and Tchoruozcm of Russia was first 

 pointed out by Newbold. It is especially referred to by Hislop. 



( 286 ) 



