MALLET, VINDHYAN SERIES. 17 



material in the former. The hilly character of the Sone valley is con- 

 tinued across the watershed into the basin of the Nerbudda as far as 

 Kuttungee or somewhat farther, beyond which the alluvial plains of the 

 Nerbudda stretch up to the base of the Vindhyan escarpment. 



The Vindhyan area is bounded on the north by the Gangetic plains 



from Sasseram as far west as Banda, but the in- 

 Gangetic area and _ . _ _ 



crystalline area of Bun- terior of the great curve, in which the boundary 

 delkund. 



sweeps round from Allahabad to Agra, is partly 

 occupied by gneissose rocks, which lend a new aspect to the country. The 

 surface over a wide margin north of the boundary is slightly elevated 

 above the alluvial plains, and. the crystallines are everywhere seen rising 

 here and there into hills, which, by their rounded form and want of regu- 

 larity, strongly contrast with the serrated precipitous ridges which 

 trend across the country for miles, marking the position of great quartz 

 veins which intersect the gneiss. The direction of these is generally north- 

 north-east or thereabout, and their elevation seldom exceeds 400 or 500 feet. 

 Between the truly crystalline area and the alluvial plains there is no very 

 definite line of demarkation, and out of the plains rise hundreds of gneis- 

 sose hills, isolated or in groups. 



The trappean area of Malwa approaches, west of Goonah, so close 



to that of the crystallines that the Bundelkund 

 Gwalior country. 



spread of Vmdhyans is connected with that of 



GwaUor only by a narrow neck between S4gar and Sipri. Here 

 the Kymore and K-ewah escarpments, brought close together by the ex- 

 tinction of the lower Eewah group, face to the eastward, and the surface 

 slopes gently to the west until the sandstones disappear beneath the 

 trap. In the absence of shaly beds of importance, the denudation has 

 been less guided than in the eastern districts, and hence the different 

 escarpments are not so clearly defined. But as we proceed north-wards 



( 17 ) 



