KHASI HILLS. 115 



Uader tlie sandstones are highly micaceous and shining slates, with 

 thick beds of hard gritty micaceous gneiss : numer- 

 ous veins of quartz occur traversing the rocks, 

 and large veins of granite also pierce them in many places. At Joowai 

 village (a) these slaty beds dip as a mass to the S. and S. by E., at 

 angles varying from 45° to 70°. 



Similar rocks are seen wrapping round the edges of the granite about 

 four miles East from Coote village ; while between 



Coote, Pooring. n t> • i i 



this and rooring, largely crystalhne greenstone 

 crosses the valley. At this village itself (Pooring) the rocks are gritty 

 gneiss in thick strong beds. 



Descending from this into the Oomgot valley, we find hard close-grain- 

 ed siliceous slates, and thence towards Pomrong we 

 Oomgot, &c. . . , . 1 • , ■ 1 1 1 



have gneiss and micaceous slates in thick beds. 



These alternate continually, and are well seen in some of the river gorges, 

 through which the feeders of the Oomgot pass : veins of quartz abound, 

 and the rocks, although much contorted, have a general inclination to 

 the North- West. Granite veins also occur. 



Throughout the series of rocks, which I have just described, few 



mineral products of any value are found. I have 



Minerals, few. i n i i i i i • i 



above alluded to the attempts made to obtain good 



roofing-slates from some of the beds. In a few places, as under Nung- 



klaw, &c., small crystalline grains of magnetic iron abound in some of the 



beds, precisely of the same character as that obtained from the granite, 



(a) Joowai is one of the largest villages in these hills. It is beautifully situated on a 

 ridge, overhanging the rich and well-cultivated glen of the Mentedoo Eiver. The hill slopes 

 on either side covered with scattered pines and other trees, and the flat holms at the bot- 

 tom cultivated like a garden, give the place quite an English aspect. In the village itself 

 magnificent groups of bamboos throw a grateful shade over the houses, and large tanlcs and 

 ponds are formed among the undulations of the ground The houses are of a better class, 

 aud in many respects assimilate more to those of the Bengalees than among the Kliasis 

 proper, while the physiognomy of the people themselves, and their superior stature, seem to 

 coniirm the idea uf an iutarmixture of race. 



