252 MIDNAPOUE, ORISSA, &C. 



ing project, lately proposed, be carried out, and a large portion of the 



flood waters of the Mahanuddl be turned directly into the Chilka Lake, 



the filling up in future will probably be far more rapid than it has 



lutherto been. 



The spit of sand and mud separating the Chilka from the sea is 



peculiar. To a certain extent, it may be looked 

 Its nature and origin. . . . , , . 



upon as a river-bar upon a gigantic scale, bemg 



formed where the tidal current of the Bay of Bengal, coming up in a 

 north-easterly direction from the coast of Vizagapatam and Ganjam, 

 meets the waters of the river Mahanuddi. Moreover, from the pre- 

 valence of south and south-east winds in the Bay of Bengal, and the 

 heavy breakers produced by them along this coast, the tendency of the 

 sand and pebbles of this shore is to travel northward. This, doubtless, 

 has been the main cause of the formation of a spit towards the north- 

 east from the end of the Ganjam hills. In illustration of this, it may be 

 mentioned that pebbles of gneiss, granite, conglomerate and sandstones, 

 and even fossils* occur in abundance on the shore near Pooree. These 

 pebbles must be derived from rocks washed by the sea, yet no rock 

 comes down to the shore, to the north of this, nor for many miles to the 

 south. The pebbles must therefore be derived from those localities to 

 the south, where, in the neighbourhood of Vizagapatam, rocks do occur 

 along the sea shore. 



The hilly ground forms a small part of the western portion of Ban- 

 coorah, being a continuation of the broken country 

 of Puralia, on the west. There is no marked 

 ridge of hills, however, but the ground rises irregularly and interrupt- 

 edly from the alluvial plains. In Midnapore, this hilly country only occurs 

 at the extreme north-westerly corner of the district near to Sildah. 



* Only one species has been found, a Meroe, from some beds, the locality of which is 

 as yet unknown. Both valves frequently occur together. 



