KALADGI SERIES. 99 



formed.* The gorge forms a true '^caiion/^ about 300 feet deep along 

 the upper or south-western half, which is also extremely narrow, not 

 more than 50 yards wide, if not considerably less, and with not an inch 

 of margin between the water, even in very moderate floods, and the 

 vertical walls on either side. During great floods the water rises from 30 

 to 40 feet in the gorge, and flows with great impetuosity, forming 

 numerous pot-holes of great size and depth, which, as at the Gokak falls, 

 are at certain seasons largely resorted to by Hindoos anxious to wash away 

 their sins in the purifying river. In its lower or northern half the gorge 

 widens considerably, and the sides decrease in height, till the quart^ite 

 beds die out in a level flat which stretches away for some distance to 

 the north-east. A very remarkable isolated rock stands below the left 

 bank on a steep slope above the present water level, near the top of the 

 lower half of the gorge. This rock, which is figured in the annexed sketch 

 (Plate IV) has remained in situ in a remarkable way when the upper 

 and lower parts of the beds of which it is made up have slid down into the 

 torrent below and been broken up and swept away. There are no signs 

 that the waters of t^e river ever reached the elevation at which this 

 remarkable tor stands, but if it ever did, the waters of the Malprabha 

 must have been ponded back for miles above the upper mouth of the 

 gorge, and have formed a great lake of which no distinct trace now 

 remains. The hard quartzites are extremely polished in the bed of 



* The legend above referred to relates that on one occasion a peacock hard pressed 

 by its pursuers, and well-nigh worn out with fatigue, was unable to fly over the 

 chain of hills which rises north of the great " black plain." In its terror it cried out pite- 

 ously when seated on a large rock, which to this day is pointed out to the faithful. The cry 

 of the agonized bird was heard by the deity of the Malprabha (locally called Ganga), who 

 took pity on the fugitive, struck the rocks, and clove a passage through the hills by which 

 it escaped. Finding the newly-made passage convenient, the goddess adopted it as a channel 

 for her own waters, and has used it ever since. Owing to the pious benevolence of tbe river 

 deity, the river at this spot is supposed to have great efficacy in cleansing moral pollution, 

 and is accordingly largely resorted to at every new moon by devotees who bathe in the numer- 

 ous pot-holes when the river is low. I am indebted for this interesting legend to my friend 

 the Rev. J. S. Hawker of the Loudon Missionary Society at Belgaum, a great lover of 

 Indian Folk-lore. 



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