113 FOOTE : SOUTH MAHRATTA COUNTRY. 



patch of similar character occurring at Goraganur further down the 

 valley of the river. A similar limestone, in a relatively corresponding 

 position, shows to a small extent south of Kolchi in the Ramdurg State. 

 The limestones are principally grey or dark-blue grey in color, the 

 lamination is wavy, and, the whole mass highly silicious ; many laminse 

 are entirely silicious, and, being often one to two inches in thickness, form 

 a very large proportion of the whole ; the texture varies from waxy to 

 sub-crystalline, and thence to granular (saccharoid) . To the west of 

 Limestones west of Yergatti the limestone beds roll about a good 

 ^''^^ ** deal in low reefs, and form a rocky wilderness six 



to eight square miles in area westward of Yergatti. The *^' dirty breccia^^ 

 is not seen over this area. To the north-east of Yergatti are some beds 

 of piuk and pinkish-grey limestone of less silicious character. 



Near Bussurgee (Bassargi) the dirty breccia shows very rich brown 

 haematite to be the cementing material of the com- 



Iron ore at Bassargi. 



minuted chert fragments. This haematite and a 

 richly (red) hsematitic sandstone, which overlies the limestone at Gora- 

 ganur, furnish the ore smelted on a small scale at Tagginal near Manoli. 



Overlying the silicious limestones and " dirty breccia'^ are a thick 

 series of sandstones, with a few conglomerate and 



Torgal. 



quartzite beds ; these occupy all the hilly ground 



south-west and north of Torgal, and form a low rolling plateau, very 



stony and barren in character. The tract between Torgal and Kureekol 



is mostly a rocky wilderness, deeply cut into by various streams and 



covered with scrubby jungle, which is all that the extremely sandy soil can 



support. Further north-east, the sandstones are represented by the 



drab shaley series and the overlying quartzites. To complete the survey 



of the quartzite basement series, it is necessary to glance at the narrow 



strips of these rocks which lie north of the long spur of Deccan Trap 



capping the watershed between the Ghatprabha and Malprabha 



rivers. 



( 112 ) 



