208 foote: south mahratta country. 



The individual concretions, which vary in diameter from less than 

 Ya" to i", but average about ^*', are cemented together by a material 

 generally of much the same mineral character, but occasionally much 

 richer in iron. 



The greatest observed thickness of the summit bed was from 50 to 



Greatest thickness of ^^ feet; this was on the south scarp of a high 

 the iron-clay. ^^^j^ ^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^.^^^^^ ^^^,^^ ^-j^g north-east 



of Sonegarh (Soneghur) in Kolhapur State. The section, a very fine one 

 formed in a recent landslip, was most unfortunately inaccessible. 

 Here, and in many other places, prominent parts of the weathered 

 surface of the rock show a bright red color and shining glazed 

 jaspideous surface. On much-frequented paths knobby pieces of the 

 rock are frequently found to have acquired a high polish from the naked 

 feet of the natives — a state of things which does not render the paths the 

 more practicable for people shod in European fashion. The paths on 

 this and other lateritoid rocks are remarkable for their excessive rough- 

 ness and lumpiness. 



In the extreme north-eastern part of our area the iron-clay re- 

 appears, and is largely developed on the high trap plateaux between Gul- 

 barga and Bidar, on which stand the villages of Humnabad, Bara (Bur- 

 rah) Yekali, Koyer, &c. The average elevation of this region is about 

 2,000 feet above sea level, and rises at Bidar to 2,359 feet according 

 to Voysey's barometrical observations. This high elevation points to 

 this iron-clay belonging to the summit bed of the ghat region. 



The iron-clay occurring at Gopenpully,four miles west of Bara Yekali, 

 was examined by Mr. King, who describes it in his notes as " a highly 

 ferruginous, brown, nodular and concretionary rock, exactly like laterite.''' 



He failed to find any indications of its bein^ of detrital or sedimentary 

 origin. In texture this rock quite agrees with the iron-clay of the ghat 

 region, for it is " a mottled rough clay, pisolitic and full of irregular 

 cavities between the pellets," or else " rudely and irregularly vesicular, 



( 208 ) 



