218 FOOTE : SOUTH MAHRATTA COUNTRY. 



pf the iron-clay as may be supposed to be of trappean, and such as are 

 unquestionably of gneissic, origin. 



As already mentioned above, the iron -clay plateau extends from 

 Gauli southward up the slope of the eastern spur of the Darshin Dongar 

 (Pahldy trigonometrical station), and the iron-clay is continued along the 

 ridge to the very summit of the mountain, where it is cut off short by a 

 sudden scarp, on the edge of which stands the trigonometrical survey cairn. 

 This scarp trends away from the summit to the east on both sides of the 

 ridge, the northern scarp joining the west scarp of the main mass of the 

 Gauli plateau, and the southern one running eastward south of Meindil 

 (Meindool of map), and terminating in a bluff to the east of Dehgaon. 



The examination of the country did not extend southward of this 

 ridge, and I cannot say if this iron-clay is represented at corresponding 

 levels on the hills in the North Canara district. It is probable that it 

 does not re-appear, or only in a much smaller degree, for there is a 

 decided change in the general outline of the hills further south. 



Outliers of the same iron-clay show on the summit of the hills 

 extending eastward towards Siruli (Seeroolee of map) . 



From the Pahldy trigonometrical station the iron-clay plateau dips 

 visibly at a low angle, 3° to 4° perhaps, to the north and north-east by 

 north, an inclination coinciding very nearly with that of an ideal extension 

 of the trap-flows from the north side of the Mahadayi ravine to the 

 Pahldy ridge, a fact strongly confirmatory of the idea that the Gauli 

 iron-clay plateau is an altered trap formation. 



No external distinction could be traced between the iron-clay 

 No external distinction ^^rmed by decomposition in situ of the gneiss 

 traceable. g^j^^ ^f ^jjg g^eat trap-flows ; a difference must 



doubtless exist, which will be detected, perhaps, by closer study than was 

 feasible while making a rapid primary survey of so rugged a country. 

 The very process which gives rise to the formation of this remarkable 

 subaerial rock, a process which is still in full activity, namely, the per- 

 ( 218 ) 



