258 foote: south mahratta country. 



Of the schistose varieties of the gneissie series much use is made 

 for rough purposes. The whole of the town of 



SpDisi"f)96 rocks 



Hunugund (Hoonugoonda), for example, is built 

 of the poor haematite schist forming the Hunugund hill. 



The very rich haematite schist of the Jiaddigudda hills near 



Tawurugiri in the Nizam's territory used formerly- 

 Iron ores. ^ J >i 



to be smelted at that town, and produced iron and 

 steel of excellent quality, much in request by the Hyderabad armourers. 

 Of late years, however, the smelting industry has died out there, owing 

 to failure of fuel. 



A small quantity of good ore, obtained from the great haematite 



beds near Amingurh, is worked at Sindunhal near 

 Iron smeltmgi 



Aiholi in the Malprabha valley in a furnace 

 differing somewhat in form from those ordinarily used in the Telugu 

 and Tamil districts. Such a furnace will be found figured on p. 264. 

 The outturn here was stated to be 10 viss per diem. 



Chloritic and talcose schists are only used for rough walls, flagging, 

 &c., but there are beds of chloritic rock, in the eastern part of the gneissic 

 area, quite equal in quality to that of which the famous temples of 

 Gadag (Gudduck) in Dharwar district are built, and equally susceptible of 

 being most elaborately and delicately carved. 



No use appears now to be made of the magneslan limestones or 

 dolomites occurring in the gneissic series on the 

 slopes of the Ghats east of Goa. Whether any of 

 the marbles used in the great churches and monasteries at that place 

 were derived from this dolomite series I have not been able to, ascertain. 

 The beds exposed in the Bhimgarh mountain would be unfit for polish- 

 ing, owing to the numerous thin folia of granular quartz which every- 

 where permeate the rock, but doubtless beds free from these folia might 

 ( 258 ) 



